Depends what you think the lifetime value of a customer is, plus what the ongoing cost to retain them is. I ordered off Deliveroo in Sydney Australia, and they

Depends what you think the lifetime value of a customer is, plus what the ongoing cost to retain them is. I ordered off Deliveroo in Sydney Australia, and they advertise on AdWords against individual restaurant names. If the Diliveroo brand is strong, and that AdWords click made me a Deliveroo customer, that is a win. If I always search and they always pay, this may prove problematic long term. That's the equation - if $X upfront + $y ongoing < lifetime value then you have a chance at profitability, assuming you can get overheads under control / can scale up the offering with minimal growth in overheads (the classic 2X revenue, 1.5X costs model).