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In China where delivery of all kinds is omnipresent (the other day we even ordered someone to go shop for us and had the makings for breakfast arrive within hal

In China where delivery of all kinds is omnipresent (the other day we even ordered someone to go shop for us and had the makings for breakfast arrive within half an hour!) it feels to me that people are beginning to see the limitations of prepared food delivery. While it's always great to get some food when you're hungry, the waiting involved in a typical order is 45min+ and the experience never matches eat-in or self-made due to factors like post-cook cool-down while in transit, corresponding ingredient visual and textural degradation, timing unpredictability (what if I need to bury myself in work or have a conference call? I don't want someone at the doorbell suddenly interrupting), etc. Limited hours of availability also suck, as do random phone calls about parking/access/are-you-around/etc. Some of these problems are impossible to completely solve as orders tend to be heavily grouped at peak periods, and driver and vehicle fleet size cannot be realistically optimized for short term burst demand patterns without substantially increasing costs.

faluu101 9y ago
Except unlike here in NA, the cost of a delivered meal in China is often times less than their in-restaurant equivalent. The delivery platforms there are still offering large discounts, and it's not only for new users. For example is common to see restaurants offering, 15 rmb off for orders over 50 rmb.
- contingencies 9y ago
  The cost is less because: (1) the restaurant has limited sit down space and chef time during peak periods; (2) eating times in China are highly regimented (office lunch hour dominates); (3) delivery customers by default can tolerate higher volatility in meal completion schedule; (4) the actual cost to the restaurant for a 50RMB meal outside of the the limited sit down space represented by high rental costs and the chef's salary (already paid by peak hour sit-down customers) is negligible, often under 10RMB including ingredients, cooking energy and packaging; (5) delivery platforms are battling for market share. In short, the primary issue running a conventional restaurant is limited temporal and spatial bandwidth to serve customers. Delivery takes advantage of resources already spent toward the primary issues, so can be substantially discounted without loss.

faluu101 9y ago

Except unlike here in NA, the cost of a delivered meal in China is often times less than their in-restaurant equivalent. The delivery platforms there are still offering large discounts, and it's not only for new users. For example is common to see restaurants offering, 15 rmb off for orders over 50 rmb.

contingencies 9y ago
The cost is less because: (1) the restaurant has limited sit down space and chef time during peak periods; (2) eating times in China are highly regimented (office lunch hour dominates); (3) delivery customers by default can tolerate higher volatility in meal completion schedule; (4) the actual cost to the restaurant for a 50RMB meal outside of the the limited sit down space represented by high rental costs and the chef's salary (already paid by peak hour sit-down customers) is negligible, often under 10RMB including ingredients, cooking energy and packaging; (5) delivery platforms are battling for market share. In short, the primary issue running a conventional restaurant is limited temporal and spatial bandwidth to serve customers. Delivery takes advantage of resources already spent toward the primary issues, so can be substantially discounted without loss.