6 ms·

Amazon leads $575M investment in Deliveroo

69 points by mmq 7y ago

skilled 7y ago
With the speed that delivery services are growing, I am under the impression that I soon won't need to leave my chair to have everything I need at my doorstep in less than a few hours. I have recently had to use a grocery delivery service so I can't complain. The time saved does add up if you're busy.
- philliphaydon 7y ago
  Here in Singapore. If I could work from home I would never need to leave home. I can get everything delivered already. A lot of same day delivery too.
- dogma1138 7y ago
  This been the case for London for a while now. That said I’m not sure it’s a good thing.
  - PunchTornado 7y ago
    why? because something forces you to move?
    - cameronbrown 7y ago
      The resources needed to transport stuff are not free, and they usually involve petrol instead of legs.
      - johannes1234321 7y ago
        It is not that easy. One delivery truck delivering to multiple people can be more efficient over them driving individually. A warehouse can be more efficiently cooled and enlighted than a shop for individuals. A big kitchen preparing menu after menu can be more efficient than heating up the oven for a single use. A restaurant using larger supply packs can be more efficient than household sizes in packaging and transport. It's a case by case thing, but average for a few domains might not be that bad.
        ghaff 7y ago
        Cooking meals at home probably takes fewer resources and creates less waste overall. However, assuming that there's driving involved in either case, I wouldn't think having an order delivered from a big facility is much different from you going to a restaurant and picking up takeout.
    - dogma1138 7y ago
      Because I can literally never leave my house for anything at this point even late night booze and there is something eerie about that.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        There is a certain "The Machine Stops" [1] sense to it. I have mixed feelings. I can get very little rapid delivery where I live. Sometimes, I wish I could just order some takeout, but it's not necessarily a bad thing that I get forced to either go out myself or make a meal at home. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops
  - voltagex_ 7y ago
    I'm in a wheelchair, being able to get groceries delivered has been hugely beneficial.
- rbinv 7y ago
  Idiocracy seems more and more like a forecast.
  - jacquesm 7y ago
    We've been tracking it for decades now. - reality TV star as president of the United States: check - mountains of garbage: check - The movie 'Ass' (The Kardashians): check and probably many more bits and pieces.
- ericpearl 7y ago
  That’s been the case in NYC for decades. A friend ordered a cup of coffe from the local diner and they delivered it without question.
  - heavenlyblue 7y ago
    Coffee... I ordered bottled water a few times in London.
    - antihero 7y ago
      Do you not have a tap?
      - repsilat 7y ago
        Water in London is very "hard". It crusts up your kettle, and some people don't like the taste.
      - heavenlyblue 7y ago
        To be fair, I had a picky friend who would make fun of me for being wasteful with money. So I would order bottled water from the takeaway and keep telling him how much I like Evian to keep him whining. I do admit that I find buying bottled water from a takeaway quite amusing.
kayoone 7y ago
I work for a competitor of Deliveroo and in asia you already have these all encompassing delivery apps that started with food and now deliver almost anything. Some also started as Uber competitors branching out into delivery like Uber does with UberEats. Grab, Go-Jek in Asia or Rappi in South America are moving fast into this direction.
- k__ 7y ago
  In Germany there was a consolidation this year. Lieferando bought some competitors. Didn't even know Deliveroo was a big thing, thought this was some Berlin only thing.
  - kayoone 7y ago
    Yeah, Lieferando (takeaway.com) bought the german business of Delivery Hero (Lieferheld, pizza.de, Foodora) for close to a billion. They had a long fight in Europe but DH is now focusing on Asia, but they still have a considerable share in takeaway.
  - mattmanser 7y ago
    It's big in the UK (where it started) and apparently operates in 200 cities now.
keymone 7y ago
has there ever been a delivery service that is food focused rather than food-vendor focused? i just want to order a good burrito, i don't care who makes it. or i'm having a party and we want to order a few burritos, couple pizzas and some sushi - we don't want to make separate orders for all of that. which vendor executed the order can be than rated and future vendors selected by rating and personal preferences. is this even viable?
- lotsofpulp 7y ago
  As long as there is a sufficient quantity of people who have limited means of other income, and they can drive, it should be viable.
- dogma1138 7y ago
  As long as you can convince different restaurants to produce the same thing exactly sure it can work but thats rather a tall task. Most people I know would select the place they want to get food from first since there is a huge variance in quality and personal tastes.
  - icebraining 7y ago
    I don't think you need to convince them to produce the same thing. The delivery company would just have single preferred suppliers for each different kind of meal. Curiously another post on the frontpage is about the success of Aldi, which has a similar model as a grocery store (very limited selection of good quality products). I could see the Aldi of meal delivery working.
    - dogma1138 7y ago
      Aldi isn’t a high quality grocery store it’s a discount supermarket it’s in house brands are god awful when compared to the likes of M&S and Waitrose.
      - icebraining 7y ago
morrbo 7y ago
I hope to god Deliveroo takes some of Amazon's customer service tips/experience. Deliveroo's customer service is the absolute worst of any company i've ever experienced. So much so that they've had news articles[1] published in the UK about how much they try and screw people over. Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat also (again, speaking for the UK) do not list restaurants' food safety/hygienic ratings, which is a requirement to run a restaurant in the UK[2]. This has lead to people like a comedian here (Joe Lycett) making a restaurant in a skip (a big industrial waste disposal unit) and getting food delivered to himself to see if it would work[3]...and it did. If that wasn't bad enough, in London, Deliveroo actively masks restaurants' locations. For example, you order from "my 5 star restaurant" but the food might not actually come from the restaurant, instead it comes from a metal shipping container, under a bridge, next to a train track. These, are made by Deliveroo and, again, have no safety ratings/hygienic information.[4] [1] (example) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/deliveroo-food-order-refund-customer-support-asks-for-forgiveness-a7530486.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/deliveroo-food-o... [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45888709 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45888709 [3] https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1085924299339452420?lang=en https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1085924299339452420?lan... [4] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-dark-kitchens-pop-up-feeding-the-city-london https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-d... This has been my experience, several times, it really isn't a unique experience. Their policy seems to be to cut corners and hold on to money as much as physically possible. Don't get me wrong, i love the idea, and convenience of it all and use all 3 apps pretty regularly. Given the amount of money they make they should all seriously step up their game in terms of just not being shady bastards.
- jmkd 7y ago
  > Deliveroo actively masks restaurants' locations This is what allows you to order from a restaurant that is otherwise too far away from you. It's arguably of great benefit to those who do not live in that delivery area. > it comes from a metal shipping container, under a bridge, next to a train track The metal shipping container has been outfitted to modern standards precisely for this purpose, as opposed to down some stairs in a windowless Victorian cellar, under a bridge, next to a traintrack, which many 'real' restaurant kitchens are like. > These, are made by Deliveroo No they are not, the chefs are employed by the restaurant, and are making the same dishes to the same standards.
jmkd 7y ago
Deliveroo have the ambition to own food, so it's no surprise this appeals to Amazon. Delivery is just their first tactic in a far larger strategy.
naveen99 7y ago
Does this increase the reputation of Uber? In the past people contrasted amazon reinvestment of profits to uber’s expenses. Now Amazon is following uber eats...

69 points by mmq 7y ago

With the speed that delivery services are growing, I am under the impression that I soon won't need to leave my chair to have everything I need at my doorstep in less than a few hours. I have recently had to use a grocery delivery service so I can't complain. The time saved does add up if you're busy.

philliphaydon 7y ago
Here in Singapore. If I could work from home I would never need to leave home. I can get everything delivered already. A lot of same day delivery too.
dogma1138 7y ago
This been the case for London for a while now. That said I’m not sure it’s a good thing.
- PunchTornado 7y ago
  why? because something forces you to move?
  - cameronbrown 7y ago
    The resources needed to transport stuff are not free, and they usually involve petrol instead of legs.
    - johannes1234321 7y ago
      It is not that easy. One delivery truck delivering to multiple people can be more efficient over them driving individually. A warehouse can be more efficiently cooled and enlighted than a shop for individuals. A big kitchen preparing menu after menu can be more efficient than heating up the oven for a single use. A restaurant using larger supply packs can be more efficient than household sizes in packaging and transport. It's a case by case thing, but average for a few domains might not be that bad.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        Cooking meals at home probably takes fewer resources and creates less waste overall. However, assuming that there's driving involved in either case, I wouldn't think having an order delivered from a big facility is much different from you going to a restaurant and picking up takeout.
  - dogma1138 7y ago
    Because I can literally never leave my house for anything at this point even late night booze and there is something eerie about that.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      There is a certain "The Machine Stops" [1] sense to it. I have mixed feelings. I can get very little rapid delivery where I live. Sometimes, I wish I could just order some takeout, but it's not necessarily a bad thing that I get forced to either go out myself or make a meal at home. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops
- voltagex_ 7y ago
  I'm in a wheelchair, being able to get groceries delivered has been hugely beneficial.
rbinv 7y ago
Idiocracy seems more and more like a forecast.
- jacquesm 7y ago
  We've been tracking it for decades now. - reality TV star as president of the United States: check - mountains of garbage: check - The movie 'Ass' (The Kardashians): check and probably many more bits and pieces.
ericpearl 7y ago
That’s been the case in NYC for decades. A friend ordered a cup of coffe from the local diner and they delivered it without question.
- heavenlyblue 7y ago
  Coffee... I ordered bottled water a few times in London.
  - antihero 7y ago
    Do you not have a tap?
    - repsilat 7y ago
      Water in London is very "hard". It crusts up your kettle, and some people don't like the taste.
    - heavenlyblue 7y ago
      To be fair, I had a picky friend who would make fun of me for being wasteful with money. So I would order bottled water from the takeaway and keep telling him how much I like Evian to keep him whining. I do admit that I find buying bottled water from a takeaway quite amusing.

kayoone 7y ago

I work for a competitor of Deliveroo and in asia you already have these all encompassing delivery apps that started with food and now deliver almost anything. Some also started as Uber competitors branching out into delivery like Uber does with UberEats. Grab, Go-Jek in Asia or Rappi in South America are moving fast into this direction.

k__ 7y ago
In Germany there was a consolidation this year. Lieferando bought some competitors. Didn't even know Deliveroo was a big thing, thought this was some Berlin only thing.
- kayoone 7y ago
  Yeah, Lieferando (takeaway.com) bought the german business of Delivery Hero (Lieferheld, pizza.de, Foodora) for close to a billion. They had a long fight in Europe but DH is now focusing on Asia, but they still have a considerable share in takeaway.
- mattmanser 7y ago
  It's big in the UK (where it started) and apparently operates in 200 cities now.

keymone 7y ago

has there ever been a delivery service that is food focused rather than food-vendor focused? i just want to order a good burrito, i don't care who makes it. or i'm having a party and we want to order a few burritos, couple pizzas and some sushi - we don't want to make separate orders for all of that. which vendor executed the order can be than rated and future vendors selected by rating and personal preferences. is this even viable?

lotsofpulp 7y ago
As long as there is a sufficient quantity of people who have limited means of other income, and they can drive, it should be viable.
dogma1138 7y ago
As long as you can convince different restaurants to produce the same thing exactly sure it can work but thats rather a tall task. Most people I know would select the place they want to get food from first since there is a huge variance in quality and personal tastes.
- icebraining 7y ago
  I don't think you need to convince them to produce the same thing. The delivery company would just have single preferred suppliers for each different kind of meal. Curiously another post on the frontpage is about the success of Aldi, which has a similar model as a grocery store (very limited selection of good quality products). I could see the Aldi of meal delivery working.
  - dogma1138 7y ago
    Aldi isn’t a high quality grocery store it’s a discount supermarket it’s in house brands are god awful when compared to the likes of M&S and Waitrose.
    - icebraining 7y ago

morrbo 7y ago

I hope to god Deliveroo takes some of Amazon's customer service tips/experience. Deliveroo's customer service is the absolute worst of any company i've ever experienced. So much so that they've had news articles[1] published in the UK about how much they try and screw people over. Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat also (again, speaking for the UK) do not list restaurants' food safety/hygienic ratings, which is a requirement to run a restaurant in the UK[2]. This has lead to people like a comedian here (Joe Lycett) making a restaurant in a skip (a big industrial waste disposal unit) and getting food delivered to himself to see if it would work[3]...and it did. If that wasn't bad enough, in London, Deliveroo actively masks restaurants' locations. For example, you order from "my 5 star restaurant" but the food might not actually come from the restaurant, instead it comes from a metal shipping container, under a bridge, next to a train track. These, are made by Deliveroo and, again, have no safety ratings/hygienic information.[4] [1] (example) https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/deliveroo-food-order-refund-customer-support-asks-for-forgiveness-a7530486.html https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/deliveroo-food-o... [2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45888709 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45888709 [3] https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1085924299339452420?lang=en https://twitter.com/joelycett/status/1085924299339452420?lan... [4] https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-dark-kitchens-pop-up-feeding-the-city-london https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/oct/28/deliveroo-d... This has been my experience, several times, it really isn't a unique experience. Their policy seems to be to cut corners and hold on to money as much as physically possible. Don't get me wrong, i love the idea, and convenience of it all and use all 3 apps pretty regularly. Given the amount of money they make they should all seriously step up their game in terms of just not being shady bastards.

jmkd 7y ago
> Deliveroo actively masks restaurants' locations This is what allows you to order from a restaurant that is otherwise too far away from you. It's arguably of great benefit to those who do not live in that delivery area. > it comes from a metal shipping container, under a bridge, next to a train track The metal shipping container has been outfitted to modern standards precisely for this purpose, as opposed to down some stairs in a windowless Victorian cellar, under a bridge, next to a traintrack, which many 'real' restaurant kitchens are like. > These, are made by Deliveroo No they are not, the chefs are employed by the restaurant, and are making the same dishes to the same standards.

jmkd 7y ago

Deliveroo have the ambition to own food, so it's no surprise this appeals to Amazon. Delivery is just their first tactic in a far larger strategy.

naveen99 7y ago

Does this increase the reputation of Uber? In the past people contrasted amazon reinvestment of profits to uber’s expenses. Now Amazon is following uber eats...