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I’m not sure what it’s like in the US, but at least in the UK I understand that food delivery demand has plummeted. I initially thought it would be higher due

I’m not sure what it’s like in the US, but at least in the UK I understand that food delivery demand has plummeted. I initially thought it would be higher due to people isolating and now shopping, but a lot of people now have less disposable income to spend on expensive food delivery. Also less availability (restaurants closing down)

apexalpha 7y ago
Here in NL it's exploded. During lunch and dinner times Uber / TakeAway / Deliveroo is all you see on the streets. For many restaurants this is the only income they have and it's highly encouraged to order some. Not many people have gone down in disposable income, though. That might be a factor.
- MoBattah_ 7y ago
  Netherlands hasn't had increased unemployment due to COVID?
  - com 7y ago
    Not yet. A combination of work-from-home, a fairly limited lockdown and a variety of state and city schemes for income support for entrepreneurs, small business and a furlough program seem to have limited the impact for now. We’ll see in 5-6 months I guess.
  - apexalpha 7y ago
    No we don't have a full lockdown. Many work from home, some in A/B teams and if your business had to close (cafés, restaurants without delivery, pilot) you still get paid except your company can get it reimbursed via the government. So basically our economy kinda just runs on, even though a lot less is happening. Restaurants have switched to delivery if they can. Most people I know actually have more money now, since you can't really go out and spend it. And May is usually the month where Dutch people get their 13th month (bonus).
    - tdons 7y ago
      Our economy is in the toilet. Large parts of it at least (that aren't very visible). We'll see the wave of defaults and bankruptcies in a couple of months.
      - jonny_eh 7y ago
        Define "our".
        tdons 7y ago
        The economy of the country The Netherlands
        jonny_eh 7y ago
        Thanks it was a bit ambiguous. I hope your economy improves soon :)
    - gargs 7y ago
      The statistics seem to say otherwise - https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2020/16/fewer-employed-in-march https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2020/16/fewer-employed-in-marc...
      - rdschouw 7y ago
        That report says there was a drop of 0.2% in labor participation in March. That's not a lot.
rockarage 7y ago
There's significant demand, DoorDash, Instacart, and others are hiring drivers to meet demand.
usaar333 7y ago
And less reason to order delivery. At least if you own a car, driving to pick your own food up is easier now (less traffic, no parking issues, you are less likely to be in a social event that prevents you from leaving). And one less potentialy infected person handling your food.
- elliekelly 7y ago
  And a good excuse to get out of the house for a few minutes.
  - jonny_eh 7y ago
    And an excuse to turn on your car, and prevent the battery from dying.
    - stevehawk 7y ago
      friendly reminder that just starting a car isn't going to prevent the battery from dying. You need to get in a decent drive and a 2 mile jaunt to McDonald's probably isn't enough.
      - jonny_eh 7y ago
        It's better than nothing, no?
        000000coffee 7y ago
        yes, but you don't do it for the battery. You're supposed to do it because it circulates fluids
        greenyoda 7y ago
        Starting the car takes a lot of power from the battery (the battery has to run the starter motor to crank the engine), so if you don't drive the car long enough to recharge the battery to at least where it was before the trip, you'll have less charge than you had before. If you repeat that cycle enough times, the battery will eventually die.
cortesoft 7y ago
Here in Los Angeles, food delivery demand is way up. Almost all restaurants have switched to delivery/takeout only, and lots of people are doing delivery for food.
- labster 7y ago
  Dine-in service being illegal has certainly made takeout a popular option around L.A. I do wish more people wore masks to pick up the food inside the restaurant, however.
bgs113 7y ago
Availability seems to be an issue all around. After an early lockdown surge of restaurant additions in DoorDash, now listings which appear to be available and open have a decent chance of getting your order rejected, or just dropping off altogether. Restaurants are having a tough time right now, and it remains to be seen if poorly-advised re-openings will have any short-term positive effect on business.
34679 7y ago
In addition to less money, as you pointed out: 1. People have more free time from being stuck at home, unable to work, so less need to rely on delivery apps. 2. People get tired of being stuck at home and one of the few permitted reasons to leave is acquiring food.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
Traster 7y ago
The thing that I noticed is that because we're more worried about food supplies, people are making sure they're stocking their fridges and being much more careful about ensuring they've got food for every meal - because they aren't just going to pop out to grab something. As a result it's much more difficult to justify ordering takeaway, because you've got to eat the food in the fridge before it goes off.
oarabbus_ 7y ago
This is mostly accurate in the Bay Area. People who already had the means to rely on Uber Eats, continue to do so. But the rest quickly realize that paying $22 for a meal instead of $8 isn't worth it

apexalpha 7y ago

Here in NL it's exploded. During lunch and dinner times Uber / TakeAway / Deliveroo is all you see on the streets. For many restaurants this is the only income they have and it's highly encouraged to order some. Not many people have gone down in disposable income, though. That might be a factor.

MoBattah_ 7y ago
Netherlands hasn't had increased unemployment due to COVID?
- com 7y ago
  Not yet. A combination of work-from-home, a fairly limited lockdown and a variety of state and city schemes for income support for entrepreneurs, small business and a furlough program seem to have limited the impact for now. We’ll see in 5-6 months I guess.
- apexalpha 7y ago
  No we don't have a full lockdown. Many work from home, some in A/B teams and if your business had to close (cafés, restaurants without delivery, pilot) you still get paid except your company can get it reimbursed via the government. So basically our economy kinda just runs on, even though a lot less is happening. Restaurants have switched to delivery if they can. Most people I know actually have more money now, since you can't really go out and spend it. And May is usually the month where Dutch people get their 13th month (bonus).
  - tdons 7y ago
    Our economy is in the toilet. Large parts of it at least (that aren't very visible). We'll see the wave of defaults and bankruptcies in a couple of months.
    - jonny_eh 7y ago
      Define "our".
      - tdons 7y ago
        The economy of the country The Netherlands
        jonny_eh 7y ago
        Thanks it was a bit ambiguous. I hope your economy improves soon :)
  - gargs 7y ago
    The statistics seem to say otherwise - https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2020/16/fewer-employed-in-march https://www.cbs.nl/en-gb/news/2020/16/fewer-employed-in-marc...
    - rdschouw 7y ago
      That report says there was a drop of 0.2% in labor participation in March. That's not a lot.

rockarage 7y ago

There's significant demand, DoorDash, Instacart, and others are hiring drivers to meet demand.

usaar333 7y ago

And less reason to order delivery. At least if you own a car, driving to pick your own food up is easier now (less traffic, no parking issues, you are less likely to be in a social event that prevents you from leaving). And one less potentialy infected person handling your food.

elliekelly 7y ago
And a good excuse to get out of the house for a few minutes.
- jonny_eh 7y ago
  And an excuse to turn on your car, and prevent the battery from dying.
  - stevehawk 7y ago
    friendly reminder that just starting a car isn't going to prevent the battery from dying. You need to get in a decent drive and a 2 mile jaunt to McDonald's probably isn't enough.
    - jonny_eh 7y ago
      It's better than nothing, no?
      - 000000coffee 7y ago
        yes, but you don't do it for the battery. You're supposed to do it because it circulates fluids
      - greenyoda 7y ago
        Starting the car takes a lot of power from the battery (the battery has to run the starter motor to crank the engine), so if you don't drive the car long enough to recharge the battery to at least where it was before the trip, you'll have less charge than you had before. If you repeat that cycle enough times, the battery will eventually die.

cortesoft 7y ago

Here in Los Angeles, food delivery demand is way up. Almost all restaurants have switched to delivery/takeout only, and lots of people are doing delivery for food.

labster 7y ago
Dine-in service being illegal has certainly made takeout a popular option around L.A. I do wish more people wore masks to pick up the food inside the restaurant, however.

bgs113 7y ago

Availability seems to be an issue all around. After an early lockdown surge of restaurant additions in DoorDash, now listings which appear to be available and open have a decent chance of getting your order rejected, or just dropping off altogether. Restaurants are having a tough time right now, and it remains to be seen if poorly-advised re-openings will have any short-term positive effect on business.

34679 7y ago

In addition to less money, as you pointed out: 1. People have more free time from being stuck at home, unable to work, so less need to rely on delivery apps. 2. People get tired of being stuck at home and one of the few permitted reasons to leave is acquiring food.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

Traster 7y ago

The thing that I noticed is that because we're more worried about food supplies, people are making sure they're stocking their fridges and being much more careful about ensuring they've got food for every meal - because they aren't just going to pop out to grab something. As a result it's much more difficult to justify ordering takeaway, because you've got to eat the food in the fridge before it goes off.

oarabbus_ 7y ago

This is mostly accurate in the Bay Area. People who already had the means to rely on Uber Eats, continue to do so. But the rest quickly realize that paying $22 for a meal instead of $8 isn't worth it