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I still don't understand why there is a single global (or rather, country-wide) app for food delivery. Unlike getting cabs, this is hardly something you do when

I still don't understand why there is a single global (or rather, country-wide) app for food delivery. Unlike getting cabs, this is hardly something you do when you're away from your home city. If you had an app that only served, say, NYC, you can reduce burn drastically, not worry about scale issues too much, and run a business that's profitable without screwing over either the restaurant or the delivery person. This is absolutely a problem that can and should be solved at a local level. As a consumer, you gain nothing by using an app that serves 100+ cities.

izolate 6y ago
This is a somewhat myopic take on the subject. As a digital nomad, I like the fact that I can use Uber/Uber Eats in multiple cities/countries.
- puranjay 6y ago
  As a digital nomad, you are in a small minority and there can be experiences created specifically for your needs.
esoterica 6y ago
There are substantial fixed costs around developing an app that are cheaper when amortized over a larger market. It’s more efficient to write one app to be used globally than 100 apps for 100 different cities. Also people definitely get food delivered while on vacation or traveling for work. Probably even more often than they do at home since they don’t have access to a kitchen to cook in.
- johannes1234321 6y ago
  Also brand recognition. Over here pizza.de for a long time was the market leader. You can't beat that name and push it with a national merketing campaign. Wehreve in the country, go to pizza.de. (Meanwhile deliveryhero / Lieferheld acquired them using VC money (Rocket Internet and others))
chapium 6y ago
I used grubhub pretty exclusively as a consultant who was unfamiliar with my surroundings and too tired/jetlagged after a day of work to find food. The same chain restaurants and hotel food gets old very quickly.
JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago
Anecdotal, but I only use food delivery apps when I travel, specifically for business trips. After flights + a long day in a possibly unfamiliar area, I defer to the app.
- chrisseaton 6y ago
  But where are you getting the food delivered to if you aren't at home?
  - johannes1234321 6y ago
    The hotel or office.
    - chrisseaton 6y ago
      I didn't know you could do that. Most hotels I visit have key cards for the elevators. Are you meeting them in the lobby? Isn't that awkward?
      - matz1 6y ago
        Yes. How is it awkward?
        chrisseaton 6y ago
        Are hotels happy with delivery people hanging around their lobbies with smelly hot food? I imagine they'd ask you to not do that and it'd be awkward.
        root_axis 6y ago
        Huh? Ordering food to a hotel is totally normal, the concierge is not offended by "smelly hot food" and certainly I've never heard of a hotel asking guests not to order food.
        6y ago
SatvikBeri 6y ago
It's very helpful for travel – e.g., I could use Ubereats even while I was in Japan, despite not knowing the language or which apps are good. And I'm much more likely to order delivery while traveling, since I can't cook. I'm also not really sure what advantages there are to having 100+ local apps as opposed to a few national ones, there genuinely is a lot of infrastructure involved, and it's easier to push back against bad behavior on large companies (e.g. when PostMates was pocketing their drivers' tips.)
philwelch 6y ago
In principle you could make the same argument about lots of businesses. There are reasons Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, Target, Starbucks and the like dominated or destroyed their local competitors. The same would most likely happen to a local food delivery business.
fernandotakai 6y ago
>I still don't understand why there is a single global (or rather, country-wide) app for food delivery uber eats works in a lot of countries. i've ordered food using it on south america, north america and europe all on the same account with the same experience.
choward 6y ago
I still don't understand the idea of "apps" for everything. There no reason these aren't just web apps which can be accessed by people who don't have phones. Dividing these apps into arbitrary regions seems pointless. And if it's just a web app who cares if I visit fooddeliversite.com/region or fooddeliverysiteforregion.com. The only difference is I have to create an account for each site with the latter which is very inconvenient.
- propogandist 6y ago
  >I still don't understand the idea of "apps" for everything. how would apple and google get a 30% commission off a web-app?! you must create an app! There's an massive ecosystem built around the current model and a lot of money that can be siphoned off. Just take a look at the AdTech space >Probe finds middlemen siphon off half of online advertising spend https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/07/ad_tech_fees_sucked/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/07/ad_tech_fees_sucked...

izolate 6y ago

This is a somewhat myopic take on the subject. As a digital nomad, I like the fact that I can use Uber/Uber Eats in multiple cities/countries.

puranjay 6y ago
As a digital nomad, you are in a small minority and there can be experiences created specifically for your needs.

esoterica 6y ago

There are substantial fixed costs around developing an app that are cheaper when amortized over a larger market. It’s more efficient to write one app to be used globally than 100 apps for 100 different cities. Also people definitely get food delivered while on vacation or traveling for work. Probably even more often than they do at home since they don’t have access to a kitchen to cook in.

johannes1234321 6y ago
Also brand recognition. Over here pizza.de for a long time was the market leader. You can't beat that name and push it with a national merketing campaign. Wehreve in the country, go to pizza.de. (Meanwhile deliveryhero / Lieferheld acquired them using VC money (Rocket Internet and others))

chapium 6y ago

I used grubhub pretty exclusively as a consultant who was unfamiliar with my surroundings and too tired/jetlagged after a day of work to find food. The same chain restaurants and hotel food gets old very quickly.

JMTQp8lwXL 6y ago

Anecdotal, but I only use food delivery apps when I travel, specifically for business trips. After flights + a long day in a possibly unfamiliar area, I defer to the app.

chrisseaton 6y ago
But where are you getting the food delivered to if you aren't at home?
- johannes1234321 6y ago
  The hotel or office.
  - chrisseaton 6y ago
    I didn't know you could do that. Most hotels I visit have key cards for the elevators. Are you meeting them in the lobby? Isn't that awkward?
    - matz1 6y ago
      Yes. How is it awkward?
      - chrisseaton 6y ago
        Are hotels happy with delivery people hanging around their lobbies with smelly hot food? I imagine they'd ask you to not do that and it'd be awkward.
        root_axis 6y ago
        Huh? Ordering food to a hotel is totally normal, the concierge is not offended by "smelly hot food" and certainly I've never heard of a hotel asking guests not to order food.
        6y ago

SatvikBeri 6y ago

It's very helpful for travel – e.g., I could use Ubereats even while I was in Japan, despite not knowing the language or which apps are good. And I'm much more likely to order delivery while traveling, since I can't cook. I'm also not really sure what advantages there are to having 100+ local apps as opposed to a few national ones, there genuinely is a lot of infrastructure involved, and it's easier to push back against bad behavior on large companies (e.g. when PostMates was pocketing their drivers' tips.)

philwelch 6y ago

In principle you could make the same argument about lots of businesses. There are reasons Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, Target, Starbucks and the like dominated or destroyed their local competitors. The same would most likely happen to a local food delivery business.

fernandotakai 6y ago

>I still don't understand why there is a single global (or rather, country-wide) app for food delivery uber eats works in a lot of countries. i've ordered food using it on south america, north america and europe all on the same account with the same experience.

choward 6y ago

I still don't understand the idea of "apps" for everything. There no reason these aren't just web apps which can be accessed by people who don't have phones. Dividing these apps into arbitrary regions seems pointless. And if it's just a web app who cares if I visit fooddeliversite.com/region or fooddeliverysiteforregion.com. The only difference is I have to create an account for each site with the latter which is very inconvenient.

propogandist 6y ago
>I still don't understand the idea of "apps" for everything. how would apple and google get a 30% commission off a web-app?! you must create an app! There's an massive ecosystem built around the current model and a lot of money that can be siphoned off. Just take a look at the AdTech space >Probe finds middlemen siphon off half of online advertising spend https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/07/ad_tech_fees_sucked/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/07/ad_tech_fees_sucked...