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Many of the restaurants that can go delivery only already did, like pizza places and some Chinese restaurants. But the problem is two fold, many food items don

Many of the restaurants that can go delivery only already did, like pizza places and some Chinese restaurants. But the problem is two fold, many food items don’t lend themselves to delivery, and then delivery itself is expensive and doesn’t scale either. A large part of the restaurant experience is dining in, even if that doesn’t include the hospitality, the freshly prepared food will be irreplaceable. The moment it’s packed in boxes a lot of the food loses its edge and items prepared by many chefs will all seem similar. If this concept takes it will take the quality of food down globally. However I am highly skeptical about it and the main reason is delivery, which I still think is a fundamentally unviable business.

kevincox 6y ago
I see your point and agree, for the best food you will want to go and find a table near the kitchen. However much of the market doesn't prioritize the best food as highly as convenience. They will happily order for delivery and get food of a somewhat lower quality for the added convenience. Even if delivery is more expensive than managing dine-in customers they will be willing to pay for that convenience For example I often have friends over and it often makes more sense to order in than busy myself with cooking or traveling to a restaurant and coming back to continue our game/karaoke/whatever. I think there is a large market and various points along the quality/price/convenience tradeoff have the ability to be profitable. There will probably always be a market for fine-dining and always be a market for delivery. There will also be a market for various points in between.
mertd 6y ago
Maybe after not paying high street retail rent and wait staff salaries, margins go high enough to allow delivery, and don't forget the workday lunch market, which is more about convenience and sustenance.
santoshalper 6y ago
The problem I have with arguments that are bearish on food delivery is that they are all focused on supply-chain challenges and ignore the obvious massive demand for the product. Of all the problems you can have in business, the only one that cannot be overcome is a lack of demand. Widespread 1-day delivery of retail goods would have seemed totally absurd and unscalable just 20 years ago ("What, are we gonna FedEx overnight everything? Ridiculous!") and yet here we are. When there is demand, supply will rise to meet it almost every time. Someone will figure out the logistics to make this work and become the Amazon of food (perhaps Amazon?).
- yalogin 6y ago
  Well theoretically you are right but practically speaking even amazon couldn’t really change distance. The whole allure of shipping things from a warehouse and not paying rent is true but at the end of the day amazon ended up setting warehouses all over the country to meet the demand for same day delivery. So it did reduce the real estate costs but it’s still has to stock all items close to the customer. So the efficiency is in cutting display and showroom costs. Food doesn’t fall under that category as it’s very different even from perishable grocery items. That is the source of skepticism. I agree there is demand but it only means that the business will never die, doesn’t mean that it’s going to overhaul the industry. Let’s see though. I do hope some innovative idea comes along.

kevincox 6y ago

I see your point and agree, for the best food you will want to go and find a table near the kitchen. However much of the market doesn't prioritize the best food as highly as convenience. They will happily order for delivery and get food of a somewhat lower quality for the added convenience. Even if delivery is more expensive than managing dine-in customers they will be willing to pay for that convenience For example I often have friends over and it often makes more sense to order in than busy myself with cooking or traveling to a restaurant and coming back to continue our game/karaoke/whatever. I think there is a large market and various points along the quality/price/convenience tradeoff have the ability to be profitable. There will probably always be a market for fine-dining and always be a market for delivery. There will also be a market for various points in between.

mertd 6y ago

Maybe after not paying high street retail rent and wait staff salaries, margins go high enough to allow delivery, and don't forget the workday lunch market, which is more about convenience and sustenance.

santoshalper 6y ago

The problem I have with arguments that are bearish on food delivery is that they are all focused on supply-chain challenges and ignore the obvious massive demand for the product. Of all the problems you can have in business, the only one that cannot be overcome is a lack of demand. Widespread 1-day delivery of retail goods would have seemed totally absurd and unscalable just 20 years ago ("What, are we gonna FedEx overnight everything? Ridiculous!") and yet here we are. When there is demand, supply will rise to meet it almost every time. Someone will figure out the logistics to make this work and become the Amazon of food (perhaps Amazon?).

yalogin 6y ago
Well theoretically you are right but practically speaking even amazon couldn’t really change distance. The whole allure of shipping things from a warehouse and not paying rent is true but at the end of the day amazon ended up setting warehouses all over the country to meet the demand for same day delivery. So it did reduce the real estate costs but it’s still has to stock all items close to the customer. So the efficiency is in cutting display and showroom costs. Food doesn’t fall under that category as it’s very different even from perishable grocery items. That is the source of skepticism. I agree there is demand but it only means that the business will never die, doesn’t mean that it’s going to overhaul the industry. Let’s see though. I do hope some innovative idea comes along.