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Food delivery is a viable business but only if the objective is truly "food delivery" and not "growth & engagement at all costs". Exactly. But not every resta

Food delivery is a viable business but only if the objective is truly "food delivery" and not "growth & engagement at all costs". Exactly. But not every restaurant is ideal for food delivery. That's where these delivery companies go wrong. We've had pizza delivery for at least half a century. If you lived in an area with enough density, you might also be lucky enough to have a Chinese place that delivered. Maybe McDonald's, or one or two others, again with enough density. Starbucks? Dunkin' Donuts? There's no margin there to make money on delivery, unless you're charging outrageous fees or being bankrolled by VC companies.

Nextgrid 4y ago
> Starbucks? McDonald's? There's no margin there to make money on delivery, unless you're charging outrageous fees I’m not sure about that - if you purely count the money that actually makes it to the drivers, it’s reasonable. The problem with these services is that besides paying for the actual driver, you’re paying about as much if not more to the company itself in the form of explicit fees as well as hidden ones (such as the markups on food items). The latter pushes the prices to unsustainable levels. If you just had to pay drivers, it could work - see my other comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32088565 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32088565) about how delivered food used to work fine despite being done by employees of the restaurant itself and despite lacking the economies of scale that restaurant-agnostic delivery drivers provide.