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The food delivery businesses like Deliveroo and Uber Eat have been fantastic for consumers. Suddenly we have access to a whole range of restaurants, and even c

The food delivery businesses like Deliveroo and Uber Eat have been fantastic for consumers. Suddenly we have access to a whole range of restaurants, and even convenience stores, instead of only the dodgy takeaway pizzas, kebabs, and 'Chinese' for what is a very cheap price. This may not be viable long term because of the low productivity of riders but it's great while the VC money lasts.

mulmen 3y ago
Sure it’s nice when the VCs are buying market share but there’s not a profitable business here. Best case you still have some legacy delivery shops when the VCs get tired of burning cash. In my area both DoorDash and UberEats are ridiculously expensive. GrubHub seems to be the most reasonably, fairly, and transparently priced, but even then it’s a significant premium for a worse experience. I could just have Amazon, Safeway, or WalMart deliver me frozen microwaveable or stovetop dinner with the rest of my groceries. I would get better food for less money with similar effort at the price of a little planning ahead. When delivery apps charge what it actually costs alternatives become far more appealing.
- mytailorisrich 3y ago
  They are not "buying market share", they are enabling a service that did not exist before. Everybody wins expect perhaps eventually the investors...
  - mulmen 3y ago
    Food delivery existed long before these companies. They’re literally spending money to buy market share in the hope they can then increase prices and turn a profit. This is exactly what Uber did to cabs. And what these companies have already done in existing markets.
    - daveoc64 3y ago
      The vast majority of the restaurants on Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat etc. in the UK did not (and still do not) offer delivery themselves. I would say that in the UK it was really only pizza places that offered delivery. Now with these apps you can get virtually any type of cuisine delivered from a wide range of restaurants.
      - mulmen 3y ago
        Right but the food is bad when it’s delivered. That’s why delivery wasn’t offered in the first place.
        mytailorisrich 3y ago
        Considering how popular those services are, I think people are fine with it. The issue really is only profitability: a single delivery is expensive in labour cost while consumers do not want to pay a lot for it.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
        mulmen 3y ago
        Exactly. People are only fine with it when prices are subsidized by venture capital.
didntcheck 3y ago
Agreed, and even for those that did offer delivery before, Deliveroo/UE is a significant improvement. My experience of restaurant-led delivery is longer dispatch times, while they wait to build up a significant batch for delivery, and then them struggling to find your address half the time and having you come hunt for them while on the phone. Deliveroo is fast and to my door, with much better choice and UX. Though the charges they add on at the checkout screen are a bit unexpected sometimes
scaryclam 3y ago
I really didn't notice much difference as a consumer tbh. The restaurants I wanted to eat at ended up a wash since the food didn't do well via delivery, and the rest of them are the regular pizza, kebabs, indian and chinese takeaways that were always there anyway. There's just more of them now, but they're all pretty much the same. What I did notice, was the prices going up if looking at the delivery company websites, so now I just go to the restaurants sites again so I'm not paying additional markups. The biggest "win" is that they all have some form of delivery tracking, so I at least know if they've delivered to someone down the road by accident and I don't have to call up after an hour to find out I'm not getting my food ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mulmen 3y ago

Sure it’s nice when the VCs are buying market share but there’s not a profitable business here. Best case you still have some legacy delivery shops when the VCs get tired of burning cash. In my area both DoorDash and UberEats are ridiculously expensive. GrubHub seems to be the most reasonably, fairly, and transparently priced, but even then it’s a significant premium for a worse experience. I could just have Amazon, Safeway, or WalMart deliver me frozen microwaveable or stovetop dinner with the rest of my groceries. I would get better food for less money with similar effort at the price of a little planning ahead. When delivery apps charge what it actually costs alternatives become far more appealing.

mytailorisrich 3y ago
They are not "buying market share", they are enabling a service that did not exist before. Everybody wins expect perhaps eventually the investors...
- mulmen 3y ago
  Food delivery existed long before these companies. They’re literally spending money to buy market share in the hope they can then increase prices and turn a profit. This is exactly what Uber did to cabs. And what these companies have already done in existing markets.
  - daveoc64 3y ago
    The vast majority of the restaurants on Deliveroo, Uber Eats, Just Eat etc. in the UK did not (and still do not) offer delivery themselves. I would say that in the UK it was really only pizza places that offered delivery. Now with these apps you can get virtually any type of cuisine delivered from a wide range of restaurants.
    - mulmen 3y ago
      Right but the food is bad when it’s delivered. That’s why delivery wasn’t offered in the first place.
      - mytailorisrich 3y ago
        Considering how popular those services are, I think people are fine with it. The issue really is only profitability: a single delivery is expensive in labour cost while consumers do not want to pay a lot for it.
        deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
        mulmen 3y ago
        Exactly. People are only fine with it when prices are subsidized by venture capital.

didntcheck 3y ago

Agreed, and even for those that did offer delivery before, Deliveroo/UE is a significant improvement. My experience of restaurant-led delivery is longer dispatch times, while they wait to build up a significant batch for delivery, and then them struggling to find your address half the time and having you come hunt for them while on the phone. Deliveroo is fast and to my door, with much better choice and UX. Though the charges they add on at the checkout screen are a bit unexpected sometimes

scaryclam 3y ago

I really didn't notice much difference as a consumer tbh. The restaurants I wanted to eat at ended up a wash since the food didn't do well via delivery, and the rest of them are the regular pizza, kebabs, indian and chinese takeaways that were always there anyway. There's just more of them now, but they're all pretty much the same. What I did notice, was the prices going up if looking at the delivery company websites, so now I just go to the restaurants sites again so I'm not paying additional markups. The biggest "win" is that they all have some form of delivery tracking, so I at least know if they've delivered to someone down the road by accident and I don't have to call up after an hour to find out I'm not getting my food ¯\_(ツ)_/¯