[vkou]

I have a hard time seeing how you can get a monopoly on restaurant food/fast food. There are few barriers to small-scale competition, and it's very easy for your competitors to differentiate their offerings.

If McDonalds were to buy up every competing fast-food franchise in an area overnight, it'd be just a matter of time before somebody would open a Kurger Bing across the street.

Speaking of economies of scale, those are the kinds of economies of scale you need to compete with to make it big. You need to own half of your supply chain - which seems to be an anathema to VC-funded businesses.

A better question to ask is: Why aren't established food franchises, who own their logistics networks, and can compete on price, not interested in getting into this game? Perhaps they are all missing the forest through the trees - or perhaps food delivery-as-your-core-business is a race to unprofitability.

Now, if you do think that they are missing the forest through the trees, why not have your startup aim for a partnership with Subway, where they handle the food, and you handle the distribution?

[calbear81]

I thought DoorDash was trying to be the behind-the-scenes logistic network for handling distribution for chains like Subway, etc. It's a smart move, why not let the stores own their own brand but use a 3rd party for doing the delivery?