[ab_testing]

COVID-19 is like the golden age of food delivery. If these food delivery apps are not profitable now, they will probably never be profitable. When the severity of COVID subsides in a few years, people will like to go out to eat again rather than have it delivered.

[iso1631]

The only reason I could think of to use something like ubereats, deliveroo, justeat, etc would be if I wanted a non-pizza delivered while I was staying in a hotel in a strange city somewhere.

If I'm at home I'll look at the menu of my favourite indian/chineese/whatever place, phone them up, and they deliver it as they have done for decades.

I've spent two nights in a hotel since March, normally it's 70 a year. One night I ordered a dominos as I got back to the hotel just before 2300. The other night I ate out with a supplier.

Likewise with Uber, if I'm at home and not flying off somewhere, I'm not going to be ordering a taxi, either to get to the airport, or when I'm in a strange city on the other side of the planet.

I can see this is the golden age of takeaways and home-delivery (which basically means amazon or groceries), but I don't see it for takeaways.

[cortesoft]

I get so frustrated when people act like these food delivery services aren’t a WAY better user experience than the old version of having to call for delivery.

So many times, I will be super busy with the kids, or work, or housework, and I will just pull up DoorDash with one hand (while the other is feeding a hangry 1 year old) and hit ‘reorder’ on one of my past meals. Literally 15 seconds and food is on the way.

Compare this to having to call someone, wait on hold, give my phone number/address, tell them my order, correct the mistakes, find my wallet, get out my credit card, give them the number, confirm the number and expiration and security code, then sign a paper copy with the tip when the driver drops it off.

Can I do the old style of delivery? Sure, but man it is a lot easier now.

[mrweasel]

Sure, if that's how food delivery works where you live, then I'm sure that the SF/Silicon Vally type services works better. But that's because the service suck where you live.

Most fast food place either use JustEat or Hungry to accept your order and take your credit card information, if they don't have their own website or app. They will have their own drivers, employed and paid directly by the restaurant and they don't expect a tip.

That's what I compare any "startup" food delivery service to. So they will always be worse and more expensive, because a third party is now involved.

[treeman79]

Most local places have a very strong accent.

Tastier the food, stronger the accent.

Several places we flat out can’t communicate with.

The worse is a local pizza joint with the thickest Indian accent I’ve every heard. I work with Indians, and I still can’t understand them. Really good pizza.

Ask the whole kid angle. Kids screaming, work screaming, wife screaming...

[sneak]

I wonder if there's a business in building apps specifically for individual restaurants (chains or even local ones, using cookie-cutter apps) that integrates card processing and such; white label doordash. The business would pay a flat monthly fee for the service and would have to have their own delivery people. Apple Pay et c make the payment side of things painless and prevents people having to re-enter details in each app.

Why isn't this a thing? Is it that few/no restaurants have delivery drivers?

I can't imagine many restaurants benefit that much from the discovery features in UE/DD/etc.

[cortesoft]

This loses such a big advantage that the current services have... only entering your information once and being able to order from any restaurant in a single portal.

As for discovery, I don’t have data, but I know personally that about half of my regular order spots are places I found by scrolling through door dash.

[novok]

Shopify for restaurants, with shopify pay?

[Balgair]

Not to trivialize your experiences (toddlers are not easy), but for me, the list you give isn't all that much of a barrier. Yes, it is simpler to use the app, but not all that much more. Also, where I am, they take the credit card at the door, not over the phone. Most use a Square-style card reader attached to a work phone, even the mom-n-pop delivery, even now in the pandemic (they use gloves mostly).

[cortesoft]

Again, I am not saying it isn't doable to order the old fashioned way, but the newer system is CLEARLY easier and faster. There is simply no way you could order and be done with a call in order in 15 seconds.

Your argument (that it is not much of a barrier to use the old way) can be made for so many of the quality of life improvements we have made over the course of human history. Not every advancement is an entire new category of things we can accomplish; so much is just slight improvements that save time and make things a bit easier.

I feel like there has been a backlash against time saving tech, where people wax nostalgic about how much better the older/slower systems were. I don't understand it. I am so happy for all the timesaving advancements we have made over the years. Now, if we don't use that saved time wisely, that is a whole other issue. However, I don't think going back to slower systems is the solution to not using our free time well.

[ABCLAW]

> I feel like there has been a backlash against time saving tech

It isn't a luddite backlash. It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference.

There are certain benefits to apps that exist, don't get me wrong. Discoverability, flexible pricing, direct-to-consumer-marketing, etc. But most of those don't apply to me at the consumer level. Do I want to pay 20% more for the convenience of browsing menus? Not really. I'm on the app to buy food and get it delivered. Insofar as some places now offer delivery where before they didn't, I benefit. Insofar as the same places I used to frequent now apply a markup to cover the cut the app gets, I lose out.

The UX improvement of being able to press 'reorder' has never eclipsed calling into my favourite local spot, asking for the regular, wishing the owner well, then discovering he put extra dumplings in the bag for me.

[svrb]

> It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference.

Hold on, why does your opinion about the value-add get to determine whether I should be allowed to pay for that convenience?

[cortesoft]

I guess the features means more for me... I would pay 20% more for the consistent menus, one touch ordering and reordering, not having to re-enter payment information, and not having to talk to anyone on the phone.

[sumedh]

> It's just that in many cases the value-add for customers doesn't justify the price difference.

Let the market decide that.

[talentedcoin]

I don't think the backlash is against saving time FWIW (although I get you, time is precious especially with kids around!!). It's more something like -- is this an investment society would bother to make without loads of cheap VC money?

I view it as an unstable equilibrium -- something's gotta give sooner or later, these businesses are barely sustainable. Is the convenience ultimately worth it in the aggregate, if Uber needs to embrace tactics like these just to survive?

(I admit I have a bias here, I think the gig economy sucks.)

[cortesoft]

I would happily pay more for the service to pay delivery drivers more. I tip a ridiculous amount on each order.

[propogandist]

by using Uber and virtually all delivery apps, you're eating into the restaurant's margins and allowing a big corporation to shaft the delivery guy and really everyone in the supply chain.

You're also enabling a parasitic corporation to generate more revenue, when it should be shuttered with nearly a billion in losses every quarter.

[sumedh]

> you're eating into the restaurant's margins

Some restaurants in Australia have higher menu prices for delivery services.

[DEADBEEFC0FFEE]

Personally, I prefer to give my money directly to the food maker if possible. They are local and I want them to succeed. Admittedly I don't use these services often, but a couple of local places have mobile friendly webpage and I'm happy with the friction. I think over the food makers will simply gat decent platforms.

[cortesoft]

I like having a single portal to order from hundreds of restaurants. I use them for food discovery, and then I can order from any without having to re-enter info.

I would happily pay more for this service. I don’t want to take advantage of anyone, so please charge me enough to get me this kind of service and pay everyone a fair wage.

[pintxo]

My preferred Sushi place will recognize me by my phone number and take my order within seconds. Payment in cash at the door. There is no reason why the process could not be quick and hassle free, even using the phone.

[cortesoft]

Sure, but that is still not as convenient. I don’t carry cash very often, and with doordash/grub hub, they can leave the food at the door for no contact.

I can also try a ton of new restaurants without having to re-enter my details, and there is a consistent interface. In addition, I get some sort of guarantee that the place is legit... if I don’t get my food, I can get a refund.

[sumedh]

> My preferred Sushi place will recognize me by my phone number and take my order within seconds.

What about a new restuarant?

[awodol]

The problem is most restaurants in my city unless they're pizza just don't deliver, and this applies to lots of cities across the country let alone suburbs.

[iso1631]

I wonder if it's a cultural thing, what country are you in?

[awodol]

US. I've had delivery when I visited family in London or Dubai where there was a much better delivery experience so I know it can be great, but it just doesn't seem to be a thing outside of a few cities here.

[rietta]

This was exactly me in Oakland, CA, last year when on a business trip from Atlanta. On the way to the hotel, I was on a shuttle with a pilots and flight crew heading to stay overnight. Was advised not to go walking around by myself. Ended up using Doordash for the first time that night at the Hotel. Now my wife has us on the monthly subscription plan back home because of COVID.

[iso1631]

> but I don't see it for takeaways

.... from somewhere new

[birdyrooster]

Mmm Naan Pizzas are good

[WrtCdEvrydy]

Food delivery will probably never be profitable unless you're able to schedule food delivery days ahead... and utilize the same pathing algorithms used for regular deliveries (like UPS and Fedex).

There's a maximum amount of time someone will wait (1 hour) and the product degrades after it's created (cools off)

[toast0]

I mean, it's not that bad. Delivery is an important part of many restaurants (pizza, jimmy johns (sandwiches), chinese in many cities). The issue in my mind is those restaurants with hugh delivery volume can do multiple deliveries in a single run, and can time the completion of the food to the return of the driver, so the food doesn't spend a lot of time sitting at the restaurant, and neither does the driver.

It's very hard to do that when you're aggregating restaurants and drivers.

[WrtCdEvrydy]

Right, but there's an incentive to perform well because if you don't, the food is returned.

Uber can just write off the loss as more and more money is shoveled into it like coal was shoveled into an engine on a trail.

[Reedx]

I'm guessing they're just trying to hold on until they can convert to robotic delivery. Then it'll be profitable. In the meantime they're preloading the platform, building brand recognition, etc.