[akrymski]

Market forces will have the opposite effect: leaders in delivery will monopolize further and have even more pricing power, taking ever larger share from restaurants.

Instead we could have had lots of delivery companies competing on price.

Apple may want to control the purchasing experience by only selling their products at Apple Stores. Should I not be able to pay someone for the service of going to the store and buying an iPhone? Is food really that different? This issue already exists in e-commerce: as a buyer do I complain to the delivery service such as UPS or the seller?

[anandsuresh]

True. It is sad that market forces may and likely will have the opposite of the intended effect. Personally, I like the idea of having more options to have healthier competition in the market.

It is also true that the issue is very similar to the one you describe in the e-commerce world. However, I would argue that food delivery is specifically very different from most other products/services. Food is a need; not a want, and poor experience usually produces a stronger-than-usual emotional response... we have all been "hangry" at some point in time. IMO, that specific emotional response is the key differentiator. Hangry customers that are usually unaware of the nuances of the food delivery industry and its practices, usually end up blaming the restaurants. It also doesn't help that feedback mechanisms built into most delivery apps are limited (although I've seen improvements in that area in more recent times).