From Deliveroo to UberEATS: Driving a New Era in Food Delivery Services
At the forefront of these is Deliveroo, a London-based start-up that delivers food from a wide range of UK restaurants that don’t currently offer a takeaway service. From Nando’s to Wagamama, and Byron to healthy Boost Juice, Deliveroo has enlisted some of the biggest names in the UK restaurant industry to help them get their food to the tables of their customers, rather than the other way around.
But it’s not just the major chains that Deliveroo works with; in each city where Deliveroo operates, they work with local independent restaurants and eateries too, and even Michelin-star restaurants in London, supporting them in growing or satisfying their customer base – for a small commission, of course – and also providing an antidote to the greasy, unhealthy food delivery options that we’ve so typically used to.
How does Deliveroo work?
Founded by New Yorker Will Shu, who was astonished at and inspired by the lack of food delivery options when he first moved to London (several food delivery services of a similar ilk have already been launched in the USA), Deliveroo is an online service through which hungry users can browse partner restaurants in their local area, and place an order for food delivery. What makes Deliveroo unique is that the restaurants no longer have to fulfil the delivery themselves, as Deliveroo’s food couriers, known as ‘Roomen’ and ‘Roowomen’, will collect the food from the restaurant when it is ready and deliver it to the customers, within a guaranteed 30-minute window.
Don't forget when you're out and about #ROOspotting is a thing, win good food for your good face! £25 meal for the best pic every month. #Deliveroo #prizes #food #ROOwards A photo posted by Deliveroo (@deliveroo_uk) on
Taking the responsibility off the restaurants to fulfil food orders is cost-effective, time-saving and also enables them to uphold their high standards, as instead of relying on a small team of their own delivery drivers, they benefit from Deliveroo’s large team of delivery drivers (or cyclists). Deliveroo now operates in over 30 UK cities and more than 20 international cities, and the company itself is now thought to be worth billions, but the founder is still known to make deliveries himself on weekends.
Deliveroo’s offering isn’t to be confused with that of Hungryhouse and Just Eat, which are online services that enable users to browse and order from local takeaways, but the food is still delivered by the takeaways themselves. In many cities, Deliveroo’s choice of restaurants is still fairly limited and the service only operates within a small radius, but as its success seems to be unstoppable, it’s surely only a matter of time until almost everyone can use it.
The future of UK food delivery services
While Deliveroo is the first service of its kind in the UK, it’s not the first in the world, though it does still have its unique qualities. Not content with disrupting the taxi service industry, in early 2015 Uber launched their stand-alone food delivery service app, UberEATS, in over 10 locations across the USA and Canada and also a couple in Europe.
UberEATS enables Uber users to order food from selected restaurants in their city via the app, which is collected and delivered by an Uber driver. UberEATS is a ‘curated’ service, meaning that only a very select number of items are available for delivery each day, but the menus are announced a week in advance. The benefit to having such a small offering is also that the restaurants can have the food ready to be collected and delivered very quickly – even within minutes.
Thankfully for Deliveroo, UberEATS hasn’t arrived on our shores yet, but as the Uber car service continues to be rolled out in more and more UK cities it’s surely only a matter of time. And no doubt that seeing the success of Deliveroo, there are already several more companies hoping to hop onto the food service delivery train.
Why should you sign up to a food delivery service?
If Deliveroo and other such food delivery services have you intrigued, and they’re available in your local area, you might be considering signing up. Deliveroo is selective about the restaurants it works with and targets a ‘premium’ level of restaurant, so if you were able to become a Deliveroo partner restaurant, you’d be in good company.
As we’ve already mentioned, Deliveroo takes the pressure off restaurants to offer their own delivery services, enabling them to focus on the actual preparation of the food. However, restaurants are responsible for packaging the food for delivery, so quality take out food containers and disposable plastic cutlery are a must.
Restaurants that work with Deliveroo pay a small commission per order, so you only pay for the orders that are actually made. This makes using the service very cost-effective and you can charge more for your delivery menu items than if they were ordered in the restaurant, but you’re encouraged not to.
There’s also stock availability to consider too. Chances are that you know your required stock levels for every day of the week as precisely as the back of your hand, but opening out your menu for delivery will mean you’ll need to plan and anticipate for potentially huge spikes in orders. You may not get it right at first, but it will certainly be a steep learning curve.
Extra extra! ??@paperboyparis ??: @elieyobeid A photo posted by UberEATS (@ubereats) on
Above all though, food delivery services offer the enormous advantage of bringing your food to your customers right when they need it, and aren’t able to travel to you, which fosters strong brand loyalty. It also encourages new customers to give you a try and experience a little of what your restaurant is about, without them having to give up their precious time to dine in.
We’d love to hear what you think of Deliveroo, UberEATS and the world of food delivery services, as well as whether you’ll be giving them a try. Do you think offering your food for delivery devalues a brand, or adds to the experience? Would you trust an independent party to deliver your food? Leave us a comment below or send us a tweet at @BunzlLockhart.
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