Uber to Launch Service for Meal Delivery

The UberEats app will allow customers in 10 U.S. localities to order restaurant food for delivery.

January 22, 2016

LOS ANGELES – Soon, residents of 10 cities will be able to use the UberEats app to order and receive restaurant food, the Wall Street Journal reports. Uber Technologies Inc. will soon begin testing its meal delivery service in Atlanta, Austin, Texas, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

UberEats is the car service company’s response to other food delivery startups, such as Postmates and DoorDash. UberEats expands a lunchtime service the company started in 12 cities in 2015. Uber has run into logistical troubles in the past with trying to transport goods as well as people in New York and Washington, D.C.

By March 31, the UberEats app will be available in the Apple and Google app stores. Toronto has been the testing ground for the app and delivery service, which connected users with more than 100 local restaurants and offered 30 minute to 40 minute deliveries between 10 am – 10 pm. UberEats will begin in locations already using its lunchtime service.

A major hurdle is training Uber drivers to become food delivery experts, which creates a new set of challenges for drivers used to picking up and dropping off people. UberEats facilitates the order and estimates the readiness time before locating a driver. The program will also bundle orders from the same restaurant if recipient addresses are close together.

The company also said drivers could choose to participate in UberEats, with delivery fees of around $5 per order, which will be shared with the driver. Uber has its ride-hailing service in 375 cities across the globe.

Starbucks and 7-Eleven have partnered with Postmates on delivery of products. Meanwhile, online delivery of groceries has proliferated in recent years.

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