Pizza Hut delivery motorbikes

In the United States, the first restaurant food delivery service in the world began in 1995 with World Wide Waiter[23][24] and still operates today as Waiter.com. The top three restaurant food delivery services are DoorDash,[25] GrubHub, and Uber Eats,[26] which together account for some 80 percent of the sector's revenue. The remainder is accounted for by smaller services.[27] From 2018 to 2021, global revenues for the online food delivery sector rose from $90 billion to $294 billion.[1]

In Canada, Canuck Eats, launched in 2020, specifically caters to smaller communities in Canada, beginning with Merritt, BC. It directly collaborates with local restaurants and drivers, offering a model that sidesteps the high fees and operational hurdles of larger competitors. Expanding into Nanaimo, Oshawa, and Edmonton through a franchise approach, Canuck Eats adapts to local needs while boosting regional economies and diversifying the Canadian food delivery landscape.[28]

In Europe, major restaurant delivery services include Deliveroo, Delivery Hero/Food Panda, Just Eat Takeaway, Uber Eats, and Wolt.

In South America, food delivery services include Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, DiDi, the dominant ride-hailing company in China, and Rappi, based in Colombia. Both Didi and Rappi are funded by SoftBank, the Japanese investment fund that is also a major investor in Uber.[29]

In China, food delivery services include Alibaba-acquired Ele.me and Tencent-backed Meituan. Users can order restaurant food, supermarket products, vegetables and fruit, cakes and flowers for delivery on these platforms.[30] China's food delivery market is expected to cross $21 billion in 2021.[31]

Some Japanese deliveries require recycling of food containers.

In India, the food delivery services include Zomato and Swiggy. Indian online food delivery is expected to become an $8 billion industry by 2020.[32]

In Africa, the food delivery services include Uber Eats currently operating in South Africa and Nairobi, Glovo currently available in Kenya,[33] Jumia Food currently operating in Kenya, Nigeria, Algeria, Ghana, Morocco, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, and Uganda, Mr D Food currently available in South Africa, OrderIn available in South Africa, Ayazona currently available in Nairobi, Delivery Yo currently available in Uganda and Yum Deliveries available in Kenya. Online food delivery in Africa is an emerging market that has seen a soaring growth in 2020 with new competitive market entries.[34] Online food delivery in Africa is slowly starting to take off, with multiple niche local delivery companies springing up offering a variety of different services ranging from food deliveries to groceries and house amenities delivery.

In Korea, the food delivery services include Baedal Minjok, Yogiyo, Uber Eats, and CoupangEats. Korea online food delivery industry is expected to reach $10 billion by 2020.[35]

In the GCC Region, after Uber Eats decided to close its operations in Middle Eastern markets, major food delivery services include now Careem Now, Deliveroo, Talabat and Noon Food since 2021.[36][37]

Software platforms

A man and a Starship Technologies delivery robot (right) waiting at a pedestrian crossing in Redwood City, California

As the number of restaurant food delivery systems has increased, so have the logistical challenges of tracking online orders—restaurants using delivery services usually must have each service's tablet or iPad to receive orders, which then must be transferred into the restaurant's own point-of-sales system.[38] To streamline this, software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies have emerged to integrate the online ordering, billing and dispatching of restaurant food orders.[39][40] In addition to providing online ordering software for restaurant chains (e.g. Applebee’s, Cheesecake Factory, Chipotle, Shake Shack), these SaaS companies' digital platforms also provide data analysis that these restaurants use for medium- and long-term planning.[39][40] The application created for food delivery have positive influences on the performance and profits of the restaurant. Besides, it also can help to save money and time for both restaurant and customers.[41]

Moreover, COVID-19 has brought food delivery service to another level. The demand for online food delivery services increased significantly before the COVID-19 pandemic, which amounts to the US$31 billion.[42] Researcher Ahn also mentions that the revenue in the online food delivery segment increased from $76.195 billion in 2017 and aims to achieve $136.431 billion in 2022; the population of food delivery application users is expected to reach 965.8 million people by 2024.[43]

Working conditions

In May 2022, workers in two of the biggest GCC food-delivery service providers, Deliveroo and Talabat staged a mass walk out from their workplace in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. They demanded for better pay and working conditions through one of the rare industrial acts witnessed by the country. In the first walk out, the Deliveroo workers demanded better pay from their employers, while in the second strike foreign workers pushed Talabat to suspend their plans to cut pay by refusing to make deliveries in the emirate. The Gulf monarchy prohibits the formation of independent trade unions, industrial actions of the sort, and public protests. Reportedly, Talabat drivers in UAE received 3,500 dirhams ($953) per month, without the mention of the number of working hours involved, whereas, Deliveroo drivers earned $2.79 for each delivery made. Post petrol charges, the drivers for Talabat complained that they were left with a total monthly earning of 2,500 dirhams a month, after working seven days a week for about 12 to 14 hours a day. The drivers warned of continuing protests until their demands were met. The UAE authorities remained unavailable for immediate comments. The human rights groups have criticized the emirate and other Gulf nations for committing labor abuse by paying low wages to the migrant workers.[44]

See also

icon Food portal

Food technology

Meals on Wheels

Milk delivery

Online grocer

Take-out

Yakult lady

Delivery App