Food is something everybody can get along over- everybody gets hungry, and most of the time, food hits all the right spots.
How we get our food, however, is something that is always changing among the human race.
Whereas we used to have to hunt to gather food, things have adapted and changed to the point where people are able to drive over to a massive building full of food, and pick out whatever they want… the system seemed perfect.
That is until the human race took yet another step forward with technology- introducing a new and efficient way to get food delivered straight to your home with the click of a button, all while being able to monitor the delivery with a GPS tracker. This was the installment of the food delivery app– something that’s taken the world by storm through the pandemic.
Uber Eats has over 66 million users today, while 79% of DoorDash users said they relied strictly on food delivery services for their meals this past year. Gaby Sansom is a server at the Warehouse in London, and she also used to work as a server at the FireRock Golf Course, in the restaurant. Gaby says takeout and delivery are a #1 priority for these places nowadays.
“When I was working at FireRock, we had our full menu ready for takeout and online orders. People are really starting to do that now to replace eating in, and you’re seeing a lot more restaurants with Uber Eats and SkipTheDishes and all that because so many people would rather just get their food take out now.”
Things weren’t always this way… of course, the pandemic plays a role in all of this.
However, a Cowen & Co. research survey of 2500 people showed 52% of them saying even after the pandemic is over, they’ll still be avoiding dine-in restaurants, and will be sticking to delivery services. So why the sudden change in heart? Aidan Hughes is a driver for DoorDash, and he has a hunch as to why there’s been a shift in the market.
“There’s going to be that group, that 52%, that want to make eating as convenient as possible- and these services allow that. I’ve gotten orders where the place is right beside their house and I ask myself why they didn’t go get it, but there’s a convenience factor for them. You get it delivered right to your door, you don’t experience the hassle.”
In total, the 4 main food-delivery apps (PostMates, Uber Eats, DoorDash and GrubHub) more than doubled their total income from 2.5 billion dollars in 2019, to 5.5 billion dollars in 2020. As these services continue to rake in the dough, experts say it’s the restaurants who’s prices will be affected, but ultimately the consumer will be paying the price.
It appears at least half the consumers have already decided the delivery is worth the price tag.
Exclusive talk with Gaby about how delivery is uniquely hurting servers:
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