
Food delivery is a
courier service in which a restaurant, store, or independent food-delivery company delivers food to a customer. An order is typically made either by telephone, through the supplier's
website
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
or
mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a smartphone, phone, tablet computer, tablet, or smartwatch, watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop appli ...
, or through a third party food ordering service. The delivered items can include
entrees,
sides,
drink
A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothie ...
s,
dessert
Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...
s, or grocery items and are typically delivered in
box
A box (plural: boxes) is a container with rigid sides used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides (typically rectangular prisms). Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or v ...
es or
bag
A bag, also known regionally as a sack, is a common tool in the form of a floppy container, typically made of cloth, leather, bamboo, paper, or plastic. The use of bags predates recorded history, with the earliest bags being lengths of animal s ...
s. The delivery person will normally drive a
car
A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...
, but in bigger
cities
A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
where homes and restaurants are closer together, they may use
bikes or
motorized scooter
A motorized scooter is a stand-up Kick scooter, scooter powered by either a small internal combustion engine or electric Wheel hub motor, hub motor in its front and/or rear wheel. Classified as a form of micromobility, they are generally designed ...
s.
Due to shifting habits in response to lockdowns and restrictions from the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, online food delivery through third-party companies has become a growing industry and caused a "delivery revolution."
Nascent technologies, such as
autonomous vehicles have also been used to complete deliveries.
Customers can, depending on the delivery company, choose to pay online or in person, with
cash
In economics, cash is money in the physical form of currency, such as banknotes and coins.
In book-keeping and financial accounting, cash is current assets comprising currency or currency equivalents that can be accessed immediately or near-i ...
or
card
Card or The Card may refer to:
Common uses
* Plastic cards of various types:
**Bank card
**Credit card
**Debit card
**Payment card
* Playing card, used in games
* Printed circuit board, or card
* Greeting card, given on special occasions
Arts an ...
. A
flat rate
A flat fee, also referred to as a flat rate or a linear rate refers to a pricing structure that charges a single fixed fee for a service, regardless of usage. Less commonly, the term may refer to a rate that does not vary with usage or time of u ...
delivery
fee
A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...
is often charged with what the customer has bought. Sometimes no delivery fees are charged depending upon the situation.
Tips are sometimes
customary for food delivery service. Contactless delivery may also be an option.
Other aspects of food delivery include
catering
Catering is the business of providing food services at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
History of catering
The earliest account of major service ...
and wholesale
food service
The foodservice (US English) or catering (British and Commonwealth English) industry includes the businesses, institutions, and companies which prepare meals outside the home. It includes restaurants, grocery stores, school and hospital cafeteri ...
deliveries to restaurants, cafeterias, health care facilities, and caterers by
foodservice distributor
A food service distributor is a company that provides food and non-food products to restaurants, cafeterias, industrial caterers, hospitals, schools/colleges/universities, nursing homes, and anywhere food is served away from the home.
Description ...
s.
History
The
first food delivery service was for ''
naengmyeon
''Naengmyeon''
* (, in South Korea) or ''raengmyŏn'' (, in North Korea) is a noodle dish of North Korean origin which consists of long and thin handmade noodles made from the flour and starch of various ingredients, including most commonly bu ...
'' (cold noodle) in
Korea
Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
, recorded in 1768. ''
Haejang-guk'' (hangover soup) was also delivered for the
yangban
The ''yangban'' () were part of the traditional ruling class or gentry of dynastic Korea during the Joseon period. The ''yangban'' were mainly composed of highly educated civil officials and military officers—landed or unlanded aristocrats wh ...
in the 1800s. Advertisement for food delivery and catering also appeared in the newspaper in 1906.
The Muffin Man
"The Muffin Man" is a traditional nursery rhyme, children's song, or children's game of England, English origin. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7922.
Origins and meaning
The rhyme was first recorded in a British manuscript circa 1820, ...
is a nursery rhyme first recorded in 1820. Victorian households often had fresh food delivered, with the door-to-door vendor of English muffins known as the muffin man.
In 1962, an Edinburgh
fish and chip shop
A fish and chip shop, sometimes referred to as a chip shop or chippy, is a restaurant that specialises in selling fish and chips. Usually, fish and chip shops provide takeaway service, although some have seating facilities. Fish and chip shop ...
started delivering
fish suppers, chicken and hamburgers by car within the Edinburgh metropolitan area. The food was delivered in a stainless steel insulated pot to keep it warm.
Types
Meal delivery
A meal delivery service sends customers fresh or frozen
prepared meals delivered to their home or office, perhaps in the form of cooked, individually pre-portioned meals. Meals may come in small
tupperware
Tupperware is an American company that manufactures and internationally distributes preparation, storage, and serving containers for the kitchen and home. It was founded in 1942 by Earl Tupper, who developed his first bell-shaped container and ...
containers and are often labeled with nutritional information. Some providers offer many options for specific diet types like vegetarian and vegan. These services often operate on a
subscription business model
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...
rather than by individual order as in
pizza delivery
Pizza delivery is a service in which a pizzeria or pizza chain delivers a pizza to a customer. An order is typically made either by telephone or over the internet, in which the customer can request pizza type and size, and other items to be ...
or with the broader category of
online food ordering
Online food ordering is the process of ordering food, for Food delivery, delivery or pickup, from a website or other application. The product can be either ready-to-eat food (e.g., direct from a home-kitchen, restaurant, or a virtual restaurant) ...
.
An alternative type of meal delivery service is a
meal kit
A meal kit is a subscription service–foodservice business model where a company sends customers pre-portioned and sometimes partially prepared food ingredients and recipes to prepare home-cooked meals. Services that send pre-cooked meals are ...
, which distributes ingredients and recipes that customers prepare themselves.
Meal delivery orders are typically on demand, intended to be eaten right away, and include hot, already-prepared food. While some service providers offer
subscription services
The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a Product (business), product or Service (business), service. The model Publication by subscription, was pioneer ...
, ordering for delivery usually involves contacting a local restaurant or chain by telephone or online. Online ordering is available in many countries, where some stores offer online menus and ordering. Since 1995, companies such as
Waiter.com have their own interfaces where customers order food from nearby restaurants that have partnered with the service. Meal delivery requires special technology and care, since the food items are already cooked and prepared, and can be easily damaged if dropped, tilted, or left out for long periods of time. Hotbags are often used to keep food warm. They are
thermal bags, typically made of
vinyl
Vinyl may refer to:
Chemistry
* Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer
* Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation
* Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry
* Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
,
nylon
Nylon is a family of synthetic polymers characterised by amide linkages, typically connecting aliphatic or Polyamide#Classification, semi-aromatic groups.
Nylons are generally brownish in color and can possess a soft texture, with some varieti ...
, or
Cordura, that passively retain heat.
In
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
,
dabbawala
A dabbawala (also spelled dabbawalla or dabbawallah, called tiffin wallah in older sources) is a worker who delivers hot lunches from homes and restaurants to people at work in India, especially in Mumbai. The dabbawalas constitute a Tiffin car ...
s deliver hundreds of thousands of lunches (''
tiffin
Tiffin is a South Asian English word for a type of meal. It refers to a light breakfast or a light tea-time meal at about 3 p.m., consisting of typical tea-time foods. In certain parts of India, it can also refer to the midday luncheon or ...
'') to paying subscribers every workday through a system of rail and bicycle links. The lunches are sent in
tiffin carrier
Tiffin carriers or dabbas are a kind of lunch box used widely in Asia and the Caribbean for tiffin meals. From India, they spread to Malaysia and Singapore and to Trinidad and Tobago.
In the Indian city of Mumbai, there is a complex and efficie ...
s, and are prepared in the late morning by either a restaurant or family member (typically a wife for a working husband, since many families still follow traditional asymmetrical
gender role
A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex.
Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...
s). The tiffins are then returned either in the afternoon or the next day by the same system.
In the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, most commonly delivered meals are from fast food chains like
Jollibee
Jollibee is a Filipino chain of fast food restaurants owned by Jollibee Foods Corporation (JFC) which serves as its flagship brand. Established in 1978 by Tony Tan Caktiong, it is the Philippines' top fast food restaurant and is among the ...
,
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation, doing business as McDonald's, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain. As of 2024, it is the second largest by number of locations in the world, behind only the Chinese ch ...
, Pizza Hut, Shakey's, KFC, etc. Orders are being done through their delivery websites, mobile apps, or by phone. Time of delivery usually takes around 30 to 45 minutes.
In
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, consumers mainly place food delivery orders via
smartphone apps, with the number of users approaching 500 million people as of 2020. The transaction scale of China's food delivery market is expected to eventually surpass US $129.17 billion, an increase of 14.8% year-on-year.
Delivery of ingredients
Community-supported agriculture
Community-supported agriculture (CSA model) or cropsharing is a system that connects producers and consumers within the food system closer by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms. It is an altern ...
schemes work on a
subscription box
Subscription boxes are a recurring delivery of niche products as part of a marketing strategy and a method of product distribution. Subscription boxes are used by subscription-based ecommerce businesses, referred to as "subcom" for short, which ...
model, where a box of vegetables, dairy product, fish, or meat is delivered periodically from a local vendor.
Various
meal kit
A meal kit is a subscription service–foodservice business model where a company sends customers pre-portioned and sometimes partially prepared food ingredients and recipes to prepare home-cooked meals. Services that send pre-cooked meals are ...
delivery subscription services have started in Europe and North America since 2007. These typically have pre-measured ingredients designed for accompanying recipes.
Grocery delivery
Grocery delivery companies will deliver
groceries
A grocery store (American English, AE), grocery shop or grocer's shop (British English, BE) or simply grocery is a retail store that primarily retails a general range of food Product (business), products, which may be Fresh food, fresh or Food p ...
, pre-prep or pre-made meals, and more to customers. The companies work with brick and mortar stores or their own line of grocery items. These orders are typically larger and more expensive than normal meal deliveries, and are often not meant to be eaten right away, rather they are to replace items someone has run out of, like
flour
Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
or
milk
Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...
. They are almost always done online, and typically take at least one day to deliver, though some companies offer same-day delivery. Many delivery services are required to offer delivery within two hours because frozen and fresh foods must be delivered before they spoil.
Grocery delivery differs greatly from meal delivery in the sense that it is usually sent as a
parcel through common mailing services like
USPS
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...
or
FedEx
FedEx Corporation, originally known as Federal Express Corporation, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company specializing in Package delivery, transportation, e-commerce, and ...
, if it is only non-perishables. Since non-perishable items are normally packaged before arriving at grocery stores, they can easily be repackaged and delivered to customers without any special care. Sometimes,
dry ice
Dry ice is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is commonly used for temporary refrigeration as CO2 does not have a liquid state at normal atmospheric pressure and Sublimation (phase transition), sublimes directly from the solid state to the gas ...
is added to keep
perishable items fresh. Fresh and frozen foods complicate delivery which is done, usually by store/provider employees or third party services.
The grocery delivery business emerged, with hundreds of
niche delivery companies springing up offering a variety of different services from weekly grocery restock to pre-planned, pre-measured family meals to simplify cooking. Online retailer giants have hopped on board too. Amazon.com, for example, offers
AmazonFresh delivery service. Amazon purchased
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...
in 2017, and by 2018 Amazon had added Whole Foods items to its
Prime Now service, for 2-hour delivery in certain markets.
According to
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
, grocery stores should deliver their own groceries to help prevent third party, part-time, non-store deliverers from becoming the 'face' or brand image of their local grocer. Limitations of having to pick and deliver groceries within a short period of time need to be remedied to allow for more flexibility to enable more deliveries to be more efficiently routed. Frozen and fresh food refrigeration units inside the store and the delivery vehicle, as well as lockable, consumer refrigeration boxes at the consumers home will be a solution that allows the groceries to be delivered at any time, further relieving delivery issues. This scenario will allow more local grocers to deliver with employees vs outside delivery services.
Associated fees

In addition to paying for the food, customers will often have to pay a delivery fee. The delivery fee will cover the cost of gas or other transportation costs, but usually does not go to the delivery person. For meal delivery, it is common to give the deliverer an optional
tip upon paying for the order. In Canada and the United States, tipping for delivery is customary. Opinions on appropriate amounts vary widely. In addition, grocery stores may charge more for the foods that are ordered online for delivery than they charge for the same items off-the-shelf.
In restaurant delivery, if the delivery service is provided by a third party, such as Uber Eats or
Deliveroo
Deliveroo is a British multinational online food delivery company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. It formerly ...
, the delivery fee, which can be as much as 25 or 30 percent of the value of the order, is paid by the restaurant to the service provider. In addition to the delivery fees, the service companies charge the restaurants a fee to set up the account, further cutting into the restaurants' margins.
Due to intense competition between the service providers wishing to sign up restaurants to use their services, restaurants have been able to negotiate lower delivery fees. McDonald's negotiated the delivery fees charged by Uber Eats from nearly 20 percent to "around 15 percent," according to a report in ''
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''.
In October 2020,
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...
County Executive Marc Elrich announced that he and the
Montgomery County Council (Maryland) were investigating the county’s ability to force lower fees charged to restaurants by food delivery apps.
Service providers
In the United States, the first restaurant food delivery service in the world began in 1995 with World Wide Waiter and still operates today as
Waiter.com. The top three restaurant food delivery services are
DoorDash
DoorDash, Inc. is an American company operating online food ordering and food delivery. It trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% market share, DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the United States. It also has a 60% market sha ...
,
GrubHub
Grubhub Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American online and mobile prepared food ordering and delivery platform based in Chicago, Illinois.
Founded in 2004, it was a subsidiary of the Dutch company Just Eat Takeaway since 2021. In 2024, Wond ...
, and
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021.
History
Uber Eats' parent company Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett ...
, which together account for some 80 percent of the sector's revenue. The remainder is accounted for by smaller services.
From 2018 to 2021, global revenues for the online food delivery sector rose from $90 billion to $294 billion.
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
Nanaimo ( ) is a city of about 100,000 on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. "The Harbour City" was previously known as the "Hub City", which was attributed to its original layout design with streets radiating fr ...
,
Oshawa
Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the Greater Toronto Area and of the Golden Horseshoe. It ...
, and
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...
through a
franchise approach, Canuck Eats adapts to local needs while boosting regional economies and diversifying the Canadian food delivery landscape.
In Europe, major restaurant delivery services include
Deliveroo
Deliveroo is a British multinational online food delivery company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. It formerly ...
,
Delivery Hero/
Food Panda,
Just Eat Takeaway
Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V. (formerly Takeaway.com; founded as Thuisbezorgd.nl) is a Dutch multinational online food ordering and Food delivery, delivery company, formed from the Mergers and acquisitions, merger of London-based Just Eat and Amste ...
,
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021.
History
Uber Eats' parent company Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett ...
, and
Wolt
WOLT (103.3 FM "Indy 103.3") is a commercial radio station in Indianapolis, Indiana. It broadcasts a classic alternative radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. WOLT carries the nationally syndicated "Woody Show" in morning dri ...
.
In South America, food delivery services include
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021.
History
Uber Eats' parent company Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett ...
,
DoorDash
DoorDash, Inc. is an American company operating online food ordering and food delivery. It trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% market share, DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the United States. It also has a 60% market sha ...
,
Grubhub
Grubhub Inc. (stylized in all caps) is an American online and mobile prepared food ordering and delivery platform based in Chicago, Illinois.
Founded in 2004, it was a subsidiary of the Dutch company Just Eat Takeaway since 2021. In 2024, Wond ...
, and Colombia based
Rappi. Both Didi and Rappi are funded by
SoftBank
is a Japanese multinational Investment company, investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, that focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services ...
, the Japanese investment fund that is also a major investor in Uber.
In China, food delivery services include
DiDi (the dominant ride-hailing company in China),and
Alibaba-acquired Ele.me; and
Tencent-backed Meituan
Meituan ( zh, p=Měituán, c=美团, literally "beautiful group"; formerly Meituan–Dianping, literally "beautiful group–reviews") is a Chinese shopping platform for locally found consumer products and retail services including entertainment ...
. Users can order restaurant food, supermarket products, vegetables and fruit, cakes and flowers for delivery on these platforms. China's food delivery market is expected to cross $21 billion in 2021.In India, the food delivery services include
Zomato and
Swiggy. Indian online food delivery is expected to become an $8 billion industry by 2020.
In Africa, the food delivery services include
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021.
History
Uber Eats' parent company Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett ...
currently operating in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
and
Nairobi
Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...
;
Glovo currently available in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
;
Jumia Food currently operating in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
,
Nigeria
Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
,
Algeria
Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...
,
Ghana
Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
,
Tunisia
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...
,
Ivory Coast
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...
, and
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
;
Mr D Food currently available in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
; OrderIn available in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
; Ayazona currently available in
Nairobi, Kenya
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a reference to the Nairobi Riv ...
; Delivery Yo currently available in
Uganda
Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...
; and Yum Deliveries available in
Kenya
Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...
. Online food delivery in Africa is an emerging market that has seen a soaring growth in 2020 with new competitive market entries. 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
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform launched by the company Uber in 2014. It is operational in over 6,000 cities in 45 countries as of 2021.
History
Uber Eats' parent company Uber was founded in 2009 by Garrett ...
, and
CoupangEats. Korea online food delivery industry is expected to reach $10 billion by 2020.
In the
Gulf Cooperation Council
The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (), also known as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC; ), is a Regional integration, regional, intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental, political, and economic union comprising Ba ...
Region, after Uber Eats decided to close its operations in Middle Eastern markets, major food delivery services include now
Careem Now,
Deliveroo
Deliveroo is a British multinational online food delivery company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. It formerly ...
,
Talabat and Noon Food since 2021.
Software platforms
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.
To streamline this,
software-as-a-service
Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...
(SaaS) companies have emerged to integrate the online ordering, billing and dispatching of restaurant food orders.
In addition to providing online ordering software for restaurant chains (e.g.
Applebee’s,
Cheesecake Factory,
Chipotle
A chipotle ( , ), or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern United States dishes. It comes in differen ...
,
Shake Shack), these SaaS companies' digital platforms also provide data analysis that these restaurants use for medium- and long-term planning.
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.
Moreover,
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...
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. 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.
Criticism
In May 2022, workers in two of the biggest GCC food-delivery service providers,
Deliveroo
Deliveroo is a British multinational online food delivery company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It operates in the United Kingdom, France, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Qatar. It formerly ...
and
Talabat staged a mass walk out from their workplace in
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
. 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.
Food delivery has been criticised for enabling
unreported employment
Unreported employment, also known as unlawful employment, illegal employment, working under the table or off the books is employment that is illegal and not reported to the government. The employer or the employee often does so for tax evasion ...
.
See also
*
Food technology
Food technology is a branch of food science that addresses the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of food products.
It may also be understood as the science of ensuring that a society is food secure and ha ...
*
Meals on Wheels
*
Milk delivery
*
Online grocer
An online grocer is a supermarket or grocery store that allows ordering via websites or mobile apps. The order can either be collected by the customer or delivered to the customer by drivers engaged by the grocer, a food delivery service, or by ...
*
Take-out
A take-out (US, Canada, Philippines) or takeaway (UK, Ireland, Commonwealth) is a prepared meal or other food items purchased at a restaurant or fast food outlet with the intent to eat elsewhere. A concept found in many ancient cultures, take ...
*
Yakult lady
References
External links
*
{{Meals navbox
Distribution (marketing)
Food industry