UberEATS are coming
by Leon Gettler
Australian restaurants, cafes and fast food places are about to get some new competition with the arrival of Uber’s food delivery service.
Uber, the controversial die sharing company, is now expanding and plans to set up UberEATS in Melbourne.
While Australia’s second biggest city has a ban on UberX, the choice of Melbourne makes sense given that it’s a city of foodies. But then, choosing Melbourne is a slap in the face for Sydney which likes to consider itself Australia’s most international city. And if nothing else, UberX is totally legal in Sydney.
Melbourne will be the third non-US city to get UberEATS.
UberEATS operates now in Paris, Toronto and handful of US cities including San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles.
Customers ordering food through UberEATS would be paying a fee.
Coming into Melbourne would put it in competition with outfits like Menulog, Deliveroo, SupperTime and technically even ASX listed Domino's Pizza.
To make its niche, Uber is expected to focus on the premium end of the restaurant market, particularly swank places that have never even considered food for delivery. For many restaurants, it would be a chance to diversify their offerings and create new markets.
The Melbourne expansion plans, including the launch date, are still being worked out and Uber is now talking to Melbourne restaurants. Discussions are said to be in the formative stages.
Uber’s strategy of moving into food delivery is not only about diversifying its business model.
It’s also a way of providing more work for its growing fleet of drivers, from which it generates commissions. That helps keep them on-board.
Simon Rossi, formerly Uber's general manager in Melbourne, who will spearhead the UberEATS push in Australia told Fairfax Media that drivers would still be getting the same money, regardless of whether they were delivering food or people.
"There are around 20,000 Uber X drivers on the platform every week and the average ETA [estimated time of arrival] across Australia is around 3 to 4 minutes," Rossi said. "So we should be able to pick up food and deliver it in about 3 and a half minutes."
26th February 2016
