Because it’s not true anymore, and complaining about high prices for a service that is just moving up market kind of ignores the reality that a business can make fewer sales if its margins on the remaining sales are sufficiently high, which is exactly what has happened.

In other words, delivery apps went through the “burn vc money” phase already, and are now focusing on profitability, and successfully so.

I just opened the DoorDash app. A ton of fast food ads/offers

I have not eaten fast food in like 10 years, and never had it delivered.

Not really up market imo.

Food delivery products and companies are definitely not moving up market. Valuations have plummeted and many are still struggling to turn a profit despite layoffs and cutbacks.

I'm curious; what do you think "moving up market" means? Does it mean "becoming a company that has a higher market cap and/or is more profitable" or does it mean, "Targeting a wealthier customer"?

Because what you've listed would suggest you believe it means the former, which isn't accurate (it's the latter). Maybe I misunderstand, though.

> a race to the bottom to capture market share

That is the real problem, not that the concept of food delivery is unprofitable by itself.

Not sure where you folks live but all the major ordering apps present in Toronto have been excellent in the suburbs. I was fully satisfied at least 9 out of 10 times.

And even the most expensive, ubereats is only, at most, a 20% surcharge compared to the in-restaurant price plus tip, for a $50 order.

I live near Mountain View, California and its probably sampling bias but i would swear that for the entirety of pandemic there were complaints about food delivery missteps and prices on my Nextdoor neighborhood.

This is a good post. Do you have any thoughts about why this works in Toronto? What is different from other cities? And do workers make living wages?

I think food delivery at scale is unprofitable, at this point the technology in those apps doesn’t really have a moat. The next logical big step is to have drones delivering the stuff, and at that point you have this massive amount of tech and research to get food 2 miles down the street…it seems pretty counterproductive.

How does the customer have a terrible experience? I order delivery more often than is reasonable across many different platforms and I usually have a perfectly fine experience.

Because I put it a 9$ burrito in the cart and somehow at checkout the price ends up being 25$ before tip. The only way I use those apps is if I have really good incentives/discounts…so maybe I am not the target market, happy to eat in or not order at all. I have not had any problems with the delivery people, they are always super nice.