Food delivery platform Easi is turning up the heat on global rivals Uber Eats, Deliveroo, DoorDash and Menulog, with the Melbourne-based business’ global customer base ticking past a million users despite the coronavirus pandemic. Easi’s distinctive square yellow delivery boxes are a familiar sight in inner city areas but the inner workings of the platform, started […]
Tag Archives: Australia
Disrupting the disruptors: How restaurants and startups are flipping the table on meal platforms, and why UberEats should be worried
In the five short months between November 2015 and April 2016, Australia’s restaurant industry changed forever. First came UK-born Deliveroo, with its ‘rapid and aggressive’ growth strategy, and then UberEats, the eponymous delivery platform promising to help businesses reach new heights. Over the next four years, these two multinational businesses would turn Australia’s $42 billion cafe, restaurant and takeaway […]
Gig economy workers fear livelihoods, customers at risk during coronavirus outbreak
Delivery services may become a lifeline for Australians stuck at home during the coronavirus outbreak, but what about the drivers? A worker for Deliveroo and UberEats, John* is reminded of the precarity of his position each time a new case is identified in Australia. Key points: Gig economy workers are anxious about the impact of […]
Meal delivery services double usage in only 18 months
New research from Roy Morgan shows nearly 4 million Australians aged 14+ (19.1%) now use meal delivery services, up from 1.98 million (9.8%) when Roy Morgan first analysed the emerging meal delivery service industry in mid-2018. The biggest increases have been amongst the youngest generations. Well over a quarter of Millennials 29.7% (up 13.6% points) and 28.7% […]
‘Nobody is winning’: Businesses weigh cost of food delivery platforms
The turning point for Vincent Piccolo came when Uber Eats cancelled a gelati order that had already been prepared, even though the delivery driver was standing right in front of him. “We lost the sale, the driver wasted his time and the diner got no food,” says Piccolo, the manager of Art of Gelati Michaelangelo […]
‘Destroyed me financially’: Uber Eats drivers near homelessness as pay halved
Uber Eats drivers have reported “barely afford[ing] rent” and are “thinking of sleeping in [their] car” after falls in delivery volumes saw drivers cop a pay cut. In a survey of 67 drivers in Sydney, Melbourne and Geelong conducted by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), some Uber Eats drivers have been pushed to the brink […]
Uber hit with lawsuit from former food delivery drivers
Uber has joined the likes of Foodora and Deliveroo in becoming embattled with lawsuits from Australian food delivery drivers. On Monday, two former UberEats drivers from Adelaide announced that they have filed a lawsuit against the ride-sharing giant for allegedly being dismissed unfairly and exploited. The lawsuit is an appeal to a decision made by […]
DoorDash spreads beyond North America with Australia launch
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Meal delivery service DoorDash Inc said it will begin taking orders in the Australian city of Melbourne on Wednesday, its first foray outside North America, adding to the competition in the country’s home-delivery service market. The biggest U.S. food delivery company will take on Uber Technologies Inc’s Uber Eats, Just Eats Plc’s […]
“Hardest it’s ever been”: Disrupted but not dejected, Australia’s restaurant owners discuss what’s next
If you’re thinking about opening a restaurant, cafe or bar, you may want to reconsider. That was the takeaway from a gathering of business owners at the coalface of Australia’s hospitality sector in Melbourne last night, as heads come together to try and chart a path through a period of unprecedented disruption. One restauranter, an […]
‘Not a level playing field’: NZ restaurants speak out on Uber Eats
Small businesses have told The Spinoff that hefty commission fees from the global delivery giant are pushing them to the brink, and are asking why global fast food chains get a discount. Small hospitality businesses are paying substantially higher commission rates to Uber Eats than fast food giants using the food-delivery app, and some say […]