DoorDash, Wing Start Drone Deliveries in Australia

DoorDash and Wing Aviation are beginning to make drone deliveries via the DoorDash app in Australia this week with a goal of delivering meals and retail goods within 15 minutes. Launching this week, the service will be tested via a pilot program in London, located within the booming South East Queensland region. The partnership is …

Deliveroo quits Australia citing ‘challenging economic conditions’

Food delivery company says it is no longer accepting orders through its app and has entered voluntary administration Deliveroo is quitting the Australian market, with the food delivery service announcing it had suspended orders made through its app and entered voluntary administration. In an email to customers on Wednesday, the company said it had made …

Uber Eats launches new brand platform as it expands into new categories

Uber Eats has launched a new brand platform, ‘This Calls For’, to mark the company’s expansion into more categories, such as alcohol and personal care. The new campaign by Special aims to increase awareness of the new categories by creating scenarios and moments which allows the brand to become synonymous with ‘in the moment’ every …

Menulog starts trial but gig economy workers’ security remains precarious

A federal Select Committee on Job Security looking into how rife insecure work is across the country is currently taking submissions from insecure workers in New South Wales. Chaired by Labor Senator Tony Sheldon, it was set up last year after five food delivery drivers were killed at work. It is expected to report by November. See …

Menulog announces pivot towards ‘employment model’ for all couriers within coming years

Menulog says it is moving away from the controversial independent contractor model favoured by its gig economy rivals and wants to have all its couriers employed by the company within a “few years’ time”. In a move designed to differentiate itself from rivals such as Uber Eats and Deliveroo, Menulog’s managing director, Morten Belling, said on …

Food delivery service Menulog expands with own fleet of drivers

Food delivery service Menulog will have its own drivers, in a bid to become the country’s biggest food delivery service. Menulog launched in New Zealand nearly 10 years ago but was limited in choice because it only served businesses that did their own deliveries. Managing director Morten Belling said contracting delivery drivers would allow the …

Uber Eats announces new business model and contracts for riders

It marks a significant shift in the fight over employee vs independent contractor status Uber Eats has overhauled its business model and changed its contracts with delivery drivers amid growing pressure over the status of workers. The change will make it easier for the company to classify riders and drivers as independent contractors, rather than …

Easi rider: The food delivery minnow taking on the giants

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 …

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 …