If you've ever wanted to order in a nice meal from Supernormal, Gazi, or Entrecôte, you'll be able to now with UberEATS, the newly launched food delivery service by the ride-sharing app. Already available in a few US cities, Paris and Toronto, Melbourne is the first city in Australia where Uber has launched the service.
Customers will have to download a separate app for UberEATS, and so far the service has homed in on premium offerings as opposed to your usual greasy takeaway joints. Upon a quick investigation of the app, we found that restaurants have kept the delivery menu limited to items that are easiest to transport. Understandable, as the higher-end restaurants UberEATS are engaging with would want to make sure their delivered items still represent the kitchen's quality when it gets to customers' doors. For example, for a delivery to Carlton, customers can order Entrecôte's Bombe Alaska or even Beluga caviar and blinis, but not the restaurant's signature steak frites. You can also get tubs of ice cream from Pidapipo, souvas from Jimmy Grants, and Supernormal's lobster roll. Delivery is currently free for a limited time.
UberEATS joins the food delivery market that has recently been inundated by bike-powered businesses Deliveroo and Foodora (formerly Suppertime). It also remains to be seen how Uber drivers have responded to the new service, which comes not long after Uber announced rides are going to be 15 per cent cheaper. Interestingly, just as UberEATS announced its launch in Melbourne, Business Insider Australia reports that the service's New York City operation is shutting down its instant delivery service, which is not yet available in Melbourne. The instant delivery service, which aimed to maximise efficiency, enabled restaurants to make certain items in bulk that are then driven around by the Uber driver as orders come in.