Food Delivery Could Be the Secret to Uber's Success

While Uber's ride hailing services are famously unprofitable, food delivery is quickly gaining traction for the troubled transportation network company.

1 minute read

September 25, 2017, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Uber Eats

Franklin Heijnen / Flickr

Mike Isaac reports on the traction of transportation network company Uber in one perhaps surprising arena: food delivery.

Uber has "barreled into the crowded, cutthroat space of food delivery," according to Isaac, winning over restaurant owners in the process. While Uber has made headlines for all the wrong reasons in recent years, some are expecting that UberEats, the delivery arm of the transportation network company, could be primed for growth.

UberEats stands out even from the rest of the company’s fast-growing — and unprofitable — business. The delivery service, available in more than 120 markets globally, sometimes eclipses Uber’s main ride-hailing business in markets like Tokyo; Taipei, Taiwan; and Seoul, South Korea, the company said. The number of trips taken by UberEats drivers grew by more than 24 times between March 2016 and March 2017. As of July, UberEats was profitable in 27 of the 108 cities where it operated.

Isaac takes a closer look at the food delivery marketplace, which includes companies like Postmates and Grubhub, and could include new threats from Amazon.

Saturday, September 23, 2017 in The New York Times

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