
Introducing Eats for Business - kposehn
https://www.uber.com/newsroom/introducing-eats-business/
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jypepin
There is a lot of hate about this, but most comments actually sound like the
OP didn't even read the article.

According to the article this is not going to be a catering service where 1
order brings food for the whole company, but an integration of Eats into Uber
for Business.

> a way for organizations to use Uber Eats to manage food delivery for
> employees, whether they’re ordering to the office or traveling for work.

So it just basically something allowing people to order food _for themselves_
while having a part of the order automatically paid by the company.

So, no issues here of driver having to "carry up 5 catering trays plus
utensils and sides for your office." like the top comment said.

This is barely just a new payment system basically.

[full disclosure: I used to work at Uber, but not on Eats]

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petra
A thought experiment: Lets say they manage to offer restaurant quality
food(in-spite delivery) for business lunches, at half the price of a
restaurant.

And let's say we see similar trends in price/quality/convenience in pre-made
food for the home.

How does that affect consumer behavior with regards to restaurants ?

And how can a regular guy profit from such trends ?

~~~
golergka
Regular guy already profits from such trends when he orders from Uber and
similar services. I know that I profit every day when I use taxi at with
higher quality and lower price than 10 years ago.

Or you can always set up a ghost kitchen - they're about to boom all around
the world, I'd guess.

~~~
mooreds
If you do set up a ghost kitchen, would suggest you do some research first.
Lots of laws and insurance and marketing and logistics.

I was co-founder of a startup for a few years heavily involved in this space (
[https://www.thefoodcorridor.com](https://www.thefoodcorridor.com) ) and
running a kitchen is not for the faint of heart. In fact, being anywhere in
food is not (I also have a relative who runs a couple of food businesses).

Lots of cash flow, but skinny margins.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
I used to think that. But then all these food-delivery services with around
100% markup showed up and seem to be thriving

~~~
dragonwriter
Which food delivery services have 100% markup? Delivery or subscription fees
that work out closer to 10% seem to be common for the ones I've seen; even
with the aggressive begging for tips built into the apps, it wouldn't hit
anywhere near 100%.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
We have Chomp. My sister reports folks ordering coffee or chocolate from her
shop, and paying as much for delivery as the product.

~~~
dragonwriter
Sure, the flat delivery charges can be 100% on a minimal order, but I don't
think that that is the majority of the business of a food delivery service.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Its almost the entirety of her Chomp orders

~~~
dragonwriter
Perhaps, but on what basis would you suspect this one business (which you know
about largely _because_ it seems surprising) is representative of food
businesses accessible through Chomp generally (much less some segment
consisting of _multiple_ delivery services)?

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gtm1260
Uber betting on the notch removal next year I see.

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simonsarris
Would be very amusing if they started cooking up this program because SF
proposed their cafeteria ban.

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contingencies
Say you want to last minute cater for a small meeting or conference. Suddenly
adding a 15 meal or 30 dish demand in to an existing fulfillment network is
not going to result in 15 minute service, or even under 1 hour service. It's
going to train wreck.

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dominotw
hopefully has better selection than fooda.

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btown
This speaks to one of the most profound things about Uber: once an
infrastructure of transportation workers is set up, a single software
development project can instantly transform the value of that network no
matter how large it is. Many metropolitan areas, I’d imagine, would love to
incentivize their resident corporations to spend more money on local food
services (those “late night food allowances” are greater than what the finance
firm’s employees would spend themselves) but can neither justify the
development costs nor provide upside as an incentive. Hardware meets wetware
meets capitalism. It’s both a thing of beauty and a little saddening at the
same time.

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jtokoph
Uber still can’t get consumer Eats right. My last order roamed the city for 30
minutes before arriving cold. The order before that was stolen by the driver.
They picked it up and left San Francisco.

Good luck getting an Uber driver to carry up 5 catering trays plus utensils
and sides for your office. Maybe there’s a chance if Uber gives every driver a
foldable cart that fits in the trunk without taking up luggage space for
airport Uber rides.

~~~
benatkin
That doesn't mean they can't get business eats right. Your experience is
probably a win for them, it means they're getting a lot of drivers of varying
quality. Also if you complained about it, that helps them to deactivate
drivers that steal food and improve their process (they can probably keep ones
that make the food cold, some don't mind (like me, at least for most types of
foods and if I'm eating by myself) and some will just use a microwave). If
they only had high quality drivers, they wouldn't be the growth company that
they are. For businesses they can change it up, maybe even hire W2 employees.
And they can even have a good experience in places that get press like SF and
a mediocre experience for places outside of it. Only a handful of decision
makers will judge their business service based on their consumer performance
or performance in other markets. They also have name recognition - nobody got
fired for buying Microsoft.

~~~
cyphar
It's weird how positive you are about a business venture failing at the only
thing that they are required to do -- bring you food in a timely fashion.
"Your experience is probably a win for them" is a very strange way to
prioritise what's important when running a business -- unhappy customers are a
win somehow?

> If they only had high quality drivers, they [...]

... would actually be a good service?

> nobody got fired for buying Microsoft.

IBM, not Microsoft.

~~~
geofft
The thing that's important when running a business is making money. Having
happy repeat customers is one way to do this, but there are many others.
Having unhappy customers and crushing the competition is another. Having a
steady stream of _new_ customers is another (see also, MLM schemes). Selling a
product where customers cannot meaningfully evaluate quality is another (see
also, Facebook video marketing).

If you don't like it, help the rest of us figure out a sustainable alternative
to capitalism.

~~~
cyphar
I'm sure that this is the reasoning they use to justify it, it doesn't mean
that we should use the same reasoning to judge them as a company.

~~~
geofft
Sure. I guess my argument is, judge them all you want, nothing will change
unless they have a concrete incentive to act differently.

