With a diverse and affluent population and vibrant cultural scene, the food delivery startup culture in London is attracting a highly unusual number of young entrepreneurs. A new face joins every six months or so, and the most recent addition is Uber as UberEATS London launches to fuel West London’s dining scene.
The luxury cab service, Uber, has been aggressively expanding across geographies as it attempts to add users and justify its $62.5 billion valuation. To CEO Travis Kalanick, instant meal delivery is the next big thing.
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UberEATS London will be offering this service from morning until 10 p.m. every day. Normally, it takes around 15-20 minutes, 20-30 minutes, etc., to get the food to your doorstep. However, if you want food delivered to you faster, you can opt for Instant Delivery, which features up to five daily dishes in every city. Instant Delivery is available between 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. during weekdays.
When users opened the UberEATS standalone app during lunchtime today, options such as a Green Dream Smoothie (£5), burrito (£6), King Prawn Pasta (£9) were available from different local outlets. Customers can also use Ubereats.com to order food.
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The instant food-delivery market in London is crowded with companies like JustEat, GrubHub Inc., and Deliveroo, which have been available to customers for quite some time. Last year, Deliveroo raised $100 million and FoodPanda raised $210 million to blanket the culinary capital of the world.
“People love being able to push a button to book a car and now they can order great food with us too,” said Jo Bertram, Uber’s regional general manager in the U.K. “We’ll bring lunch, treats and dinner to Londoners with the same choice, convenience and value we’re already known for.”
A 10-minute menu on UberEATS London isn’t the only thing on Kalanick’s wishlist. The controversial CEO wants to bank on the on-delivery demand, be it ready-made meal options, cabs, flowers, books, or even medicines for that matter.
