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It's obvious there is value, otherwise these companies wouldn't exist, no matter how much VC money is pumped in. For consumers: Ability to order from multiple

It's obvious there is value, otherwise these companies wouldn't exist, no matter how much VC money is pumped in. For consumers: Ability to order from multiple restaurants through one consistent interface / payment flow. This cannot be undercut by every restaurant with a phone and a teenager with a car. For restaurants: A marketing / lead generation avenue that provides, ideally, incremental volume that is profitable. If it was not profitable, then they wouldn't do it, obviously. Delivery itself, is just a method to deliver these value adds. The argument can be made whether this value is worth a tech infrastructure and the human labor cost of delivery. It might be worth it in China, where delivery is actually more ubiquitous, but in America, where worker compensation / expectation / norms are higher, its debatable.

AlexandrB 6y ago
> It's obvious there is value, otherwise these companies wouldn't exist, no matter how much VC money is pumped in. Would you say this about WeWork a year ago? VC-style central planning has had a great distorting effect on the supply/demand information function of the market.
- ypzhang2 6y ago
  Yes there is value in the product, its like fancy Regus, which is a real business. Its not worth what it was worth.
- ghaff 6y ago
  Oh I think there was some value in WeWork. OfficeSpace-as-a-Service that was hipper than Regus and offered consistency across many cities. But obviously far less value than the money being pumped into WeWork would suggest.
lovich 6y ago
You should add increased number of options there as well. I know there's a ton of resturaunts near me that didn't care to get into the delivery business but had no problem working with a delivery company like uber eats. This may be a much smaller niche though as I'm paid enough that the time savings I get from delivery are worth the extra 20-30% I pay from going to pick it up myself

AlexandrB 6y ago

> It's obvious there is value, otherwise these companies wouldn't exist, no matter how much VC money is pumped in. Would you say this about WeWork a year ago? VC-style central planning has had a great distorting effect on the supply/demand information function of the market.

ypzhang2 6y ago
Yes there is value in the product, its like fancy Regus, which is a real business. Its not worth what it was worth.
ghaff 6y ago
Oh I think there was some value in WeWork. OfficeSpace-as-a-Service that was hipper than Regus and offered consistency across many cities. But obviously far less value than the money being pumped into WeWork would suggest.

lovich 6y ago

You should add increased number of options there as well. I know there's a ton of resturaunts near me that didn't care to get into the delivery business but had no problem working with a delivery company like uber eats. This may be a much smaller niche though as I'm paid enough that the time savings I get from delivery are worth the extra 20-30% I pay from going to pick it up myself