It was 2015 when Postmates started delivering Starbucks, nobody supported the idea and the third-party food delivery was termed as an impossible or ridicules activity. Initially, the deal had drawback and it seemed that its survival is not possible. Postmates’ delivery fee was $5.99 per order regardless of the order size. The customer had to pay delivery charges of $5.99 even if he/ she would order just a cup of coffee. Therefore, being too expensive, the future of the third-party food delivery seemed a tale only. Many of us had figured out that the Postmates will not live a long life as it cannot make god business successfully. We all know that money is the lifeblood of any business and same the case was with third-party food delivery. It is important to mention that usually, the start of any business is considered as hopeful & bright, but the case with third-party food delivery was on the other way round. But, despite sarcastic feedbacks, the business continued and now in the market, the same is taking place of a strong tree.
The depression is over; things have been improved favorably as third-party food delivery is serving with a reasonable delivery fees. Coffee along with smoothies, Big Macs, $1.19 bean burritos, and a lot of other things you can think of. People have built trust on the Postmates’ service as it is neither expensive nor inefficient, but the same is very much appropriate. The numerical data shows that the sales through third-party food delivery have reached at 38 percent of total restaurant sales and growing further. Thus, the future of the business is quite hopeful. However, there is an urgent need to review the delivery fees because a number of growing companies are very much interested in the subscription model’s revision.
Consider Netflix for food delivery: Through a monthly membership with Netflix, it is very easy to start receiving food delivery in the area. It is not a big job, you just sign up for a monthly membership which will enable you to get unlimited delivery on food. It is the third-party service which has been catering to the food delivery on different subscription models because of competitive pricing options. However, the forecast indicates that the subscription models willing to remove fee on each delivery to levy flat-rate subscription will materialize to present perfect value proposition to customers.
Since the third party food delivery is still in budding process and it will naturally take some time to get perfect. The fact is that the prevailing restrictions and limitations have been keeping the people off to plunge into the business, but they should work on it with sincerity. There are certain minds who have been working in the subscription model space with the hope that finally success will be theirs such as:
DoorDash revealed its DashPass in the month of August, 2018 which is very much popular. The reason is that for a monthly fee of $9.99, the customer can order unlimited deliveries pertaining to the participating restaurants. In order to promote the business, DoorDash called some of the companies bearing big-name chains with the request to participate in uplifting their business career through subscription-style business model. The companies such as Wendy’s, The Cheesecake Factor, and White Castle, suggesting major restaurants expressed their consent to be partially on-board.
Limitations or Restrictions with DashPass: Like other businesses, DashPass has also certain terms & conditions such as the orders must be over $15 to qualify for DashPass. Similarly, the pass shall only apply to certain restaurants; therefore, the pass will be honored only by those restaurants which are on the panel of DashPass. However, it has been observed that sufficient number of restaurants (in hundreds) have been accepting the Pass conveniently.
Postmates has also been providing such services since 2016 with a nominal subscription of $10/month. It is noteworthy that Postmates also provides you Plus Unlimited service for delivery orders over $15 like DashPass. Postmates offers you discounts and member deals to keep an association in the long run. DoorDash’s restriction of certain restaurants limits your options to that extent.
Deliveroo undertook a subscription service last year in U.K. namely “ Deliveroo Plus” as a third party food delivery. Initially, it was highly expenses @ £7.99/month for ordering just a few meals. It was termed as “robbing or stealing”, whereas; Deliveroo normally charges a £2.50 delivery fee per order. It works on the analogy of Amazon Prime of food delivery where there is no minimum limit.
In the year 2016, UberEats launched its program in the UK just a test loyalty and hopefully that would work potentially & successfully. Grubhub also holds firm position as a leader in third-party food delivery.
The vision or prospect of the third-party food delivery networks is optimistic and seems key to the success, but it is correlated with the options or choices the program has. However, there is a long way to travel as it is said “there are many slips between the cup and the lips”.