Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
When Gray Chapman was a college student, she worked the night shift at a hotel in Atlanta. A doggy hotel. I was there by myself. I would be the only person. It was just me and a bunch of dogs for 12 hours. So this is about 10 years ago. And again, this was a hotel for dogs. No room service. So if Chapman got hungry... I'd usually end up with either like Totino's pizza rolls or the little like Jose Olay like beef taquitos.
Let's just say the possibilities were far from endless. But not for long. While Chapman was sharing a microwave with dogs, a bunch of startups were doing what startups do: seeing Chapman's pain point as an opportunity. I mean, we're doing Uber Eats. What's Uber Eats? You push a button and you get lunch in five minutes.
- The idea behind Postmates is what if you can use the city as a warehouse? - So DoorDash is an app and a website where customers can order delivery from over 20,000 restaurants. - Grubhub is the number one food ordering service in the US. And so what we really do is we connect hungry diners with restaurants that want more business.
I'm Amadol Yakber, a food writer and the host of our first-ever miniseries, Delivery Wars.
And instead of going deep on one company, we're telling you the story of a whole industry: restaurant delivery. The entire marketplace was created just from the realization that takeout restaurants needed a way to advertise their services. It was a big risk and we believed in what they were building. We saw and so we took the risk. I'm not going to say that the platforms don't have a place.
because it's a marketplace, it helps for discovery. But what they've morphed into is basically modern day mafia. - This industry started two decades ago with websites that simply listed restaurants offering their own delivery. You can think pizza and Chinese food. Today, third party delivery platforms have created an entire ecosystem of convenience.
But they're leaving a trail of inconvenient costs. I don't want to give my time, my energy, my effort, my gas, my miles, my vehicle's lifespan to DoorDash for less than minimum wage. How dare you do this? You know, we're struggling already. How dare you give my money away? You know, it's my choice, not yours. Restaurants, delivery workers, investors, executives...
And then there's the role you play. I think the consumer has been paying an unrealistic price for this product for a long time. This is the on-demand delivery economy. And this is Land of the Giants Delivery Wars. This season from Recode, Eater, and the Vox Media Podcast Network. The first episode drops Tuesday, June 22nd. Find it wherever you get your podcasts.