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Amazon Restaurants

primenow.amazon.com

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Re: Amazon Restaurants

#11

Post by koolba »

kt9 wrote: post #9

When I first saw amazon restaurants (almost a year ago) I thought... meh! Why would I use this... order via phone and then wait an hour. I could order by phone call and go pick it up faster. Turns out now we use it so much and I've found that the value is that I can order by phone when I leave work and by the time I get home the food will be arriving at my door. The real value to me is that I can order dinner! They'v…

> Turns out now we use it so much and I've found that the value is that I can order by phone when I leave work and by the time I get home the food will be arriving at my door.

Does "order by phone" mean mobile app or calling in an order? I would guess app but with Alexa and the other speech recognition tech they have, voice orders doesn't sound that far off either.

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#12

Post by ryaneager »

I received a free $20 to Amazon Restaurants for buying something on cyber Wednesday, didn't know that was a thing until I received the email. I used it to order pizza from a local joint, because who doesn't like free pizza.

Ordering was interesting, they didn't have the pizza I wanted listed under the pre-made options, so I had to make my own, but there was no option to do half and half and adding additional topping had a confusing interface. The menus do not seem to be optimized for each restaurant the way Doordash is, and you must click on an item to see the price.

Also the food wasn't kept in a thermal bag, like pizza delivery does, so it wasn't piping hot when I received it and the delivery members don't have distinct shirts. I probably won't use it ever again since I prefer Doordash, and one of my friends brother in laws is a cofounder/CTO so I feel a false tie to it.

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#13

Post by oldbuzzard »

Meh. I have prime and keep getting $10 off coupons but here in Minneapolis I don't see anywhere I want to order from. Bitesquad has places that I order from every now and then. If Amazon had a decent network they might entice me in to becoming a restaurants customer... but as it is, it is like the crappy prime video selection.

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#15

Post by koolba »

So how much longer till they combine this with drone delivery?

The thrill of having a pizza arrive by drone could justify a hefty premium for a kids birthday party.

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#16

Post by lux »

Interesting that I'm seeing this for the first time on the same day that local food delivery company SkipTheDishes was sold to Just Eat for $110M (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/skip-the-dishes-sold...).

Skip is very popular here in Winnipeg since this is where they're headquartered, but always seemed like the underdog in the overall market. Wondering what will become of Skip, and how Just Eat and the others will keep duking it out from here now that Amazon is in the ring too.

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#18

Post by [deleted] »

untog wrote: post #7

Interesting - it appears that Amazon handles the delivery part, theoretically freeing restaurants up from having to worry about that side of the business. Makes sense, though I wonder what % of costs delivery drivers really are (and, of course, what % Amazon is charging) Either way, Seamless/Grubhub have turned to utter garbage since their merger. I'm happily using Delivery, but much like Uber/Lyft, these are commodi…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#19

Post by gthtjtkt »

This is kind of terrifying after hearing so many life-ruining stories about the rash decisions Amazon makes when dealing with 3rd party sellers ([1] from last week, for example).

Everyone always says "Don't stake your livelihood on platforms you don't control" (e.g. Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), but what happens when one of those platforms suddenly forces its way into your business? How can a restaurant owner turn them down when all the short-sighted owners nearby are happily signing up?

I'm imagining a day in the future where a restaurant goes broke because Amazon had become a significant portion of their orders, but they suddenly got kicked off the service after X number of complaints (happens to FBA sellers all the time). By the time other restaurant owners realize how easily Amazon can destroy their livelihood, they might be too dependent to voluntarily leave. And then all the smug commenters from the last thread will be grateful for another opportunity to say "Well the restaurants should've known better than to sign up in the first place!"

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/amazon/comments/5gvgdl/using_a_amaz...

Re: Amazon Restaurants

#20

Post by cavisne »

One differentiation with amazon restaurants is at least in my market they don't mark up food prices (like door dash and kindof postmates) and they don't charge for delivery.

Uber eats is the best of these I've found, but it's a pain meeting at the curb.

Amazon restaurants has by far the worst drivers though, I think compounded by tipping before they deliver, and no ratings system

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