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DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

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Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#121

Post by eli »

aphextron wrote: post #78
ben174 wrote: post #70

One of the big players should launch a giant warehouse - serving as a giant kitchen. Capable of cooking all kinds of different varieties of cuisine and tons of automation. And a huge staff of well-trained chefs cooking, and delivering to a ~50 mile radius. I'd imagine they'd open this in - say Fremont - and deliver to the entire bay area. It would be great, because I could order Mexican food for me, Indian food for t…

>One of the big players should launch a giant warehouse - serving as a giant kitchen. Capable of cooking all kinds of different varieties of cuisine and tons of automation. And a huge staff of well-trained chefs cooking, and delivering to a ~50 mile radius. They did, it was called SpoonRocket. I loved it, you could get a decent meal delivered in under 5 minutes. But they failed horribly because the economics just don…

DC has Galley, which cooks and delivers meals that you finish/reheat in your own oven. The food is good and the prices are fair and the delivery is fast (though now you need to pick a "Delivery Window" and sometimes they sell out). I think it's founded by former LivingSocial folks.

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#122

Post by cjcfjrf »

Why would you sell a third of your company? Do you need 0.5b to run ops? Who would invest so much when the "value" is 1.5b? Unless they already think it's worth multiple times more? But then the opposite party doesn't think so? Can somebody explain please?

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#123

Post by gehwartzen »

ac29 wrote: post #35
pavanred wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have with doordash is that though they say the delivery fee is $x, there are a lot of hidden charges. You are actually paying a lot more than that, a markup on food items + a delivery fee + 8% service fee + taxes + 15% tip (optional but selected by default) + a small order fee (if your order is less than a predefined min order value) For instance, there's a a particular dish served at a local restaurant…

DoorDash doesn't mark up menu prices any more, at least in my market. Supposedly restaurants didnt like the hidden markup, so they moved all of their fees into the delivery fee and the service fee. Its not terribly fair to consider taxes and tip as "hidden charges", IMO. The taxes you pay even if you go to the restaurant yourself, and the tip is the majority of what the drivers get paid -- they dont work for free. I'…

What's the difference between the 'delivery' and 'service' fee? Isn't the service literally the delivery with DoorDash?

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#124

Post by gehwartzen »

foepys wrote: post #36

I deeply despite those third-party food delivery services. The people delivering the food are often working for less than minimum wage and are mostly using their private equipment (smartphone, bicycle, car) for delivering. One might argue that people then should not work for those services but on the contrary why don't the services pay a fair wage and provide vehicles and devices necessary for the job? If the price g…

I could probably develop a network of 5 driving-age teens in my neighborhood, call in an order at a restaurant, and then send out a "who wants to make 10$ cash picking this up for me?" group SMS. I'm sure the service would be better and I'm sure they would make more money than through DoorDash.

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#125

Post by faluu101 »

contingencies wrote: post #103

In China where delivery of all kinds is omnipresent (the other day we even ordered someone to go shop for us and had the makings for breakfast arrive within half an hour!) it feels to me that people are beginning to see the limitations of prepared food delivery. While it's always great to get some food when you're hungry, the waiting involved in a typical order is 45min+ and the experience never matches eat-in or sel…

Except unlike here in NA, the cost of a delivered meal in China is often times less than their in-restaurant equivalent. The delivery platforms there are still offering large discounts, and it's not only for new users.

For example is common to see restaurants offering, 15 rmb off for orders over 50 rmb.

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#126

Post by DoofusOfDeath »

tyingq wrote: post #27

Doordash is a tire fire. 10x worse than Uber Eats for basic service. My experience is less than 50% success at delivering what I ordered. Missing items, wrong items, wrong totals, completely failed deliveries, and non-equitable compensation. Then, shit follow up when they fail. I’ll savor in more than a little Shadenfreud when they fold.

That's been my experience with DoorDash as well - mainly in San Diego and Redwood City.

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#127

Post by glitch003 »

jt2190 wrote: post #77
ben174 wrote: post #70

One of the big players should launch a giant warehouse - serving as a giant kitchen. Capable of cooking all kinds of different varieties of cuisine and tons of automation. And a huge staff of well-trained chefs cooking, and delivering to a ~50 mile radius. I'd imagine they'd open this in - say Fremont - and deliver to the entire bay area. It would be great, because I could order Mexican food for me, Indian food for t…

I noticed that Whole Foods is essentially starting to move in that direction, with these options: * Eat in the store (self-serve "hot bar") * Take home already cooked, heat and eat * Take home meal kit, cook at home https://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/department/prepared-foods Add in Amazon Fresh for home delivery of most of the above, and they seem to have a covered most of the options. https://www.amazon.com/AmazonFre…

> starting to move in that direction

Just want to point out that these things are not new at whole foods. I can recall eating at the hot bar 3+ years ago, and they've always had take home already cooked items as well.

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#128

Post by glitch003 »

badminton1 wrote: post #34

Doordash has frequent system-wide outages. https://twitter.com/DoorDash_Help During their outages your items will never arrive, your order may still appear as active and customer support may handle your case in 48 hours. Plus, their outage messages are misleading. On the other hand, Amazon almost never has outages, you can live chat with support at any moment, and if they're slightly late they will even give you mone…

>On the other hand, Amazon

Amazon does restaurant delivery?

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#129

Post by contingencies »

faluu101 wrote: post #125
contingencies wrote: post #103

In China where delivery of all kinds is omnipresent (the other day we even ordered someone to go shop for us and had the makings for breakfast arrive within half an hour!) it feels to me that people are beginning to see the limitations of prepared food delivery. While it's always great to get some food when you're hungry, the waiting involved in a typical order is 45min+ and the experience never matches eat-in or sel…

Except unlike here in NA, the cost of a delivered meal in China is often times less than their in-restaurant equivalent. The delivery platforms there are still offering large discounts, and it's not only for new users. For example is common to see restaurants offering, 15 rmb off for orders over 50 rmb.

The cost is less because:

(1) the restaurant has limited sit down space and chef time during peak periods;

(2) eating times in China are highly regimented (office lunch hour dominates);

(3) delivery customers by default can tolerate higher volatility in meal completion schedule;

(4) the actual cost to the restaurant for a 50RMB meal outside of the the limited sit down space represented by high rental costs and the chef's salary (already paid by peak hour sit-down customers) is negligible, often under 10RMB including ingredients, cooking energy and packaging;

(5) delivery platforms are battling for market share.

In short, the primary issue running a conventional restaurant is limited temporal and spatial bandwidth to serve customers. Delivery takes advantage of resources already spent toward the primary issues, so can be substantially discounted without loss.

Re: DoorDash raises $535M, now valued at $1.4B

#130

Post by enraged_camel »

kels wrote: post #57

I really want to like all of these services. I've used Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash. My problem with them is that it costs way more than eating at the restaurant. It's usually 30% - 40% of the cost of the food for delivery, service fees and tip. I've always wondered why it wasn't cheaper to do take out than eat at a restaurant. I'm not taking up a parking space, table, using facilities, or taking up as much of the…

Yeah, it's pretty insane. Makes me miss my hometown back in Turkey, where most restaurants deliver to the same neighborhood for free, and there is no mandatory tipping culture (although most people still tip if the delivery is quick).
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