This feels like another grasp at straws, and one that may backfire quicker than expected based on my experience on the ground.
In NYC I've recently noticed that the pandemic has created a much larger focus on delivery and takeout margins, and these platforms are actually losing good restaurants. I for one am happy based on who I see picking them up though: ChowNow.
Right now, my 3 most common orders (and more I'm seeing daily) are all on ChowNow. Their model is a flat rate[1], not per delivery, and offer basically a self hosted (but in reality hosted), well designed, simple platform. Payment/address details are shared across restaurants so it's a similar feel to a Grubhub/Seamless/Postmates. They have their own search I just may start using[2], a lot of places around me are on it.
I got a postcard in one of my orders telling me prices were cheaper (no middleman tax) on their website (using ChowNow) and a 10% off code too. Another texted me. Worked great, was smooth, and my orders arrived consistently sooner too. Since then I actually think to check direct websites of places I find on Grubhub and found another few using it. Cheaper and quicker for me in all cases so far.
I think they may have cracked the code, because delivery is never going to be the profitable aspect no matter how much you could theoretically leverage Uber's cars or some nebulous eventuality of self-driving. But if your ordering system is all in one, it simplifies things dramatically for restaurants. Pickup, delivery, and in person all on the same system and no middleman fees per transaction. Someone mentioned Domino's, and it seems very close to Domino's as a service to some extent. As far as I can tell, the restaurants handle delivery themselves which seems more sustainable too. I am 0% affiliated with them but they seem to be the favorites of my favorite restaurants + a good and sustainable model.
I'm wondering if other cities are seeing the same adoption. I think this could take the delivery world by storm and make this acquisition look even worse, quick.
PS: I always felt like Postmates and Uber Eats were so interchangeable as is - high overlap of restaurants, nearly the same UI, and same very high fees even compared to other services. The only advantage either had was maybe offering a few more restaurants by doing menu scrape style things earlier and with some big chains before they got in on the delivery game, and that edge is gone now especially. I would expect the pandemic and this shift to motivate Postmates to exit, but I just don't see why Uber would want to realistically buy it. Seems like a play for market share in a market that doesn't work, and a low market share at that.
[1] https://get.chownow.com/pricing
[2] https://eat.chownow.com/