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Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Uber

Report: Uber Looking to Spin Off Postmates X Delivery Robot Biz

As part of its acquisition of Postmates last year, Uber got into the delivery robot business. Now, according to a report in TechCrunch, Uber is planning to get out of the robo-biz by spinning off Postmates X (the robotics division of the company) into a separate company.

From TechCrunch:

Postmates X, the robotics division of the on-demand delivery startup that Uber acquired last year for $2.65 billion, is seeking investors in its bid to become a separate company, according to several people familiar with the plans.

The new spinout is being called Serve Robotics, named after the companies’ autonomous, cooler-sized Serve robot, which was making deliveries in Los Angeles throughout much of 2020. More recently, Postmates Serve was enlisted by the Pink Dot market to make deliveries in West Hollywood.

TechCrunch reports that Serve Robotics would retain the IP and assets, and Uber would keep a 25 percent stake in the company.

Given how the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing restaurants and grocers to adopt more contactless delivery methods, it may seem like an odd time for Uber to get out of the delivery robot business.

As we’ve been chronicling, autonomous delivery robots are popping up all over the globe. Starship has been doing deliveries on college campuses for more than a year, and expanded to grocery delivery in Modesto, CA. Kiwibot partnered with the City of San Jose for robot restaurant deliveries there. Then there’s Yandex in Russia, Delivers AI in Turkey, and Woowa Brothers in Seoul, South Korea.

But as Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi recently explained on Kara Swisher’s Sway podcast, his company is in the networking business. Khosrowshahi doesn’t think Uber needs to create the technology uses, it just needs access to the best technology that allows it to facilitate deliveries and ridesharing. That’s one reason Uber offloaded its autonomous driving unit at the end of last year.

While the use of robotics is definitely on the rise around the world, there are still a lot of hurdles to overcome before they become mainstream. Regulations and production scale are two biggies. Right now there are a patchwork of rules around autonomous delivery that vary from city to city and state to state. Even as those get ironed out, scaling robots to a number where we see them across the country is still a huge undertaking.

Uber pushing those issues off on to a separate company means Uber can focus more on its own delivery and ridesharing businesses. Uber can then just license the robot technology to facilitate its food delivery.

Uber Q3: Delivery Up 190 Percent Year-Over-Year

Uber reported its third-quarter earnings today, and as expected during this ongoing pandemic, the company’s delivery business, which includes Uber Eats continues to be its moneymaker.

Here are the topline Q3 stats:

  • Uber Delivery’s gross bookings grew 135 percent year-over-year, hitting $8.55 billion
  • Delivery’s adjusted net revenue grew 190 percent year-over-year, hitting $1.14 billion in revenue.
  • Restaurant partners on Uber Eats grew by more than 70 percent year-over-year

For comparison, in Q2 of this year, gross bookings for Uber’s delivery business was $6.96 billion.

Adjusted net revenues for Uber’s mobility, which includes its ridesharing business, declined 52 percent year-over-year, to $1.37 billion. Overall, Uber lost $1.09 billion, which is better than the $1.16 billion lost over the same time last year.

That delivery continues to be the main driver (pardon the pun) for Uber isn’t surprising. Though the pandemic flattened a little bit during the three months ending September 30, people just are not traveling as much as they did pre-pandemic. They are, however, getting restaurant delivery to eat at home, which kept Uber Eats busy.

Something to keep an eye for next quarter is whether Uber Eats’ expansion into grocery in Florida, Texas and New York City will have any impact on earnings. It’s been a record-setting year for online grocery, the winter months are just about upon us and the pandemic resurging. Will all these factors make Uber’s nascent entry into the grocery biz pull big numbers?

It should be noted that Uber’s Q3 earnings report is coming out the same week that it won a victory at the ballot box in California. Prop. 22, which Uber backed, was approved by the state, allowing the company to keep its drivers classified as independent contractors and not employees. That means it won’t have to pony up for benefits or other protections. While this is good for the company’s bottom line, Prop. 22 could have more unfortunate results overall.

California Passes Prop. 22, Leaving Gig Workers as Independent Contractors

In a win for third-party delivery services and other big tech companies, California has passed Proposition 22, ensuring gig workers will remain independent contractors rather than employees of these companies.

Uber, DoorDash, Instacart, and other tech companies that use gig workers to fulfill the last mile of food deliveries backed Prop. 22, which is the most expensive ballot-measure campaign in California history.

The measure, a response to California’s Assembly Bill 5, which was signed into law last year, exempts companies from having to actually employ drivers and in doing so pay for healthcare, sick leave, and other benefits.

Uber, DoorDash, and other companies that rely on gig workers have long said that classifying drivers as employees would drastically change the way the companies do business. Less talked about but just as obvious is the point that classifying drivers as employees would undercut delivery and rideshare services’ still-elusive profitability. In August, Uber and Lyft even threatened to pull out of California after a judge ordered the companies to reclassify their employees in keeping with AB 5.

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi sent an email last night thanking drivers, saying, “The future of independent work is more secure because so many drivers like you spoke up,”

Prop 22. opponents, such as labor groups, argue that the measure allows Uber and other tech companies to skirt basic obligations to workers, including minimum wage, health insurance, and paid sick leave. That last item is an especially hot-button issue at a time when COVID-19 cases are on the rise once again.

Gig Workers Rising, which opposed Prop. 22, called the measure “a loss for our democracy that could open the door to other attempts by corps to write their own laws.”

Uber Expands Grocery Delivery to Manhattan

Uber is expanding its nascent grocery delivery program into New York City, The New York Post reported this morning with confirmation from Uber.

According to the Post:

New Yorkers who open the Uber or Uber Eats apps will now see a grocery shopping tab, which will use their delivery address to show them what participating shops are available to them. In addition to chains like Gristedes, D’Agostino’s and Westside Market, the app will also be able to send couriers to smaller shops like Sullivan Street Bakery and Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in Chelsea.

Uber has been slowly but steadily adding grocery delivery to its Uber Eats business around the world over the past year. In October 2019, Uber announced it was acquiring a majority stake in Cornershop, a grocery delivery service that covers Central and South America. Earlier this year, Uber entered into a number of grocery delivery partnerships in France, Spain and Brazil. Uber’s grocery ambitions hit the U.S. in July of this year, when Cornershop started delivering groceries in Miami, FL and Dallas, TX.

Online grocery shopping and delivery has seen record numbers this year, thanks to the pandemic. And though the numbers came down from their record highs earlier this summer, the pandemic is surging once again throughout the country as we head into winter and the holidays. This resurgence plus cold and flu season could see those grocery e-commerce numbers tick back up again.

As grim as the thought is, the pandemic’s gaining strength could explain why Uber hopped over most of the East Coast to provide delivery service to New York. During the early days of the pandemic, as grocery stores there struggled to keep up with acute demand for grocery delivery. If COVID hits New York again with any severity, the city will definitely need as many grocery delivery options as it can take.

Uber isn’t the only third-party delivery company getting into groceries, however. DoorDash launched its own on-demand grocery delivery program in August of this year. And, of course, there is Instacart, which raised another $200 million this month (and is suing Uber over Cornershop’s grocery listing) to help solidify its lead in grocery delivery.

Of course, with the ride hailing market depressed by the global pandemic, Uber is more reliant than ever on its Eats business. Growing its grocery business should help Eats grow its much-needed revenues.

Brazil’s iFood Delivery Service Launches an E-Bike Program for Couriers

Brazil-based delivery service iFood announced today it has launched an electric bike program for its couriers in partnership with mobility company Tembici, according to a press release sent to The Spoon. The program has launched in first-pilot phase, and will provide e-bikes, manual bikes (courtesy of Bike Sampa), and other amenities to couriers working for the iFood delivery service.

The program will be available for a flat weekly fee of R$9.90 (~$1.76 USD). That includes 24/7 access to manual bicycles through Bike Samba’s Bike Itaú app. Bike withdrawals are limited to four-hour time blocks.

Couriers that want more bells ’n’ whistles as well as access to electric bikes will pay a little more. Access to electric bikes costs an extra R$2 (~$0.36 USD) per day. That fee includes up to two trips per day lasting up to four hours each, with a four-hour interval between them. (An additional R$5 charge is included for each hour.) Today’s press release notes that bikes can go 25 km/h (15.5 mph) and have a battery range of 60 km (37 miles) as well as a pedal assistance feature.

In addition to bikes, the program will also provide what it calls an “iFood Pedal Support Point,” which is a physical location at which couriers can check out and return the bikes. The facility will also provide restrooms, water and coffee, a cell phone-charging station, and a dining area. Couriers also get masks, hand sanitizer, and other safety and hygiene items. Use of the facility costs an additional R$2 per day, separate from the fees mentioned above.

Finally, couriers that join iFood Pedal will have access to the program’s Responsa Pedal digital education course.

Providing delivery workers with more bike access seems an obvious way to fulfill more deliveries in a place like São Paulo, which is Latin America’s most densely populated city. The addition of the e-bike option could also speed up delivery times, allowing workers to complete more orders within their given timeframe and make more money. 

We had similar thoughts back in 2018 when Uber bought e-bike service Jump — though that story ended with Uber offloading Jump to Lime in May of this year. That said, Uber never formally integrated the e-bike service with its Eats business.

On the other hand, iFood is merely partnering with Tembici, not buying it, and the new program may turn out to be a much more financially sustainable endeavor that makes mobility easier for more couriers. 

Since the iFood Pedal program is in pilot stage, its availability is currently limited to a select number of couriers in São Paulo. iFood said that by the end of this year, the project plans to have more than 500 bicycles on the streets of that city.

Uber Eats Is Not Bailing On California

California imposed an order this week that, for a minute there, led us all to believe Uber’s food delivery business in that state was on the rocks.

Spoiler alert: it’s totally not.

Recap: On Monday, a California judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering that Uber (along with Lyft) reclassify its drivers as employees in keeping with the state’s AB5, which was signed into law in January. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi then took to the airwaves to tell us all the company will likely have to temporarily shut down service in California if the court does not overturn the ruling.

As is usually the case when we talk about third-party delivery services, there’s fine print, which Eater SF promptly dug up. An Uber spokesperson confirmed to the publication that the shutdown would only apply to the company’s rideshare business, and that Uber Eats — now Uber’s biggest business — would continue “as is.”

I can’t really think of a better way of putting it than in Eater writer Eve Batey’s own words: “Uber’s threat to take their ball and go home if forced to comply with California law really only applies to a ball that, right now, isn’t the one that the other kids want to play with all that much.”

Eats currently generates more revenue than Rides, according to Uber’s second-quarter earnings report. That makes sense, seeing as the world has been in a pandemic-induced lockdown of late, and even with restrictions lifting in places, average consumers are just not going out as much. They are, however, ordering a ton of delivery meals from restaurants. Gross bookings for Eats were $6.96 billion in Q2, which was up 113 percent year-over-year and up 54 percent over Q1 2020.

Uber also recently struck a $2.65 billion deal to acquire fellow third-party delivery company Postmates — a service that just happens to be number one in Los Angeles, a city that just happens to be the second most populated one in the U.S. Yanking the plug on California, even temporarily, would make the deal pointless. Uber might have ethical flaws in its business model, but its leaders aren’t dumb.

Besides, they’ll get a chance to continue the fight to keep its delivery drivers and couriers as contract workers come November, when Californians vote on Proposition 22, which would exempt rideshare and delivery drivers from being considered employees. Needless to say, tech companies are all-in on this one.

But if regulators continue to scrutinize third-party delivery practices, and consumers continue to rely on off-premises meals while restrictions around in-house restaurant dining room remain in place, it seems only a matter of time before Uber et al. go from the frying pan to the fire with food delivery. 

Maybe then we can take eloquently worded threats to shut down seriously. 

Accelerating the Drive Thru

Of late, there’s been much ado about the drive-thru, with major restaurant chains like Shake Shack and Chipotle all announcing an increased focus on the format.

So it wasn’t too surprising this week to get new data showing the drive-thru is far and away the most popular restaurant “experience” among consumers. A new survey from Bluedot and research firm SeeLevel HX found that 74 percent of respondents said they have visited the drive-thru “the same amount or more often than usual” compared to 43 percent in April. Those consumers surveyed also named drive-thru “the safest” of the to-go formats polled in the report.

It’s all a bit of a no-brainer if you ask me. If you’ve hung around inside a restaurant lately waiting for your pickup order, you’ll know the experience is often tense and confusing. Meanwhile, curbside pickup is still so new for most restaurants that operational kinks have yet to be worked out. That makes drive-thru, a decades-old format, seemingly the safest and fastest way to collect your grub at a time when dining at a restaurant is a no-go for many consumers.

But drive thrus could be faster. A lot faster. In this week’s survey, 81 percent said waiting more than 10 minutes in the drive-thru is too long.

As mobile ordering increases in restaurants and more chains reformat their brick-and-mortar locations to accommodate drive-thru, speed of service will need to be at the top of the priority list.

Restaurant Tech ‘Round the Web

  • A new survey by Oracle Food and Beverage found that 59 percent of U.S. consumers and 47 percent in the U.K. “plan to dine-out as soon as they are able.” Forty percent in the U.S. and 39 percent in the U.K. would feel “safer” using a digital menu from their own device. Another 35 percent in the U.S. and 31 percent in the U.K. had similar feelings about digital payments. 
  • Mobile platform Mad Mobile has acquired restaurant tech company CAKE, best known for its POS system. Mad Mobile hopes to use the acquisition to create a next-gen POS designed for mobile-first restaurant experiences. 
  • For more on the future of ridesharing, which is usually an indicator of what’s to come for food delivery, check out this podcast from Axios Re:Cap. 

This is the web version of our newsletter. Sign up today to get updates on the rapidly changing nature of the food tech industry.

Just Eat Takeaway.com to Stop Using Gig Workers in Europe

Just Eat Takeaway.com just made its sentiments known about how to classify gig workers — but not in the way you’d expect from a third-party delivery service. Company boss Jitse Groen told BBC this week that Just Eat Takeaway.com will “end” gig working in its operations in Europe.

“We’re a large multinational company with quite a lot of money and we want to insure our people,” he said. “We want to be certain they do have benefits, that we do pay taxes on those workers.” 

“Large multinational company” aptly describes Just Eat Takeaway.com these days. The company itself is the product of Netherlands-based Takeaway.com’s recent acquisition of the U.K.’s Just Eat. And in June, the newly formed company announced it would acquire Grubhub, creating the largest food delivery service in the world outside of China.

All that M&A means more hiring. But this hasn’t been a particularly easy time for gig workers, in Europe or elsewhere. With the pandemic keeping more folks at home, delivery orders are up. That demand renders the folks driving or biking the food to customers frontline workers at higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus. Under the status of gig worker, these individuals do not have access to certain workplace protections (e.g., paid sick leave) they would as employees.

Just Eat Takeaway.com’s changes to worker classification may only apply to Europe right now, but the company has operations all over the globe. The aforementioned Grubhub deal will soon give the company a presence in the U.S., too, where the debate over gig workers is especially heated right now. Just this week, a California judge ordered Uber and Lyft to reclassify its contract workers as employee. For Uber, that would mean changing the underlying model around its Eats business, too.

Groen did not say when the change for its his company’s European workers would take place. And how Just Eat Takeaway.com handles U.S.-based workers once the Grubhub deal kicks in remains to be seen. 

While Just Eat Takeaway.com looks to remove many of the downsides of gig worker jobs, others are spending millions to fight any changes to the system. At some point a new standard around benefits for these workers might emerge from the fight. Let’s hope it’s one that values human health and well-being over food delivery’s ever-elusive path to profitability.  

Updated: California Judge Orders Uber and Lyft to Reclassify Drivers as Employees

UPDATE: Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company would probably shut down operations in California temporarily if this week’s ruling is not overturned. However, that would only apply to the company’s rideshare business. An Uber spokesperson confirmed to Eater that the company “has no plans to cease California operations of Uber Eats.”

PREVIOUSLY:

A California judge late Monday ordered that Uber and Lyft must reclassify their drivers as employees. This preliminary injunction is stayed for 10 days, during which time Uber and Lyft can file an appeal. Both companies have said they will do so.

This week’s order comes after California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and city attorneys in California sued Uber and Lyft in May for allegedly treating their workers as contractors. The suit alleged that these companies were in violation of AB5, which went into effect in January of this year. Under the law, gig economy workers (including food delivery couriers and drivers) must be classified as employees and given access to benefits like sick leave, unemployment, and workers comp.

Uber, Lyft, and other gig worker companies have already funneled substantial resources into challenging AB5. In December of 2019, Uber and Postmates filed a complaint (which was later rejected) alleging the law violates constitutional rights. DoorDash, along with Uber and Lyft, has vowed to spend millions to get a ballot measure in 2020 that would counteract AB5. And these tech companies have argued ad nauseam that their workers want to be independent contractors and that their services are exempt from the law on the grounds that they are platforms, not transportation companies. 

California Superior Court Judge Ethan Schulman wrote in this week’s ruling that such logic “flies in the face of economic reality and common sense… To state the obvious, drivers are central, not tangential, to Uber and Lyft’s entire ride-hailing business.”

That third-party food delivery services stand on the same side of the AB5 argument as rideshare companies is no surprise. The third-party delivery model relies on workers to transport food from restaurants to customers’ homes. Having to pay workers things like health benefits and paid sick leave would undercut the entire third-party delivery model, adding extra costs for the likes of Uber and DoorDash, and ultimately slowing their still-elusive path to profitability. 

Uber went as far as to say that if this week’s injunction stands, it may have to exit California. Assuming that would apply to both its rideshare business and its Eats operation, that would erode the company’s recent deal to acquire Postmates, a service that’s most popular on the west coast. 

No other state has yet moved so aggressively to get gig workers reclassified. But thanks to COVID-19, much light has been shed on workers’ access to things like health benefits or even paid sick leave and unemployment during a global crisis. In March, a New York Court ruled that Postmates couriers are employees and therefore eligible for unemployment. In the same month, Instacart revamped its benefits for drivers after workers threatened to strike.

You can read this week’s ruling in full here. If it stands, and Uber and Lyft are unsuccessful in their appeals, the order could have a ripple effect across other states in the U.S.

Uber Q2: Eats Generates More Revenue than Rides

There are two stories coming out of Uber’s Q2 earnings report today. The first is the straight ahead numbers: The company did $2.18 billion in revenue for the quarter, which was down 29 percent year-over-year, but beat analyst expectations. Uber’s net losses were $1.8 billion, narrower than the $2.94 billion in Q1.

Of course, much of this was due to the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the company’s mobility business. Uber’s mobility division had gross bookings of $3.046 billion for the quarter, which was a decline of 73 percent year-over-year. With people on lockdown, they had no need to hail a ride.

But while the coronavirus kept people from catching an Uber across town, it also pushed them to ordering more food delivery while they stayed home, which leads us to the other story.

Gross bookings for Uber’s delivery business (Uber Eats) hit $6.96 billion in Q2, which was up 113 percent year-over-year and up 54 percent over Q1 2020. That’s a lot of french fries delivered to people’s front doors.

In addition to getting a pandemic push, Uber Eats also streamlined some of its costs in Q2. The company ceased Uber Eats operations in eight different markets around the world where it wasn’t in a leading position.

In the Q2 earnings release, Uber also said that it now has more than 500,000 partnered restaurants on the platform, a 50 percent jump year-over-year.

With Q2 in the books, it’s time to look ahead to Q3 which will include the $2.65 billion all-stock purchase of rival food delivery service, Postmates, as well as the expansion into grocery delivery here in the U.S.

Postmates Now Delivering Dodger Stadium Food to LA Doors

Dodger fans now can change up “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” with some new lyrics:

Take a walk down my hallway
Take a seat on the couch
Postmates and Dodgers now deliver snacks
Just in time now that baseball is back

Baseball fans may be stuck at home, but if you’re rooting for the Dodgers in LA, you can still eat like you’re at the stadium. Postmates announced earlier this week that has partnered with Home Plates to offer home delivery of Dodger Stadium food.

From a Postmates blog post describing the program:

Home Plates will serve Dodger Stadium fan-favorites like Dodger Dogs, micheladas, and garlic fries to go along with snacks, salads, bar, and dessert options. In addition to premium Dodger Dogs, items specially produced by Home Plates include individual thin-crust Brooklyn-style pizza, carne asada helmet nachos, and Dodgers’ blue gelato. Also, check out the family party pack and catering options.

Right now, delivery is only available in the Hollywood and West Hollywood neighborhoods of Los Angeles, with plans to expand to other areas of the city. Hollywood and West Hollywood, of course, are also the neighborhoods where Postmates uses its Serve robot to make deliveries. So your Dodger Dog may be brought to you by a cute robot!

This isn’t the first deal between Postmates and the Dodgers. Last year, the two teamed up for online ordering and food pickup inside Dodger Stadium. But with stadiums shut down, this is the next best thing for those wanting more of a realistic baseball experience while watching the games at home.

Postmates was recently acquired by Uber for $2.65 billion, which could buy a lot of peanuts and cracker jacks.

I say this without judgment, but given the greasy nature of stadium food, I’m curious as to how well it will travel for delivery. Obviously, downing a Dodger Dog on your recliner at home is a lot different from eating one amongst tens of thousands of your fellow fans. But will the food even be that good outside a stadium? If you’re in LA and try this out, drop us a line and let us know if it was a home run or a strikeout.

Instacart Files Lawsuit Against Uber’s Cornershop Over Grocery Listings

Today Instacart sued Cornershop, which Uber bought a majority stake in last year, alleging that Cornershop stole product images and other intellectual property.

The Information was first to report on the lawsuit, with reporter Amir Efrati tweeting out the following:

According to Bloomberg:

Instacart claimed Cornershop stole copyrighted images and modified the file names in order to conceal the alleged theft. Instacart also said Cornershop posted job listings for software engineers with “advanced scraping” and other skills indicating that taking and reusing content is part of a company-mandated effort, according to the complaint.

Instacart’s lawsuit comes on the heels of Uber announcing earlier this month that it was expanding grocery delivery into the U.S. through its Cornershop unit.

Grocery e-commerce has seen record sales over the past few months in the U.S., spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns. With the coronavirus negatively impacting Uber’s ridesharing business, the company’s ability to diversify its revenues has become more important. Uber also this month announced that it was acquiring rival third-party delivery service, Postmates.

We’ll be following this story as it progresses, but its clear that Instacart, which has raised more than $2 billion in funding, will actively protect its grocery delivery turf. With the lockdowns, Instacart became an essential service for people needing food, and the company bolstered its gig-working delivery worker ranks to 750,000 to meet up with demand.

How big a threat Uber can be with its later and currently limited arrival into grocery delivery reamains to be seen, but the company does have a huge installed base and Instacart looks like it is taking no chances.

Uber Launching Grocery Delivery in U.S. Amidst Record-Setting E-Commerce

Uber announced today that it will launch grocery delivery in select cities this month. The announcement comes at a time when the global COVID pandemic has spurred consecutive monthly record-setting grocery e-commerce sales in the United States.

From the Uber blog post announcing the news:

Starting today, in collaboration with our partner Cornershop, customers in select cities in Latin America and Canada can order groceries through both the Uber and Uber Eats apps. And starting later this month, grocery delivery will be available in Miami, FL and Dallas, TX. In those two cities Eats Pass and Uber Pass members will receive an additional benefit, free grocery delivery on orders over $30. 

According to Grocery Dive, the service will be available through the Uber and Uber Eats apps, where users can select a participating retailer and order their groceries. And though Cornershop is fulfilling orders now, Uber drivers will be able to sign up to make grocery deliveries.

Uber announced last October that it was acquiring a majority stake in Cornershop, an online marketplace for on-demand delivery from supermarkets across Chile, Mexico, Peru and Toronto. That deal still hasn’t gotten formal approval from the Chilean government, though Uber believes that will happen in a matter of days.

This grocery expansion news comes just one day after Uber announced that it was acquiring third-party delivery service Postmates for $2.65 billion. Both the Cornershop and Postmates deals show how Uber is bolstering its Eats delivery business at a time when the COVID pandemic and quarantining is hammering its ride sharing business.

The pandemic is also driving a grocery e-commerce boom. According to surveys from Brick Meets Click, online grocery shopping has had month-after-month of record setting sales as restaurants were shut down and people were forced to shelter in place. With the pandemic showing no signs of slowing down here in the U.S., getting into grocery is a smart move for Uber.

Uber is, however, facing stiff and well-funded competition. Last month, Instacart raised $225 million (and has raised $2.1 billion in total) as it has seen a surge in demand. It was also ratcheting its ranks to 750,000 Shoppers (the gig workers who shop and deliver) to increase delivery availability. Not to mention huge grocery retail players like Walmart and Amazon making and expanding their own delivery programs.

For its part, however, Uber does have a large installed user base from ride sharing and restaurant delivery that it can tap into. Now we’ll have to see what kind of an impact it can make when it comes to getting people groceries.