Deliveroo is a Popular Thing

Deliveroo is an app for wealthy people to buy expensive food. They hire cyclists for individual orders instead of hourly, this is a "super" zero hours contract. As your paid for 10-30 minutes’ worth of work, although I've seen people make £18.50 in an hour so it's a reasonable system.

My first thought on the company and Uber (taxi service), they did nothing but change the hiring process. Freelance work like this makes it easy for people to sign on and earn, supply can always match demand. This company requires a strengthened economy to back it, this is among the first to be hit by a recession (large losses of disposable incomes). Cute gimmick was my second thought.

A direct competitor of Deliveroo is Just Eat which operates differently. An upfront cost of £700 and 20% on every order, your expected to hire your own drivers. Just Eat remains the market leader and is the largest source of income for most takeaway places. Deliveroo does not provide you with the same customer base unless your products are cheap or different.

Deliveroo started in London whose customers where spread out and not every venue provided their service. Customers must be willing to download the app and accept the initial delivery fee. Routes and algorithms are essential, every minute may impede food quality. Delivery drivers usually have cars and mopeds, yet cyclists provide tremendous free advertising on paths which people are more likely to see. 

What things may disrupt Deliveroo. Well no government is interested in having a formal conversation over working conditions, so once they're in a country or region, they're in, they’re service will forever be the go-to example of "gig-economy", maybe that's part of the success. We are so controversial it's acceptable.

Could freelance drivers cut out Deliveroo as a wasted expense and unnecessary middle-man. As I said, the infrastructure laid down on Deliveroo's part is too great to compete. The app gets restaurant and customers to pay which contributes for a deliverers wage, a lone person couldn't set this up very easily. Although a takeaway place could explore using cyclists if they receive high volumes of orders just up the road. Second, perhaps a person could sell frozen yogurt from home with friends for cyclists. 

With Deliveroo gaining praise (£) from chains like Wagamama, franchises are not interested that inexpensive options might riddle the app or market. And yet this paves the way for freelance restaurants and drivers alike to undercut competition by providing food at the price of a home cooked meal with more flavour. It's possible because Deliveroo will never want low-cost options on their platform. I would not be surprised if culture took this kind of turn.

Deliveroo is a craze that may be stamped out by another gimmick, healthy cook yourself boxes.

Why does America hate Deliveroo? In the UK, I worked at a pizzeria with the Deliveroo system, a lot of the drivers weren't British. In America where they have immigration issues, this type of freelance work is too easy an opportunity for people to get work unchecked and unnoticed. I'm sure it will eventually, just not in Trumps America.

Will Shu is the current charismatic CEO of Deliveroo and his interviews are inspiring. I would invest in Deliveroo without caution. They have lots of expanding left in them, although growing is not the same as innovating. 

Check them out:

https://deliveroo.co.uk/