UberEATS is now in Toronto and delivering lunch downtown (in 10 minutes or less)
Starting May 14 (that’s today), Torontonians have another meal delivery service at their fingertips: UberEATS, a lunch service from the makers of the popular taxi-alternative app of the same name. Instead of moving people like its parent company, UberEATS will be delivering midday meals (in typical UberX fashion, so in private cars) to those in the downtown core, Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The company has already brought its meals on wheels program to Barcelona, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, but Toronto is the first Canadian city to take advantage of its on-demand (and real-time tracking) delivery service.
If you live or work within the service area (which we’re told will be getting bigger in coming months), you can trade in your soggy sandwich for something from one of the city’s top spots. The roster of restaurants will rotate daily, but could include Bar Buca, P&L Burger, Caplansky’s, Kupfert & Kim, Fresh, Hawker Bar, Valdez and Khao San Road. A flat $3 delivery fee will be tacked on, no matter how many meals are ordered, and all food will be delivered curbside in (get this) 10 minutes or less. How is this possible, you ask? Are there delivery drones? Wormholes? “We’re able to use our historical data and our technology to actually predict demand patterns,” explains Elyse Knopf, UberEATS’s regional lead. “So we’ll be able to predict where and when requests will come in from and work with restaurants to adjust their production schedules based on demand signal. And delivery partners will be able to do multiple food drop-offs at one time without having to go back to the restaurant.” So, no wormholes—just a little bit of fortune telling.
For the first two weeks, UberEATS is waiving the $3 service fee. After that, the app will have a “fare split” feature that will give customers the option to split the bill (and service fee) with a hungry friend (or two).
&picture=https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/UberEATS.jpg&description=[caption id="attachment_315105" align="aligncenter" width="656"] (Image: UberEats)[/caption]
Starting May 14 (that's today), Torontonians have another meal delivery service at their fingertips: UberEATS, a lunch service from the makers of the popular taxi-alternative app of the same name. Instead of moving people like its parent company, UberEATS will be delivering midday meals (in typical UberX fashion, so in private cars) to those in the downtown core, Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The company has already brought its meals on wheels program to Barcelona, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York, but Toronto is the first Canadian city to take advantage of its on-demand (and real-time tracking) delivery service.
If you live or work within the service area (which we're told will be getting bigger in coming months), you can trade in your soggy sandwich for something from one of the city's top spots. The roster of restaurants will rotate daily, but could include Bar Buca, P&L Burger, Caplansky's, Kupfert & Kim, Fresh, Hawker Bar, Valdez and Khao San Road. A flat $3 delivery fee will be tacked on, no matter how many meals are ordered, and all food will be delivered curbside in (get this) 10 minutes or less. How is this possible, you ask? Are there delivery drones? Wormholes? "We're able to use our historical data and our technology to actually predict demand patterns," explains Elyse Knopf, UberEATS's regional lead. "So we'll be able to predict where and when requests will come in from and work with restaurants to adjust their production schedules based on demand signal. And delivery partners will be able to do multiple food drop-offs at one time without having to go back to the restaurant." So, no wormholes—just a little bit of fortune telling.
For the first two weeks, UberEATS is waiving the $3 service fee. After that, the app will have a "fare split" feature that will give customers the option to split the bill (and service fee) with a hungry friend (or two).){kind=link}
Downtown Toronto Core: 1
Outside of Toronto Core: 0
Careful. All of Darren’s cretins are going to come after you now for daring mock his essential scoreboard.
As an Uber X driver in Toronto, if I get one of these runs, I hope I’m not expected to leave my car on the road side and deliver the food to the client’s office. Unless the client is going to meet me on the street when I arrive, I wouldn’t accept any of these runs.
From the article: “… all food will be delivered curbside …”. I’d take it that means the client will meet you on the street.
Use Uber code UBERTORONTOFREERIDE to get $20 off your first ride. Just download the Uber app and enter the code. Valid anywhere in Canada :)