Traditionally, ordering take-away food from the comfort of home or your office meant you had to call a business that operated its own in-house delivery system. With the explosion of the gig-economy, Deliveroo has carved out a respectable slice of the market with its app that allows people who own a car, motorcycle, scooter or even a bicycle to pick up and deliver food from local restaurants.

For consumers, this means far greater access to home delivery of ready-to-eat food, with a variety that’s only limited by the number of local restaurants that participate. Naturally, a potential downside of Deliveroo is that, like all gig-economy services, it is harder to guarantee the individual quality of each rider and this may turn away some consumers.

Deliveroo – Pricing and Contract

Like other gig-economy apps, Deliveroo uses a dynamic algorithm to calculate delivery fees based on variables such as local rider demand and the distance between you and the business you’re ordering food from. Previously, Deliveroo charged a flat $5 delivery fee which was later changed to a variable rate, which in practise means users can potentially pay less than $5, but also potentially pay more.

While Deliveroo encourages participating businesses to keep their app menu the same price as their in-house menu, they are under no obligation to do this which means users can potentially end up paying more.

Deliveroo – Features and Services

Similar in function to other food-delivery apps, Deliveroo allows users to browse between a curated list of local restaurants, cafes, fast-food eateries and more. Once selecting a business, users can navigate the menu and customise their order to their liking. The app has a great deal of utility built into it, allowing users to add or remove individual ingredients (such as taking tomato off a burger and adding special sauce) as well as disclaim any extra special preferences they might have.

This is naturally a highly beneficial feature for people with allergies or special dietary restrictions who want the assurance that their request to add or remove ingredients exists in writing on the app. Another benefit of this system is that there is an extra degree-of-separation between the consumer and the restaurant, which is appreciated by people who might find ordering take-away via over the phone awkward or frustrating. Users can also use the app to place orders in advance.

Deliveroo – Pros and Cons

Pros

• Gives consumers a wide variety of meal options from whatever local food businesses elect to participate with Deliveroo.
• Gives riders a way to earn a secondary or even primary income taking jobs at times that are convenient for them.
• App design gives users ability to finely tune their order, which can give greater peace of mind to those with special dietary requirements or preferences.
• Special promotions can give users the chance to score a discount on their order.

Cons

• Like all gig-economy services, there is less assurance of the professionalism or reliability of the person who delivers your food.
• Delivery fees can very depending on local rider demand and restaurants are not obliged to keep the pricing of their menu uniform between the app and their physical location, although Deliveroo encourages them to do so.

Deliveroo’s competitors:

The biggest competitors are:

• Menulog
• Uber Eats
• Foodora
• Hey You
• Skip