A major disruption has started in food delivery, from restaurants and supermarkets. Although this trend involves familiar names, they don't make food. Google, Amazon and Uber are seeking a place at the table.
Baum and Whiteman, a leading international restaurant and food consultancy, based in New York, identifies tech-driven delivery as the current "big disrupter of food retailing and food service."
UberEats focuses on high-speed delivery from restaurants, now in Toronto, Paris and 10 U.S. cities, while Google and Amazon deliver groceries.
Sending non-fresh grocery items to U.S. and Canadian addresses is nothing new for Amazon but now they've added prepared meals in some American cities, with free, one-hour delivery.
Amazon and other companies are also starting to bypass the restaurants and supermarkets.
In the U.S., Amazon has a partnership with e-commerce firm Fresh Nation to deliver fresh produce from farmers' markets to homes. For Southern California, the lowest priced items listed on the Amazon Fresh website are a large loaf of bread or a bundle of five fresh herbs, for $8.
In November, Amazon Pantry launched in the U.K., selling 4,000 grocery and household items, with a $6 delivery charge for a large box. Flush with success, Amazon is adding thousands more products, with plans to add fresh food. Christopher North, head of Amazon UK, told The Guardian they plan to roll out Amazon Fresh internationally.
Amazon has a partnership with e-commerce firm Fresh Nation to deliver fresh produce from farmers' markets to homes. (David Goldman/Associated Press)
An important side dish for the tech companies will be the personal-preference information they can collect.
Other companies are starting commissaries that prepare hot meals exclusively for delivery to offices and homes, while some big chains, like Panera, are creating food hubs to handle delivery orders, separate from their walk-in locations.
Baum and Whiteman also expects meal kits to become popular in 2016. They contain all the ingredients to make a complete meal at home, costing about $10 per person.
Source: CBC News
