Uber Eats food delivery service launches in Hamilton

Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Uber Eats, a new app based food delivery service, comes to Hamilton.

Another branch of global ride-sharing company Uber has been delivered to Hamilton.

Uber Eats, a food delivery service utilising any subscriber as a driver, launches on Thursday.

Around 20 restaurants are signed up to the service, which has drivers collect and deliver food to customers using a smartphone app.

Uber Eats has been launched in Hamilton almost six-weeks after the Uber passenger service was launched.

The drivers are not employed by the restaurant, or Uber. The customer pays a $5.99 to $7.99 fee, depending on where in the city they live, and Uber usually takes a 35 per cent cut.

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Nami owner Yu Jin Han says Uber Eat's 35 per cent service fee was steep, but he hoped the it would be good advertising for his business. He has signed up to a one month trial with Uber Eats to test the service.

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Nami, a Japanese restaurant on Hood St, will be one of the first restaurants to offer food delivery through the Uber Eats app when it launches in Hamilton on Thursday.

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Owner of Japanese restaurant Nami, Yu Jin Han said he agreed to a one month trial, but the 35 per cent fee was steep.

'I'm just going to try it, for me it's more for the advertisement. I want to see what the takeaway demand is.'

Nami is a small dine-in restaurant, which has little passing foot traffic on Hood St.

Han has long considered delivery, and is signed up to Uber Eats competitor, Delivereasy.

He hoped the newcomer's size, feedback system and popularity would offer an advantage.

'If business is very busy maybe we hire more people.'

Other restaurants signed up for the launch include Lone Star, Joe's Garage, Madam Woo, and take-out staples Hells Pizza, Mad Mex and Pita Pit.

Uber Eats New Zealand country lead Emma Foley said they have been training restaurant staff and providing drivers with insulated delivery bags in the past week.

She advises restaurants to offer their full menus online, and said some elsewhere have created Uber Eats specific offerings.

'If you're a customer who normally goes to Madam Woo, you often have your favourite things and want to be able to get it. But restaurants have the flexibility in offering whatever they want.'

Foley would not discuss what Uber Eats charges restaurants for the service.

She was confident the number of drivers registered - including some existing Uber drivers - would meet demand on the first day.

Delivery drivers must pass a background check and have an insured vehicle, be it a car, motorbike or motor scooter. Delivery by bicycle is also an option.

'We definitely make sure that the cars get the longer trips … If you're on a bicycle we don't work you too hard,' Foley said.

Uber Eats launched in Auckland in March 2017, and has since spread the service to Wellington, Christchurch and almost 700 restaurants.

San Francisco-based Uber's core business, a ride-sharing app that connects drivers with passengers, launched in Hamilton in January.