MarketWatch: The pandemic has more than doubled food-delivery apps’ business. Now what?
Zachary Davis, owner of The Glass Jar restaurant group in Santa Cruz, Calif., said he intentionally avoided working with food-delivery apps before the COVID-19 pandemic because the costs to his business just seemed too high.
But when his county issued shelter-in-place orders, “we were effectively shut down. We closed for a couple of days, took stock and realized it was the only way to keep our business open,” he told MarketWatch.
Davis is not alone. Delivery apps have become more important for both business owners and their customers as more people order takeout and groceries during the coronavirus pandemic. DoorDash Inc.’s DASH, recent filing for an initial public offering and earnings reports from Uber Technologies Inc. UBER, 1.29%, Grubhub Inc. GRUB, -2.01% and Postmates have provided a deeper look into delivery apps’ business in 2020, and it is clear the pandemic has given the industry a big boost.
The four companies raked in roughly $5.5 billion in combined revenue from April through September, more than twice as much as their combined $2.5 billion in revenue during the same period last year.
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The campaign, led by the American Economic Liberties Project and others, is urging the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the delivery apps’ practices.
“A lot of cities are mobilizing on their own to try to save the restaurant industry,” said Nia Johnson, spokeswoman for the American Economic Liberties Project, in an interview. “What we saw with all these movements was an opportunity to uplift… To really shine a light on the abusive behaviors that are taking place by these corporations.”