Home / Series / Modern MBA / Aired Order / Season 2022 / Episode 10

DoorDash & The Myth of Profitable Food Delivery

Food delivery is a simple business. While the market today is dominated by DoorDash, Uber Eats, Delivery Hero, and a few others, back in 2014, food delivery and the gig economy were just emerging in Silicon Valley. Back then, the barriers to entry were so low that anyone could open up their own food delivery business in a matter of weeks with just a few thousand dollars and a website. Food delivery seemed such an obvious million dollar business that as a starry-eyed 20 year old at the time, I left college to start a food delivery company, joining many others in the gold rush. The market in 2014 was wide open for the taking. DoorDash had not yet become a household name, UberEats was just spinning up, and GrubHub was used for looking up restaurant menus online. 6 years after my startup, it’s been interesting to see the continued hype of food delivery companies around the world even though everyone knows that the unit economics just don’t work. When you have to rely on tips to pa

English
  • Originally Aired July 11, 2022
  • Runtime 26 minutes
  • Created January 16, 2024 by
    blue_gandalf
  • Modified January 16, 2024 by
    blue_gandalf