‘Profitboss’ Is Saving Restaurants From Heavy Delivery App Fees

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Bay-area based startup Profitboss is pitching itself as the “easiest, fastest, and most convenient system to get back your customers from third party [services].” Free to restaurants, the service (which launched in 2018) lets restaurants open their own digital storefront. Profitboss CEO Adam Guild likes to compare his service to Shopify and the…

Portland Approves 10% Cap On Fees That Food Delivery Apps Can Charge Restuarants

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Oregon Live: The Portland City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to make it illegal for third-party food delivery services like DoorDash and Grubhub to collect more than 10% in commission fees from city restaurants amid the coronavirus pandemic. Portland joins other cities, including Seattle, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, that have instituted similar caps in recent…

Uber’s New Strategy: Buy Unprofitable Companies, ???, Profit

Uber’s new strategy is just like its old one. Make its money-losing business bigger by buying other money-losing businesses like Postmates. From a report: After Uber’s merger talks with food-delivery company Grubhub fell apart, Uber has now set its sights on Postmates, according to the New York Times. Uber Eats, the ride-hailing company’s food-delivery unit, is just as unprofitable as the…

Are Food Delivery Services Actually Losing Money?

Food delivery services like Grubhub should be thriving, especially during the pandemic. But they’re not, The Markup reports: In August 2019, analysts from the investment firm Cowen estimated that Uber Eats was losing $3.36 on every order and would continue to lose money on every order for the next five years. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi acknowledged that Uber Eats is not…

Uber Makes Takeover Approach To Grubhub

phalse phace shares a report from The Wall Street Journal: Uber is seeking to acquire Grubhub in an all-stock deal that would unite two of the biggest players in meal delivery at a time when the coronavirus pandemic has sparked a surge in demand for their services. Uber, which in addition to its flagship ride business operates a big meal-delivery unit…

Uber Loses $2.9 Billion, Offloads Bike and Scooter Business

Uber lost $2.9 billion in the first quarter as its overseas investments were hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, but the company is looking to its growing food delivery business and aggressive cost-cutting to ease the pain. Tech Xplore reports: The ride-hailing giant said Thursday it is offloading Jump, its bike and scooter business, to Lime, a company in which it is…

Uber Connects Out-of-Work U.S. Ride-Hail Drivers To Delivery, Production Jobs

Uber said on Monday its app will list job openings in the delivery, food production and grocery industry that its U.S. drivers can access during a slump in ride-hailing demand due to the coronavirus. From a report: Beginning on Monday, drivers can find job listings of other companies in a new section of their app, Uber said in a blog post….

Uber Sells Food Delivery Business in India To Local Rival Zomato

An anonymous reader quotes a report: Uber said on late Tuesday that it has sold its food delivery business, Uber Eats, in India to local rival Zomato as the American ride-hailing giant races to shed lossmaking operations to become profitable by next year. As part of the deal, Uber would own 9.99% of Zomato and its Eats users would become part…

Uber CEO Sees Path To Profitability Despite Bumps in the Road

CEO of Uber, which posted a record $5.2 billion quarterly loss earlier this month, believes the company is on track to reach profitability. In an interview with Bloomberg Thursday [video], Dara Khosrowshahi said the company has “resolved all of the governance conflicts and legal issues.” He said: We have a great investor base, we have taken the company public, and the…