Mapping the Landscape of Independent Food Delivery Platforms in the United States

Yuhan Liu*, Amna Liaqat*, Owen Xingjian Zhang, Mariana Consuelo Fernandez, Ankhitha Manjunatha, Alexander Yang, Orestis Papakyriakopoulos, Andrés Monroy-Hernández

This work has been accepted by CSCW 2024. Workshop paper based on this work also appeared at CHI 2023 Workshop: Designing Technology and Policy Simultaneously: Towards A Research Agenda and New Practice

Workshop paper

Overview

There are hundreds of food delivery platforms in the United States besides the three mainstream operators: Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Grubhub. However, very little is known about the sociotechnical landscape of small “independent” platforms (indie platforms). This work aims to fill that gap. In this study, we asked the following research questions:

RQ1: What are the motivations and values of indie platforms in the United States?
RQ2: What is the scale of their operation?
RQ3: What technical infrastructures do they rely on?
RQ4: What are the challenges they face?

In our study, we analyzed data from 495 independent platforms, including in-depth survey responses from 29 of these platforms. Check the whole list here

Key Findings Check out our paper for details

RQ1

We found that personalized, timely service is a central value of indie platforms, as is a sense of responsibility to the local communities they serve. Independent platforms are motivated to provide fair rates for restaurants and couriers. These alternative business practices differentiate them from mainstream platforms.

RQ2

By mapping the restaurants' zip codes, we identified clusters where each platform operates and observed that these indie platforms operate largely on a local level.

RQ3

We learned that most platforms did not develop their own software from scratch. Instead, they relied on third-party companies. These third-party developers provide a suite of software to handle delivery logistics, including menu-listing software, menu-uploading software for restaurants to manage inventory, and software for delivery drivers to handle orders and communicate with dispatchers.

RQ4

From the survey, we learned that the most common challenge platforms face is a lack of couriers, followed by a low volume of orders and a lack of funding. Other challenges include a shortage of restaurant partners, too many delivery services, and not enough customers.

Takeaways

Indie platforms are a widespread fixture of the United States food delivery landscape.

One size fits all does not cater to the human involvement aspect of indie platforms.

Slioing of technology impedes indie platforms.

Acknowledgement

We thank our participants for generously sharing their experiences and insights. We also thank Samantha Dalal, Fannie Liu, and other members of the Princeton HCI Lab and Princeton Center for Information Technology Policy for their helpful and thoughtful feedback. Finally, we thank RMDA for sharing their data and offering insightful feedback.