Food delivery services have individual perks; some faster, cheaper than others
THV11's Dawn Scott and News Producer JD Roberts compare four local food delivery services on time, range, cost and ease of use.
About Arkansas food delivery
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KTHV) - Food delivery in the digital age is as simple as opening your phone and hitting a few buttons – and we're not just talking about pizza.
Thanks to apps like Bite Squad and Waitr, Arkansans are enjoying food from restaurants in the comfort of their homes.
But with so many choices, picking one delivery service can be a challenge. We tried four of them to see how they compare.
"I think ultimately, if you look back towards pizza delivery, usually you had a kitchen worker who had a little bit of extra time. That's how a lot of delivery services got started," Greg Henderson with Rock City Eats said.
Flash forward to 2014, when a little service called Chef Shuttle would show up at your doorstep with just about anything your taste buds craved.
It was the only game in town until last year when the company was bought out. Now there are more delivery services than you can count
"First off the bat were Bite Squad and then Waitr, and now we have UberEats and a few others coming through," Henderson said.
But how do they stack up? We set out on a mission to find out. For four consecutive days, THV11 News Producer JD Roberts ordered delivery from each company to compare results.
To level the playing field, we ordered the same meal from the same restaurant at the same time of day: around noon.
We ordered a lunch hibachi chicken with fried rice and a ginger salad from the restaurant Wasabi. We requested no mushrooms to see how easy it was to customize the order.
We picked the top four delivery apps in central Arkansas – Uber Eats, Bite Squad, the company that bought Chef Shuttle last year, Waitr and GrubHub.
We compared time, pricing, delivery range and the ease of using the app.
"It'll be interesting. This is one of the few occasions where Little Rock is a part of the nationwide experiment. I mean, nationwide delivery services boomed a lot," Henderson said.
We started with Uber Eats, and the waiting game was on. The next day: Bite Squad. Then Waitr and finally, Grub Hub. You might be surprised the differences in each service.
"Now you can have these third-party delivery services take sort of that load on of hiring drivers, maintaining drivers, worrying about insurance, worrying about liability and things like that. [Which] makes it a whole lot easier for a restaurant to focus on what they're doing well and not also have to manage a whole staff of delivery drivers," said Henderson.
Food delivery in the digital age is as simple as opening your phone and hitting a few buttons – and we're not just talking about pizza. But with so many choices, picking one delivery service can be a challenge.
What we found
1. Uber Eats
Once we were done ordering the app gave us an estimated time of arrival: 12:20 p.m. When they arrived, we got a message asking if we were at THV11. The food was delivered in to-go boxes and a plastic sack at 12:22 p.m., just two minutes later than the estimated time. The food was warm and no mushrooms were in the food.
The total cost of the food, booking fee, tax and $2 tip was $16.43.
2. Bite Squad
The estimated time of delivery bounced around from 12:35 to 12:49 p.m. The driver sent a text and called when they were close, but they didn't arrive until 12:51 p.m. The food was stored in a "heat box" to keep it warm and there were no mushrooms in site.
The total cost of the food, booking fee, tax and 20-percent tip was $16.24
3. Waitr
The estimated delivery time was 12:38 p.m. Around 12:31 p.m., we got a text from our driver telling us the restaurant was running a little behind, and at 12:34 p.m., we got a follow-up text letting us know that the order was finished and the driver was on the way. Five minutes later, we got a phone call letting us know our food had arrived. The order was in a "heat box" and accurate.
The total cost of the food, booking fee, tax and 20-percent tip was $17.33
4. GrubHub
We started ordering around 12:04 p.m. but ran into an issue checking out. We tried again and after a few minutes and realized we were $1.50 short of the minimum order price, so we added egg rolls.
The order was submitted around 12:09 p.m. and the estimated time of arrival was between 12:40 p.m. and 12:50 p.m., but they arrived early, at 12:35 p.m. The food was delivered in a "heat box," and everything was accurate.
The total cost of the food, booking fee, tax and 20-percent tip was $19.31.
As far as pricing, Bite Squad was the cheapest, with Uber Eats not far behind. Grub Hub was the most expensive because of it's $10 minimum
For timing, Uber Eats delivered in 22 minutes, with Grub Hub a close second.
Uber Eats Waitr and GrubHub operate mostly in the metro area, but Bite Squad is found in areas outside of Little Rock as well.
As for the apps, each is easy to use, with their own perks. Every app does, however update you on your order.
So, how do you choose?
"I think honestly what's going happen is we're going to see an influx in the market and one or two more come into town. And what's going to happen is that the consumers are going to decide," Henderson said. "The good thing about this, and the good thing going on nationally, is there's going to be some consolidation in this industry, absolutely. But the other thing we're going to see is the consumer is going to pick which one is the best for them, which one provides the best times, which one keeps the food warm, which one actually gets their order right."
Henderson says technology for these companies will continue to improve and expand into other services like groceries, even liquor. He says when that happens more retailers and restaurants will trust their delivery services.