Instacart, Uber partner for restaurant delivery
Two of the top players in the online food delivery space are teaming up.
Instacart and Uber Technologies Inc. are partnering to bring restaurant delivery from the Uber Eats on-demand delivery subsidiary of Uber to Instacart customers. In the coming weeks, Instacart customers nationwide will be able to use the Instacart app to order from hundreds of thousands of restaurants, with delivery fulfilled by Uber Eats and the couriers on its platform.
The joint offering will be featured through a new “Restaurants” tab in the Instacart app, allowing consumers to choose from a selection of nearby restaurants, browse menus, place orders, and track deliveries in real time. Members of the Instacart+ loyalty program will receive $0 delivery fees on both grocery and restaurant orders over $35 at no additional cost.
Through the partnership, Uber says it will help drive more orders to its Uber Eats restaurant partners and extend its restaurant selection to millions of customers across the U.S., including consumers in suburban markets that use Instacart.
According to the companies, the collaboration also extends their efforts to create technologies and solutions that support brick-and-mortar businesses. Instacart in particular has been trying to establish itself as a grocery technology company, while Uber Eats has been making efforts to move beyond its traditional customer base with efforts such as its Rite Aid partnership.
Meanwhile, Instacart has been extending itself beyond its core grocery delivery niche for several years now, although in terms of food delivery it still mostly partners directly with grocery, CPG and convenience retailers rather than restaurants.
Presumably, this new collaboration will be seen as a competitive threat by other on-demand delivery providers with a heavy presence in the restaurant space, such as DoorDash and Grubhub, which have both expanded their services into sectors such as grocery, drugstore and CPG in recent years.
"Our goal is to make it effortless for people to go anywhere and get anything," said Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber. "We’re excited that this new strategic partnership with Instacart will bring the magic of Uber Eats to even more consumers, drive more business for restaurants, and create more earnings opportunities for couriers."
"Through this partnership, Instacart customers now have access to both the best online grocery selection in the U.S. and restaurant delivery, making it even easier for them to conveniently tackle all their food needs from a single app," said Fidji Simo, CEO and chair of Instacart. "Whether it’s ingredients for a beloved family recipe, a prepared meal from a nearby grocer or takeout from a favorite restaurant – customers can now get the food they want, from the retailers and restaurants they love, all within the Instacart app."
Uber Eats partners with more than 1 million restaurants and retailers in more than 11,000 cities across six continents. Instacart partners with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retailers to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America.