Now, Uber brings your food home

Mumbai: After making its mark as a cab aggregator, Uber has now launched its other venture, food delivery, in the country.

"Three years ago we started UberEATS in Los Angeles as a small delivery pilot. Today we are bringing it to India for the first time in Mumbai," said Mr Bhavik Rathod, head, UberEATS,  addressing a press conference in the city on Tuesday.

Using the new Uber app, all the customer needs to do is order his choice of food from a restaurant, and a driver will pick it up and delivers it to his doorstep.

The company's entry into the market comes at a time when multiple tech -driven apps have already made a niche for themselves in the food delivery business. But unfazed, it hopes to expand this service to other cities depending on the response in Mumbai.

Uber plans to bring together restaurants, customers and driver partners on the lines of Zomato and Foodpanda.  Speaking to the Deccan Chronicle on the sidelines of the media conference,  Mr Rathod said it would tie up with drivers using two -wheelers and motorbikes  for food delivery. "Since parking is a problem, we won't be using cars," he explained.

UberEATS is already being used by 200 restaurants in Mumbai, according to project manager, Karthik Murthy. The company aims to set itself apart by doing away with the minimum order charge and the need for Internet connectivity to make deliveries. "Also, as a lot of food options can be confusing, this application learns the individual's preferences based on past orders," Mr Murthy revealed.

Just like the established competitors in the market, UberEATS will have live tracking of deliveries, scheduling and an option for customer feedback.

" We also have a  tool called Restaurant Manager, which analyses data on food quality, specific sales and so on," Mr Murthy added.