Two things that made a significant impact on almost anyone during this time that the whole world is battling a pandemic is the importance of food deliveries and that healthy, freshly prepared meals are always better. In the recent announcement made by DoorDash, they seem to be aiming to combine these two essentials.
According to Wall Street Journal, DoorDash, one of the largest food delivery service companies, recently announced that they are acquiring the startup company Chowbotics. With food delivery service and an online and faster ordering system are in high demand, DoorDash is making a bold move that shows its interest in automated food production.
As per Food Manufacturing, this new venture could allow their restaurant partners to have more meal offers without expanding their kitchen space. In addition, this would also enable convenient stores to expand to offering fresh food choices to consumers.
At present, DoorDash holds the top spot among food delivery service companies with 48% of the market share as of October 2020, according to Medium.com. UberEats took second place with a 28% market share, while GrubHub has a 15% market share. In addition, DoorDash's share has grown 14% points from October 2019.
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On the other hand, Chowbotics is a fairly new startup company created by Fresh Food Robots in 2014. This company mainly focuses on making healthy, custom meals accessible 24/7 with its flagship robot. The remarkable technology of Chowbotics can create customizable salads, grain and poke bowls, parfaits, cereals, and snacks, all within a 3'X3' space.
Furthermore, despite being a startup company, Chowbotics has successfully deployed its product to various universities, hospitals, and grocery stores. In doing so, students, front-line workers, and everyday shoppers were given the opportunity to easily access healthy and hygienic meals with fresh ingredients.
We can say that the technology that Chowbotics offers is well-positioned to adapt to the on-going pandemic situation. With its automated food preparation feature, it removed the human element in the process. Additionally, it also carries a contactless feature that allows users to order ahead of time via a mobile app.
Despite the excellent market performance, DoorDash received criticism last year after its IPO went public. Several analysts claimed that it lacks value and that the company might go through challenges once the pandemic subsides and the demand for food deliveries lessens.
However, with the acquisition of Chowbotics, it shows that DoorDash may already have a post-pandemic plan. In a blog post published on their website, DoorDash explained that in using the Chowbotics technology, they would be able to help their merchant partners to expand their current menu offerings.
Moreover, their merchant partners will also reach new customers in new markets without investing in an entirely new store. Furthermore, DoorDash will have the opportunity to upgrade its merchant services. These include customer acquisition, on-demand delivery, insights and analytics, and white-label order fulfillment.
All of these will be possible in a more cost-effective way using the Chowbotics technology. In realizing their goal of helping their merchant partners during these trying times, DoorDash seemed to have made a confident and well-planned move for acquiring Chowbotics after all.
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