UberEats bringing home the bacon

From a sexual discrimination suit and the loss of its operating licence in London to reports it’s pulling out of Quebec, Uber could use a good news story. And it’s found one in UberEats. The food delivery service is the shining light of an otherwise unprofitable business, The New York Times reports.

UberEats is now in more than 120 cities around the world, including eight in Canada: Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, KitchenerWaterloo, London, Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. According to the Times, the delivery service outpaces ride-sharing in cities such as Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo. And as of July, “was profitable in 27 of the 108 cities where it operated.”

“There’s a global trend toward delivery,” Jason Droege, vice-president of UberEverything, told The New York Times.

“As people use mobile phones more and more for everything in their lives, we’re starting to see a secular change in how people eat.”

Analyst James Cakmak reportedly said “The No. 1 concern for all of these delivery companies is Amazon (which recently acquired Whole Foods).

“How could Amazon use its network to crush our business? They have the logistical network and the balance sheet to be able to compete on the price side with all of these players.”

Despite strong competition, Uber representatives said that its vast network of drivers (upward of two million), better technology, and extensive mapping of cities give them distinct advantages.

“What Uber has are the last-mile logistics, and that’s crucial,” Cakmak told The New York Times.