Local alternative to challenge Uber Eats

As the lockdown eases, Wellington eateries are teaming up to take on Uber Eats in the takeaway delivery game.

Pastry chef Jackie Lee Morrison, who owns the bakery Lashings, devised the ‘‘Pandemic Pack’’ before the level four lockdown began last month, shutting down the country’s hospitality industry overnight.

Pandemic Pack pools resources from a group of small cafes and food outlets that wouldn’t otherwise be able to run their own delivery services.

‘‘Within 24 hours we went from four to 14 businesses,’’ Lee Morrison said. She was forced to cap numbers because co-ordination became too complicated.

‘‘We had a lot of others wanting to be involved, but we had to turn them down. It would have been literally the entire Wellington hospitality community.’’

Available local favourites include Soul Shack chicken, Boquita tacos, and The Regal Shortbread Company.

Food is prepared and taken to a central location, where it is distributed for all 14 companies.

For customers, orders won’t be as immediate as from a delivery app, but they have the advantage of being able to order different

Jackie Lee Morrison

‘‘Within 24 hours we went from four to 14 businesses.’’

items from any of the companies without any added costs.

For the companies involved, there’s no additional fees, and the drivers are all existing employees.

‘‘We’re all friends, no-one is trying to get ahead of anyone else,’’ Lee Morrison said.

Pandemic Pack will be publicly available from Friday, May 1. The same group of business were also behind the pandemic pack digital cookbook, published to help Kiwis survive in the kitchen during lockdown.

On Wednesday, the Restaurant Association called on the Government to cap the commission that delivery services like Uber Eats can charge during level three.

Chief executive Marisa Bidious said Uber Eats was ‘‘taking the shirt off the industry’s back,’’ with commission fees as high as 35 per cent.

On Wednesday, Jacinda Ardern encouraged customers to order takeaways from local businesses that use their own delivery services.