I’m no expert on the precise economics of the food delivery world, but at some point you’ve got to wonder how many apps you can cram into Australia before there are just too many. Today comes the news that US delivery giant DoorDash is currently sniffing around the Aussie market.
Though the company is not making any comment about Australian plans, their interest is pretty obvious given the fact there are several roles being advertised on LinkedIn for local roles at DoorDash, based in Melbourne.
There’s also a local Facebook page and website advertising for drivers.
You may know DoorDash from a recent controversy stateside: the company was accused of wage theft after greater scrutiny was applied to its tipping model. Essentially, when a user tipped a DoorDash rider, that money would functionally go to the company to subsidise the rider’s wage, and not the rider themselves. After intense criticism, the company changed that policy.
Whether or not Australia can sustain this volume of delivery apps is up for debate. Foodora’s local operation collapsed late last year, and most of the market is dominated by rivals Uber Eats and Deliveroo. But it’s still big business – Deloitte’s Future of Food report found that the food delivery market is valued at about $1.3 billion in Australia.
