Services: Best Meal Delivery

MARK RIGHTMIRE, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Orange County Register readers voted Door Dash as the top meal delivery service in the 29th annual Best of Orange County readers’ choice awards. 1. DoorDash

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The most popular third-party food delivery company not only in Orange County but also the U.S. with an approximate 59% market share, DoorDash has an estimated 20 million active users who place at least one order each month.

Fueled by nationwide stay-athome orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the food delivery business sector thrived with DoorDash generating nearly $3 billion in revenue in 2020, more than three times the amount of their growth over the previous year.

DoorDash service fees come in slightly lower than its closest competitor, Uber Eats, at 10-11% versus 15%, along with easily accessible live chat customer support.

For frequent users, DoorDash introduced DashPass, a membership that includes unlimited $0 delivery fees, discounts on certain eligible items and other exclusive offers. The monthly fee is waived for the first 30 days and there is no term commitment, with DashPass for Students available as well at a reduced price.

DoorDash has access to more than 390,000 restaurants and is available in more than 7,000 cities in the U.S., Canada, Japan and Australia, but not unlike other food delivery companies, order options are no longer limited to meals.

Users have access to convenience store items, thanks to its partnership with CVS, as well as alcohol, pet supplies, flowers and other gift and retail items. DoorDash also recently launched nationwide shipping through a select list of merchants. — Jenelyn Russo

2. Uber Eats

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Expanding its offering in 2014 to more than ride sharing, Uber’s delivery platform, Uber Eats, has approximately 24% market share in the food delivery sector.

Areas where Uber Eats tops its competitors is in availability and variety of restaurant options, as users have access to menus from more than 600,000 supported restaurants in 6,000+ cities across 45 nations.

Uber Eats has also made recent efforts to diversify options for their customers by adding alcohol (through acquiring Drizly), as well as groceries and other convenience store items. Additionally, its prescription delivery partnership with Nimble allows users to manage prescriptions directly from the Uber Eats app.

Through its latest offering, Uber One membership, users can take advantage of the entire Uber platform, bringing together rides and delivery. For a monthly fee, members receive $0 delivery fees on eligible orders and discounts on rides, with exclusive access to perks, such as top-rated drivers and promotional offers.

One of the earliest food delivery companies to emerge, Postmates got its start in 2011, and in an effort to secure more market share, Uber acquired the San Francisco-based company in 2020 for a reported $2.65 billion.

Tapping into Postmates’ stronger presence in the Western U.S. put Uber Eats in the second spot nationally in this fast-growing business sector. The app continues to operate independently, although with an interface that resembles Uber Eats and the ability for users to link accounts.

According to Uber’s website, all of Postmates’ merchants will remain available to users on the Postmates app, with many of those merchants now becoming available on Uber Eats. By combining their delivery fleet, Uber Eats drivers are likely delivering Postmates orders.

Postmates version of a member program is Postmates Unlimited, which for a monthly subscription offers $0 delivery fees and discounts on restaurant and grocery orders. Bonus offers may include discounts on Uber rides.

3. Postmates

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