QSR Magazine: What Restaurant Operators Need to Know About Competing with Meal Delivery Services

When it comes to foodservice competitors, the limited-service restaurant industry has generally been in a class of its own. While convenience stores and nontraditional outlets like retail stores increasingly offer fresh food on the go, the threat has so far been minimal to quick serves and fast casuals that specialize in serving fast, delicious food.

Today, though, a new crop of companies is posing a serious threat to traditional restaurant operations. Meal-delivery services—including companies that deliver prepared meals, as well as those that deliver ready-to-cook food kits—are quickly expanding across the U.S. These services threaten to steal market share by conveniently bringing cheap food right to customers’ doors, usually with the press of a smartphone button—and all without hosting a traditional restaurant storefront.

Mark Wittman, cofounder of the San Francisco–area meal delivery service Farm Hill, started his company with the simple goal of making healthy foods more accessible, especially during the hectic workday lunch hour.

“It was too hard to find a healthy meal,” he says. “And it was too tempting to stray into eating something unhealthy.” Getting into delivery was almost an afterthought. He zeroed in on delivery “just because it was a way to get our food in people’s hands.”

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