UberEats expands Seattle-wide, brunch to dinner

Uber's new standalone app features 100 Seattle-area restaurants

By Seattle Mag March 21, 2016

A woman is holding a smartphone with a food app on it.

We were pretty stoked when Uber launched its on-demand lunch delivery service back in October 2015. But, truth be told, the first version of UberEATS was a bit limited in terms of hours (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and location (you had to live or work in Pioneer Square, Belltown, Lower Queen Anne, South Lake Union, Capitol Hill and Downtown).

That changes today, as UberEATS launches a completely separate, standalone app for meal delivery that will service diners from Ballard to SoDo and everywhere in between from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. That means brunch, lunch and dinner from about 100 restaurants’ (and counting) full menus. Newcomers include Skillet, 8-Oz Burger & Co, Marination (including Super Six in its first foray with a delivery service) and Ericka Burke’s Chop Shop.

Instead of a range of $8-$12 lunch options, you’ll find a much broader selection, from $2- and $3-side dishes to $30-ish entrees from some of Seattle’s finest restaurants. For a limited time, UberEATS is also waiving its $1.99 delivery fee. With a touch of the app, you’ll ping the restaurant, which will make your dish to order and hand it over to an Uber driver, who will bring it curbside. Much like a ride, you will be able to track the arrival of your meal from minute to minute until it is in your mouth.

The design of the app is intentional – they are targeting folks like me who become easily overwhelmed with large menus and multiple options. I’ll no doubt go straight to the Popular Items tab – a list of a restaurant’s 10 most popular menu items. Phew.

In a phone interview yesterday, UberEATS general manager David Rutenberg said they wanted to create an app that would provide a better experience for eaters. Up until now, the lunch delivery service was accessible inside the ride-sharing app. Not anymore. 

“A ride and a meal are two different things,” he said. “A meal is very visual and you want to see the restaurants and dishes so we hope people enjoy this enhanced experience.”

Seattle is one of the first markets to test out the new app. It launched earlier this month in Toronto and Los Angeles. Check out the new app and learn more here.

 

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