Uber rolls out full-service UberEATS in LA

Yesterday Los Angeles became the first American city to experience the full service UberEATS food delivery platform. Upgraded from the previously launched UberEATS Instant, which only delivered a selection of sandwiches and salads that were kept in cooler bags in Uber cars until they were all sold, the new service is now available from 10am to 10pm daily and offers a  complete menu from featured restaurants. As with the original Uber app, the UberEats app will feature what it calls “transparent pricing,” which means that all fees are bundled into menu prices and a $5 flat rate will be charged for each delivery, regardless of the order total or distance. The expanded service is already being reported as a “GrubHub killer” (GrubHub is currently the biggest food delivery app in the US).

Apparently everyone in Los Angeles just loves to have their food delivered to their doorstep. Case in point: The new UberEATS standalone app, launching today in L.A.

The offshoot app won’t have anything to do with picking you up from LAX or pooling you and your friends to and from the hottest club. Instead, UberEATS the solo experience means daily, all-day-long food delivery from existing popular restaurants.

The siphoning off of the new UberEATS app just shows how damn popular delivery options have become in Los Angeles. In fact, Los Angeles was the original pilot city for the first iteration of UberEATS (then called UberFresh). There’s always a big rush on the current Uber app any time the company announces that they’re riding around town with cars full of Bay Cities sandwiches, so the expansion to a whole slew of new Westside restaurants (they’re slowly rolling out citywide) and the introduction of all-day hours should be a godsend for folks afraid of leaving the house.

But because the company is broadening its breadth of available restaurants, don’t expect every meal to show up in ten minutes or less. Instead, the app will have a few daily Instant Delivery options to choose from, with the rest of the food taking just a bit longer. Think of it like a Seamless or Postmates, but baked into the existing Uber infrastructure.

Los Angeles is the first U.S. city to secure a standalone UberEATS app, though Toronto has been into the meal delivery app experience since late last year. WIRED has a nice story on UberEATS’ experience up north, which includes discussions on app design (in order to help customers make decisions faster) and delivery windows (the target is still well below current restaurant average, like 30 minutes or less). They’re also investing in nice food photography within the app as a way for customers to make even stronger daily choices.

You can get in on the new app as of today, with 50% off your first order (up to $10) via the UberEATS app.