The Secret Genius of Modern Life episode 2: Hannah Fry tucks into the tech behind food delivery apps like Deliveroo and Just Eat, which are now used by 24 million people in the UK. Hannah meets the R&D team behind food delivery titan Deliveroo, finds out how pensioners ordering Greggs revolutionised food delivery, and discovers how pizza made us fall in love with the internet in the 1990s.
Hannah Fry is a British mathematician, author, and radio and television presenter. She is Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the UCL Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. She studies the patterns of human behaviour, such as interpersonal relationships and dating, and how mathematics can apply to them. Fry delivered the 2019 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures.
The Secret Genius of Modern Life episode 2
Retail food delivery is a courier service in which a restaurant, store, or independent food-delivery company delivers food to a customer. An order is typically made either through a restaurant or grocer’s website or mobile app, or through a food ordering company. The delivered items can include entrees, sides, drinks, desserts, or grocery items and are typically delivered in boxes or bags. The delivery person will normally drive a car, but in bigger cities where homes and restaurants are closer together, they may use bikes or motorized scooters.
Recently, online food delivery through third-party companies have become a growing industry and caused a “delivery revolution.” Nascent technologies, such as autonomous vehicles have also been used to complete deliveries.
Customers can, depending on the delivery company, choose to pay online or in person, with cash or card. A flat rate delivery fee is often charged with what the customer has bought. Sometimes no delivery fees are charged depending upon the situation. Tips are often customary for food delivery service. Contactless delivery may also be an option. Other aspects of food delivery include catering and wholesale food service deliveries to restaurants, cafeterias, health care facilities, and caterers by foodservice distributors.