Uber launches its food delivery service, UberEATS, in Johannesburg

UberEATS formally commences operations today in Johannesburg, South Africa. The taxi hailing company announced that it was launching its first food delivery service in Johannesburg before expanding in the rest of the country and into the continent.

We had been expecting UberEATS before the end of the year since the company published vacancies for job positions in Johannesburg and Cape Town in July 2016.

UberEATS is an on-demand meal delivery service powered by an Uber app. It is one of the first expansion products by Uber Technologies Inc., the technology platform that connects drivers and riders, and utilizes its existing network to deliver meals in minutes. UberEats however, is a separate application from that of the ride-sharing app.

According to Uber Operations and Logistics Manager Dave Kitley, “it will begin delivering meals in the northern suburbs of Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city, before moving across the Gauteng province and to Cape Town in 2017.”

“Johannesburg was the first city in Africa to have Uber launch and based on the success of launching in Africa as well as the characteristics of Jo’burg and where we are right now in terms of our maturity it is really about testing the product and being the first city in Africa.”

UberEats promises an average delivery time of 30 minutes from order to drop-off, company officials said at an event on Wednesday. And deliveries come with a standard charge of R20 while meal sizes are not limited. Customers who use UberEATS will receive a promotional code, which lasts for two months, and will give them R100 off a meal if they order from food partner of the service.

The app is available for both Android and iOS.

UberEats already operates in six countries and will also launch in Amsterdam today.

Uber launched its ride-hailing service in South Africa in 2013 and since then the service has grown to over 4,000 drivers in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.