New Startup DoorDash Unlocks 100+ SF Food Delivery Options

Looks like there's no reason to get off the couch anytime soon: San Francisco has added another delivery service to its growing roster, in the form of DoorDash. The Y Combinator-backed startup has been operating in the South Bay for the past 18 months, launching their services in other, less delivery-saturated cities like Boston, Chicago and L.A as test runs for their SF debut. TechCrunch reports that at launch, the service will offer over 100 restaurants in a limited service area that encompasses the Mission, Castro, Noe Valley and Potrero, with promises to get any restaurant's food to your door in 45 minutes or less.

While DoorDash will enter the fray with a business proposition that seems very similar to delivery services like Seamless, GrubHub and Eat24, their business plan centers around hiring and training their own fleet of drivers, offering previously "take-out only" restaurants the ability to offer "delivery-as-a-service" to customers without hiring their own full-time delivery driver. That opens up the world of on-demand food options to include smaller spots, like Rhea's Deli, The Monk's Kettle, Contigo, Craftsman & Wolves, and The Little Chihuahua, for a flat $6 delivery fee.

Started by four Stanford students, the technology is designed to benefit every cog in the delivery wheel, from consumers to restaurants to drivers themselves. Co-founder Tony Xu reports that some of their restaurant partners are seeing impressive sales bumps, earning well over half a million in revenue through DoorDash— a big incentive for small spots. The promise of quick, reliable deliveries from a larger group of restaurants doesn't hurt from a consumer perspective, either: DoorDash aims for 45 minutes or less from start to finish. Stay tuned as they expand their services throughout San Francisco and the Bay Area.