Since food delivery is part of basic survival for any city dweller, I once relied solely upon the services of Seamless Web/Grub Hub to provide the nourishment needed after daily battles with my urban surroundings. However, as a person who thinks food repetition is the absolute worst, this lifeline became a (sometimes sketchy) bore. To expand my food procurement options, I started using a blend of delivery disruptors like Caviar, Postmates, and Doordash. Since putting these different services into my rotation, I’ve been mostly pleased with my new experiences. Still, each food delivery service has its own perks and drawbacks (and ways of parting you from your income).

I’ve recently considered giving Uber Eats a try; however, as someone who views meal time as a few minutes to relax, I’ll wait until they can deliver the goods to my door before I am forced to run up and down stairs for my dinner. But, I’ve digressed.

If you too are looking to get out of the old  ‘feed the machine’ routine and are seeking a solid epicurean experience delivered to your door, take a look at the below pros and cons discovered during my own experiences with these three restaurant delivery services. Then go get yourself out of that food rut!

Caviar

“Order Food Delivery From Your Favorite Restaurants”

Concept: A premium food delivery service with a specially curated list of highly-coveted restaurants that do not typically deliver, or only deliver within a limited range.

Pros:

• When surfing the Caviar app or website, the user experience seems like a breath of fresh air. Both are designed for easy navigation and provide full-color photographs of each dish offered (a welcome differentiator).
• Their curated list of restaurants includes eateries revered by foodies and the portfolio is purposely kept minimal to allow a less complicated, faster decision-making process.
• Once you’ve decided on your meal, you can schedule the delivery for a later time, or you can place an order for right away (meaning in about an hour).
• It’s optimized for Apple Pay, and is outfitted with real-time GPS tracking

Cons:

• The all-in combination of the varying delivery fee ($1.99 – $6.99), service fee (18% of total), and gratuity (10% – 20%) can bump up your final bill to a sizable amount.
• Since the packaging comes from the restaurant, utensils can sometimes be forgotten.

Overall: If you want a meal from a highly-coveted restaurant, but only want to click, pay and have it delivered then Caviar is your new favorite food app. This premium service is fit for foodies who like to enjoy an epicurean experience in the comforts of their own home. Get the food from the best eateries delivered to you now by visiting: www.trycaviar.com

 Postmates

“We deliver from places that don’t even offer delivery themselves”

Concept: This courier-connection service, available 24/7, supplies the urban logistics needed to having on-demand purchased goods delivered to its customers (typically within one hour) from providers like coffee shops, fast-food joints, grocers, pharmacies, restaurants, and more.

Pros:

• The Postmates app and website are pretty straightforward, which makes it easy to browse the 24/7 service options.
• Their list of restaurant partners is expansive and varies in price point.
• A big differentiator is the incredible range in distance to which they will deliver.
• Interestingly, you can select the gratuity amount after the delivery is complete.
• Comes with real-time GPS tracking.

Cons:

• While the delivery fee starts at $4.99, it can easily double depending on distance. Plus, there can be ‘Blitz’ pricing during high demand, which raises the delivery fee (this is indicated beforehand and you must accept to proceed with purchase).
• In addition to the delivery fee, there is a 9% service fee (this does not include the additional gratuity of 10% to 20%)

Overall: Due to the fact that Postmates delivers from a substantial distance away, the service is most valuable when you have a craving that must be fulfilled by a far-off restaurant. Note: They just rolled out an ‘unlimited delivery’ program that costs $9.99 per month. Also, they continuously come up with some pretty clever campaigns, like complimentary s’mores during Labor Day weekend, boxes of popsicles delivered poolside during the summer, and even on-demand delivery to boaters during Chicago’s busy lake season; so it’s definitely worth following them on social channels and/or signing up for their newsletter to stay informed. To give them a try visit, www.postmates.com

Doordash

“Your Favorite Local Restaurants Delivered To You”

Concept: Founded at Stanford University, Doordash touts its revolutionary logistics technology to support its statement to deliver meals from dine-in restaurants to your location in 45-minutes or less (however, there is the ‘varies by market’ caveat).

Pros:

• The list of partnering restaurants provides better options than those found on Seamless Web/Grub Hub.
• The current estimated delivery time appears by each restaurant before you check out.
• You can schedule a delivery for up to four days in advance, specifying the time and date at checkout.
• No minimum size order. No service fee. Delivery fee varies per region (flat delivery fee in NYC is typically $7).

Cons:

• Their list of partnering restaurants does not seem to be purposely curated, so there is more time spent sifting through the vast list to find something that calls to you.
• In my experience, the wait time was consistently over an hour. However, notifications about the delays were sent as the expected delivery time was updated.

Overall: Doordash options are 10 out of 10 times better than those found on Seamless Web/Grub Hub. But, if you don’t plan ahead, you may have to wait more than an hour to receive your order, which goes against their ‘speedy delivery’ motto. Still, I’ve seen some improvements. To give them a try visit, www.doordash.com.

****

Note: I once used Sharebite, the newcomer in restaurant delivery whose offerings are similar to Seamless Web/Grub Hub. The Sharebite motto is to “order delivery and make a difference.” They help children facing hunger in NYC by partnering with The City Harvest organization. While I am over-the-moon about this concept, I think the company itself needs more time to grow before I’d give it another try. If you’d like to find out more or give them a try, visit: www.sharebite.com.