AI could upend food delivery

DoorDash, the leading food delivery app, processed 970 million orders in its second quarter this year. A small Bay Area startup called Bites, with just around 300 restaurants, is now the literal embodiment of what The Verge calls "the DoorDash problem": the threat that AI agents will let consumers bypass apps and websites entirely.

Bites bills itself as "AI native," allowing diners to place orders directly from restaurants inside ChatGPT, which go straight to the restaurant rather than through a third party. It charges a flat $1 surcharge per order, letting partners keep item prices lower, compared to DoorDash's 15 to 30 percent commission fees. The Verge tested the service and found the same order cost $56.73 on Bites versus $70.29 on DoorDash. Bites cofounder Matt Maloney, who also cofounded Grubhub, argues that delivery services built expensive online ordering infrastructure that no longer needs to be paid for, yet pricing has stayed the same.

In August, DoorDash sent a form letter to a slew of Bay Area restaurants warning they may be listed on Bites without their consent and that such practices "could be illegal." Restaurant owner Jay Jayaraman estimates 80 percent of his orders once came from DoorDash; now 65 percent come through Bites, and his margins are higher. DoorDash says it was proactively alerting partners. The broader conflict is materializing in legal fights like Amazon's lawsuits against Perplexity, as platforms try to block AI agents from shopping on their sites, threatening lucrative ad and boosted-listing businesses.

(Source：The Verge)