AI could upend food delivery

Your food order could become cheaper as AI agents bypass delivery apps.

DoorDash, a leading food delivery platform, has sent emails to restaurants in the Bay Area alerting them that a smaller startup, Bites, may be listing them without consent. The emails warn businesses about potential issues with Bites' terms, pricing, and service standards, and suggest such practices could be illegal. DoorDash's proactive stance against Bites, which offers lower fees for restaurants and allows direct ordering through AI interfaces like ChatGPT, suggests a brewing conflict between established delivery apps and newer AI-native competitors. Bites aims to cut out the middleman, allowing restaurants to offer lower prices to consumers and retain more control over their operations and customer data, directly challenging the existing high-commission model of platforms like DoorDash.

The emergence of "AI-native" ordering platforms like Bites signals a potential disruption to the established food delivery market, which has long been dominated by high commission fees charged by giants like DoorDash. If AI agents become the primary interface for consumers to order food, traditional delivery apps may lose their direct relationship with customers, impacting their ability to monetize through ads and boosted listings. This shift could force a fundamental change in the economics of food delivery, benefiting both restaurants through lower fees and consumers through reduced prices.

This tension between AI-powered ordering and traditional delivery platforms highlights a broader challenge for internet services that rely on direct user engagement with their apps or websites. As AI agents handle tasks like ordering, companies that previously profited from discovery, advertising, and upselling on their platforms face an existential threat. The legal battles already occurring, such as Amazon's lawsuit against Perplexity, underscore the intensity of this conflict and suggest that the future of e-commerce and service delivery may involve a significant restructuring of current business models.