Impacts of food accessibility and built environment on on-demand food delivery usage

2021 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 103017
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Wang ◽  
Sylvia Y. He
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Food Accessibility ◽  
On Demand

scholarly journals On-demand food delivery: investigating the economic performances

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arianna Seghezzi ◽  
Riccardo Mangiaracina
Keyword(s):  
Purchase Intention ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Sensitivity Analyses ◽  
Base Case ◽  
Content Type ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Positive Results

PurposeThis paper focusses on on-demand food delivery (ODFD), i.e. the delivery of freshly prepared meals to customers' homes, enabled by the use of online platforms. In ODFD, a key process is represented by last-mile deliveries (LMDs): they directly affect customers (the delivery price influences their purchase intention), riders (the compensation drives their willingness to perform deliveries) and platforms (deliveries are very expensive). In this context, this work aims to investigate the economic performances of ODFD LMDs.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a multi-method threefold process. First, it develops a model that – after the generation of customers' demand and the assignment of deliveries to available riders – identifies incomes and costs faced by an ODFD operator. Second, the model is applied to a base case in Milan (Italy). Third, sensitivity analyses are performed (on daily demand and riders' salary).FindingsThe analyses allow – besides the identification of significant values associated to ODFD profitability – to draw general insights about delivery price (e.g. free delivery is not economically sustainable), daily demand (e.g. greater demand values do not only improve positive results but also worsen negative ones) and fixed/variable wage mix (e.g. increasing the variable wage enhances the profitability for platforms).Originality/valueOn the academic side, this word enhances extant literature about ODFD, proposing a model – with multidisciplinary implications – to strategically investigate profitability conditions of LMDs. On the managerial side, it provides support for (logistics/marketing) ODFD practitioners since it allows to evaluate the potential impact of significant decisions on profitability.

scholarly journals Being a Deliveroo Rider: Practices of Platform Labor in Nijmegen and Berlin

2021 ◽  
pp. 089124162199467
Author(s):  
Peter Timko ◽  
Rianne van Melik
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Uneven Distribution ◽  
Independent Contractors ◽  
Urban Economies ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Delivery Platform ◽  
Management Techniques

On-demand delivery platforms have become a common feature of urban economies across the globe. Noted for their hyper-outsourced, “lean” business models and reliance on independent contractors, these companies evade traditional employer obligations while still controlling workers through complex algorithmic management techniques. Using food delivery platform Deliveroo as a case-study, this paper investigates the diverse array of practices that on-demand workers carry out in order to enact this new platform labor arrangement in different spatial contexts. One of us conducted an auto-ethnographic project, working as a Deliveroo Rider in Nijmegen and Berlin for a period of nine months. Additionally, we interviewed 13 fellow platform workers. The findings reveal the motley, contingent, and conditional ways in which on-demand labor comes together on the ground. The paper concludes with discussing the uneven distribution of these practices across locations and social groups, and the sometimes contradictory impacts they have on the structure of platform labor.

scholarly journals Multi-Stove Scheduling for Sustainable On-Demand Food Delivery

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13133
Author(s):  
Tao Dai ◽  
Xiangqi Fan
Keyword(s):  
Double Layer ◽  
Waiting Time ◽  
Numerical Experiments ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Bottom Layer ◽  
Parallel Machine Scheduling ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Scheduling Model

Ordering food through mobile apps and crowdsourcing resources has become increasingly popular in the digital age. Restaurants can improve customer satisfaction to satisfy on-demand food orders by shortening waiting time and achieving sustainability through fuel reduction. In the present study, we construct a double-layer scheduling model, which is developed using the characteristics of on-demand food preparation, including the use of multiple stoves, a variety of dishes in one order, and the integration of the same dishes from different customers. The bottom layer is a multi-stove dish package scheduling model based on parallel machine scheduling. The upper layer is an order selection model based on the knapsack problem. To identify the optimal solution, four strategies for calculating the weight coefficient of the dish package are proposed to shorten the waiting time and realize sustainability. Numerical experiments are designed to analyze the differences of the final scheduling results under the four strategies. The bottom layer is extended to another model based on the vehicle routing optimization model, given the switch time between different dishes. The extension of the model is also compared in the numerical experiments. Our paper confirms the necessity of using a double-layer model for multi-strategy comparison in order to achieve sustainable on-demand scheduling.

Temporal arbitrage, fragmented rush, and opportunistic behaviors: The labor politics of time in the platform economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (9) ◽  
pp. 1561-1579
Author(s):  
Julie Yujie Chen ◽  
Ping Sun
Keyword(s):  
Food Delivery ◽  
Urban Spaces ◽  
Labor Politics ◽  
Service Workers ◽  
Digital Platforms ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Digital Work ◽  
Temporal Dimensions ◽  
Platform Economy ◽  
Demand Service

This article examines how on-demand service workers on digital platforms make and live their time in the case of China’s food delivery industry. Using ethnographic data, the study elucidated multiple facets of couriers’ temporality in their struggle to meet the exacting delivery time imposed by platforms while moving through biased urban spaces as marginalized temporal subjects. It is argued that a new temporal order, referred to as temporal arbitrage in this study, has been normalized in the recent platform economy. It shifts the customer’s cultural expectation to on-demand service at the expense of an increasingly hectic tempo for the workers. We demonstrate the mundane, and sometimes opportunistic, tactics deployed by workers to reconstruct their temporality. The article connects the workers’ temporality to the urban spaces, digital work process, and socioeconomic structures. It fills an important research gap by addressing the under-explored yet essential temporal dimensions in the expanding “just-in-time” labor force.

UrbanClap: India’s Largest Home Service Provider

2021 ◽  
pp. 097282012110189
Author(s):  
Nancy Jyani ◽  
Harbhajan Bansal
Keyword(s):  
Service Provider ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Service Industry ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
On Demand ◽  
Home Service ◽  
The Right ◽  
Individual Service

Along with time and cost, convenience is a pertinent factor that influences consumers to purchase services. Many business models evolved in emerging markets are providing on-demand services such as taxis and online food delivery. Since most of them provide services in a particular region, they are commonly known as ‘hyperlocal service provider’. UrbanClap was also based on such a model and worked as an aggregator. It pooled together local service providers such as plumbers, electricians and beauty experts, and then offered at-home services through its mobile application and website. Few of the challenges faced by UrbanClap were operational expansion across India, the satisfaction of its service providers and customers, and filling up the profit–revenue gap. Therefore, despite huge acceptance and revenue growing fourfold in 2018 compared to 2017, the company was falling short of profits. The case highlights the problems inherent to hyperlocal and aggregator models such as satisfaction of service providers and customers at the same time; and competition with individual service providers without disturbing the local culture prevailing in the service industry. The case also emphasizes how technology can predict home services by matching customers with the right sellers according to their customized needs.

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