Food delivery apps drive into lunchtime

Graphic by Charlotte Alden.

Graphic by Charlotte Alden.

By Abby Snyder

It’s almost lunchtime and your stomach grumbles. Reaching into your backpack, you find that… your lunchbox isn’t there? You aren’t in the mood for cafeteria food, but you don’t want to skip lunch either. Thanks to apps like UberEats, Postmates and DoorDash, that’s not a problem anymore.

Food delivery apps are having a moment, with more apps becoming available in cities throughout the U.S.

To determine which app is the best option for students, the Black & White ordered an egg and bacon bagel sandwich from Bethesda Bagels on three different food delivery apps and also texted each driver a meeting place at school to see how quickly they responded. Here are the results.

The bagel cost $4.95; the costs listed for each app were just for delivery, not including the cost of the bagel.

UberEats

Out of all three apps, UberEats was the most customer friendly: attractive font, lots of well-thought-out pictures and easy-to-navigate menus. It was also easy to find new restaurants or place an order. As with the other two apps, there is the option to contact the driver, and in this case the driver responded quickly.

I placed my order at 10:11 a.m., and my order was confirmed at 10:14. The original delivery time estimate was 10:52, but it updated throughout the delivery process. The total cost of delivery was $5.29.

Once the driver is en route, the app lets you track the order on a map similar to tracking the location of an Uber. My bagel came at 10:39, beating the original estimate by 13 minutes. Total delivery time was 25 minutes; the order was not only correct but still warm.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

UberEats was fastest, cheapest and easy to use with no clear downsides.

DoorDash

The app itself was simply designed and offers customers the option to contact the driver, and my driver, Amina, responded quickly to my text.

I placed the order at 10:35 a.m., and it was accepted at 10:38.

The app has a handy checklist that tracks the order in four stages: order accepted, order being prepared, driver is waiting to pick up the food and driver is on their way. My order came at 11:21, beating its original estimate of 11:39 by 18 minutes. Delivery cost was $8.36 and total delivery time was 34 minutes.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

DoorDash finished solidly in the middle; not the best, but not the worst. It was a little pricier and slower than UberEats. Overall, a solid app.

Postmates

The app was easy to navigate; it wasn’t as attractive as either DoorDash or UberEats, but it served its purpose. It also has the option to contact the driver, and when I contacted my driver, Gerardo, he responded promptly.

I placed my original order at 10:28 a.m., but at 10:34 they notified me and said there were no available drivers. I tried again at 10:35, and my order was accepted at 10:40. The first actual delivery estimate they gave was 11:05.

The app allows users to track their order in three stages: delivery accepted, order being picked up and out for delivery. My bagel came at 11:01, beating the original estimate and clocking in with a total delivery time of 36 minutes. The order was correct and the bagel was still warm. Delivery cost was $11.19.

Overall rating: 2.5 out of 5

It was the most expensive out of the three, and because placing the order took a while, it was also the slowest of the three. Not bad, but definitely not great, and with two faster and cheaper options, it’s not top choice.

So next time you forget your lunch, don’t worry. Any of these three apps has you covered, but UberEats, the fastest and cheapest, was the clear winner.