UberEats races to sign up Hong Kong restaurants, in challenge to Deliveroo and Foodpanda
UberEats, the food delivery arm of ride-hailing app Uber, ramps up marketing in an effort to sign up the city’s sought-after restaurants
Uber has teamed up with Li Ka-shing’s favourite braised goose restaurant to take a bite out of Deliveroo and Foodpanda in an already crowded Hong Kong food delivery scene.
The San Francisco-based disruptor for taxis is now making waves on the city’s culinary landscape, launching an aggressive marketing campaign to sign up the city’s Cantonese restaurants sought-after among Hong Kong foodies.
Among them is even Li Ka-shing’s favourite Sun Kee, a small eatery celebrated for its braised food in Sai Ying Pun. There are also a few dai pai dong restaurants with grassroots appeal, notably Chan Kun Kee which sells wasabi hand-shredded chicken in Sha Tin.
With the market share battle among food delivery services heating up in Hong Kong, major players Foodpanda and Deliveroo have been in a race to partner up with the most ubiquitous eateries. In the case of Hong Kong, many are family-owned businesses whose owners are only starting to embrace online food delivery.
“Our staff have been visiting neighbourhoods across the city to persuade the best restaurants to choose us,” said Horace Lam, general manager of UberEats. “We have already signed 1,200 food and beverage outlets so far and have a secret list of restaurants that we plan to secure a pact with.”
He said that UberEats’ existing customer base had given its food delivery arm an edge in fighting off competition with Deliveroo and Foodpandam, adding that the unit, launched in October, had recorded 30 per cent sales growth month on month.
