The Restaurant Technology Guys Podcast brought to you by Custom Business Solutions
The Restaurant Technology Guys Podcast brought to you by Custom Business Solutions
Unlocking First-Party Delivery with Uber Direct: A Deep Dive with Brandi Villareal
In this episode of the Restaurant Technology Guys podcast, host Jeremy Julian is joined by Brandi Villareal, head of Uber Direct's online food delivery for the U.S. and Canada. They explore the advantages of Uber Direct's first-party delivery solution, which allows restaurant brands to maintain control over customer data and enhance customer loyalty, unlike third-party marketplaces. Brandi shares her extensive background in the food and beverage industry, including technology and operations, and provides insights on how Uber Direct can help restaurants of all sizes easily integrate delivery services through APIs, partnerships with point of sale systems, and other technology providers. The discussion also touches on the benefits of hybrid delivery models and the growing importance of digital sales for restaurant success. Featured case studies, such as the Salad House, demonstrate significant growth and enhanced customer experiences through Uber Direct.
00:00 Audio Uber Direct
01:06 Introduction and Guest Welcome
01:27 Brandi Villareal's Background
02:18 Overview of Uber Direct
04:25 Benefits of Uber Direct for Restaurants
10:40 Success Stories and Case Studies
21:12 Hybrid Delivery Models
27:24 Getting Started with Uber Direct
29:46 Future of Uber Direct and Conclusion
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Jeremy Julian:In today's episode, we are joined by Brandi from Uber direct longtime listeners have probably heard Uber direct advertising on the show, but I really wanted to have them come on and share their solution with our audience. They do a fantastic job of helping enable first party delivery ordering. So you don't have to use the third party marketplace. If that's something your brand is looking to do. please join us to listen to brainy. And I talk about all the different ways that you can enable your restaurant to deliver food to your guests, whether it be through a third party marketplace or through Uber direct and partnering with them. If you don't know me, my name is Jeremy Julian. I've been in the restaurant tech space for 30 years. And I happen to work for an organization called CBS north star. We delivered the north star on a sell product to multi-unit restaurants. If you haven't already checked us out, check us www.Cbsnorthstar.com and now onto the show. Welcome back to the restaurant technology guys podcast. I think everyone out there for joining us, as I say, each and every time I know that, you guys got lots of choices. So thanks for hanging out today. I am joined by a very special guest and it's somewhat ironic that Brandi and I haven't met because we've crossed paths for a while in the restaurant industry. But, Brandi, why don't you introduce yourself here for a second? We can talk a little bit about your history and then, we'll go ahead.
Brandi Villarreal:Thank you, Jeremy. Excited to be here. My name is Brandi Villareal, and I'm the head of Uber Direct online food delivery for the U. S. And Canada. I've been on the Uber team for five years, but have a long history in food and beverage operations and technology before that, starting with my grandparents Tex Mex restaurant in Dallas, which I had a chance to visit. to work within as well as dying at. Hospitality to me was my grandma welcoming people into the restaurant at the front door every single day. And it's been fun to see how that's grown and changed involved over time since then. but in addition to that, I've worked in food and beverage technology and POS analytics, but I'm really excited by the growth opportunities I've discovered through Uber Eats as well as our white label delivery system, Uber Direct.
Jeremy Julian:it. Um, I'm gonna have to find grandma and go find a picture of you and like a little apron when you're eight or nine years old that I can post as part of the thumbnail. but, but yeah, Randy, talk to me. I know that we partnered together for a while on the direct side, but quite frankly, until your team had reached out, I didn't even know that Uber was doing a direct. Type of, type of solution. So talk to me, I think everybody knows what Uber Eats is. Obviously they compete in that same space for, third party delivery where you guys are a marketplace and you're sending people there so we can talk a little bit about, but I'm pretty sure most of our listeners are going to know what that is, but the ZuberDirect thing. blew me away when I heard about it. And I literally had no idea that this was even an option. So talk to me a little bit about what it is, and then we can talk about why you're so excited about what growth opportunities it is for restaurants.
Brandi Villarreal:course, as you mentioned, a lot of people are familiar with the marketplaces. Uber Eats, someone logs in hungry, finds a restaurant nearby that they can order from for themselves or for their families. But Uber Direct has actually been around for quite a few years and it's Uber using our vast courier network to power delivery for restaurant brands that have their own websites or apps. So it used to be we built custom integrations for a few large industry giants. but we had a chance to really evolve and scale that technology and ensure that we can bring it to not only enterprise and mid market restaurant groups, but also small and independent restaurants because restaurants of all sizes should be able to leverage digital presence in order to grow customer loyalty as well as acquisition. And so what we do is we provide APIs that connect our vast delivery network to a restaurant's delivery needs. So a customer that wants to order from you, but isn't available to pick up that order, or perhaps you don't have a driver in house can be connected directly to an Uber driver who arrives at the restaurant, gets the contents of that order and then delivers it to the right location all within a timely amount. Because we know customers are searching for convenience. All of the data that we've seen shows that delivery isn't going away. And while in the past, the delivery used to be for maybe your pizza restaurants, your Chinese restaurants and then independent owners, perhaps you were driving large orders out to spaces yourself. instead, now that we know that customers are choosing to access delivery via a lot of means, might as well provide them with accessibility to those options.
Jeremy Julian:Yeah. And so talk to me a little bit, because if I'm a restaurant owner, I love that idea, I love being able to control that experience and capture the guest data, one of the big complaints about UberEats, and I'm not necessarily looking to bash that, but it is one of the complaints that I hear from restaurant operators is that. Whether it's Uber or any of the other larger competitors or large ish competitors that you guys have, DoorDash, GrubHub, all of them, it's, I lose control of the customer. And so it feels like this Uber direct is a hybrid. I'm using your guys's tech. I'm using your guys's ability to get to that guest and establish that career network. But I still know who my guest is and I can still interact with them. is that kind of the Delta between what it is that you guys have been doing and this, I don't say new offering, cause it sounds like you guys have been doing it for a while, but. lesser known option that you guys have out there.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:Yes, that is one of the most significant differences. So because a customer is going directly to a restaurant to order from them the cus the restaurant retains the customer data related to that transaction, you know that Jeremy is ordering from you that he typically orders, let's call it every three to four weeks. Your favorite plate might be the fish tacos and you can personalize. You can reach out to that individual and say, actually, Jeremy, we haven't seen you in a while. Come back in. Or was there anything wrong with your last experience? You also get the guest feedback related to that transaction so that you understand, did your store prepare the order correctly? Was it delivered in a timely amount? And you're given the opportunity for guest recovery as well. But we do see a lot of So the synergy between the marketplace products as well as what you can access through Uber Direct. I think the marketplace is really where you find someone that might be less familiar with your brand or who has no idea what's for dinner. Our statistics show that 2 out of 3 eaters who come into the Uber Eats app don't know what's going to happen on that meal occasion. And we know they're not going to scroll endlessly in order to find their favorite restaurant. So you're usually bringing someone new to you or less familiar with your brand. I can't tell you the number of restaurants I've found within days. driving distance of my own house that just because I never used to drive along that route, I didn't know they existed. And now I'm a customer of theirs. But if you have brand loyalist, you have someone that's familiar with you and actively seeking you out, they should be able to access the same convenient options that they are on a delivery marketplace, whether that's pickup, whether that's delivery for the order. And we really see it as an opportunity for you to meet your customers wherever they may be. Thank you.
Jeremy Julian:Yeah, no. And I think it's a huge piece because ironically, my wife ordered food recently and had never heard of this brand. Ultimately it ended up being a virtual brand, but she was on Uber. She was on, the Uber Eats app and she's Hey, this, I wanted tacos. She ultimately got some Beria tacos from somewhere and found out that it was a virtual brand from a brand that was local to us, but it was cool. Cause for her, she was feeling like Mexican food, but didn't really care whether she got it from this brand or that brand or, and ultimately This brand and now has been a bit more of a, that, that goes to that discovery. Now that she knows who they are and where it comes from, to your point, that conversion step, talk to me a little bit, Brandi, about are you guys finding that people are converting once they discover on the reads happen, then. Do they then jump to Uber direct? Is it, cause what I've seen statistically is it often comes down to convenience and consistency of the product that people are looking for. And so if they get a great experience on Uber Eats, they're going to continue to go there. If they know the product is good, they know the timing is good. They know the pricing is good. If they go direct and it's a good process, process, it helped me understand from your guys's perspective, are you guys seeing people converting or is the Uber Eats customer, the Uber Eats customer and the Uber direct customers, the Uber direct customer?
Brandi Villarreal:Of course, we think there's a unique member, of course, especially someone that uses something like our uber one membership program where they're getting discounts across both rides and eats. The discount on the delivery fee can speak miles to them, but most consumers also understand they might access prices more related to in store if they order via someone's own channel. And so that's something that is certainly sought out. We see a lot of variation in the industry. I think across the U. S. Generally, we might see about 10 percent of digital sales coming from someone's first party channels. But the best in class players that I work with across a variety of industries are seeing upwards of 50 percent of their digital transactions come from their own channels. And I think those are the people that are doing it well. Understand the value and are able to convert because they're providing a great experience when someone orders via a marketplace. So now when this individual seeks them out at a later date and finds those same options available, they trust the brand and want to order through them
Jeremy Julian:I love that. I love that idea. I'm going to ask another question. I know we didn't prep you for this. We were teasing about, about, I'm gonna throw some random questions at you. Have you seen strategically because I've talked to some restaurant owners where they offer certain things on the third party marketplaces that they offer a different product offering. Maybe a slimmed down product offering their top 10, top 20 items on the third party, but for first party, they offer everything you can get in the dining room. Are you seeing any of that statistically where they might offer more to those guests, not just pricing parody from in store, but also some capability to get items that you might not be able to get on a third party marketplace because it's either super custom the way you need to modify it, or, you want to be able to control the guest experience and you know that doesn't travel well. And if it doesn't travel well, you may need to have a guest recovery situation.
Brandi Villarreal:I think most restaurants have the similar products available, but there are really unique opportunities. So we find brands that, for example, you have a limited time item, something new or unique offering and premiering that in your own channel first is a way that you can communicate to your end customer, tell them about something appealing that might increase their frequency and loyalty to your restaurant, as well as ultimately brand affinity and give them the first option to try it out on your own channel and then add it to the marketplace. I think a difference that we see between marketplace versus direct channels to it's just like the user interface that you're dealing with. And when you're on a phone size screen, you know that customers aren't likely going to scroll through multiple pages of menu in order to find what they want. And so I think that's where, whether it's independent or enterprise, operators have been influenced or perhaps tailor their offerings to the marketplace in order to create a less friction, more friction free experience. Thanks.
Jeremy Julian:that idea. And that's, that's great. Cause I do think even converting from first party to third party, to your point, let's make sure that we can execute really well. I know in some of the stuff that we were doing pre show Brandi, we talked about, there's a brand that you wanted to talk about a success story. Ironically, I happen to know, and he was on the show recently. Rev CNCO is the new CMO for the salad house. And talk to me a little bit about salad house. Cause I'd love to let some of our listeners hear a great success story. You guys sent over the collateral. if you're good with that, I'd love to just talk through where were they prior to Uber direct and how has it changed their brand because it was pretty significant, some of the stuff you and the team sent over my way.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:Of course. So salad house. they're great and growing concept. I believe they just opened their 19th location, but they do see themselves continuing to expand into the, 25 plus location bucket. But the brand started in 2011. And so if you look, backwards, then the delivery apps as we know them today didn't exist. And so so many brands had an opportunity to try out an initial market price. the incrementality added another one behind it. but most of these brands started on marketplaces. And then once you understand how seamless the delivery integration can be with your operation and the greater demand that it brings you, why not turn towards like fine tuning and increasing the loyalty via your own channel? And so salad house partners with us on both Uber eats and Uber direct. And what's really significant is that 64 percent of their overall sales are digital. And so them choosing the right technology partners as well as marketplaces and integration providers to partner with has been really essential to their brand presence as well as increasing customer acquisition overall. And so we're really proud to work with them on uber direct and uber eats. Uber eats is where they're finding someone who perhaps is less familiar. And then uber direct is offering the same convenience, accessibility and fast delivery that someone can gain via marketplace channels. And so we've had a close partnership with Jared Bravo, who's their director of operations over the past few years and have some great integration providers that help ensure that there's really seamless delivery touch points between all of those experiences.
Jeremy Julian:And I want to dig into that because I think that's probably the biggest thing that, that a lot of, a lot of people get scared about is how do I do it? And how do I go about it? But before I jump into that, Brandi, help me understand 64%. That sounds unfathomable. that, so much of it would come in through digital. And so what do you, what, sitting on the outside, Help me understand because so many of the brands that I work with, they're like, Hey, we're at 12. We're trying to get to 13. Hey, we're at 15. We're trying to get to 17 this year. That's like over 50 percent of their orders are all digital. Is it because the product is it because of the type of consumer, what are you, even if great. And if you don't know, I'd love even just a guess, because I think some of our brands, I just said, I just did an edit for the guys that plays pizza and their CTO was talking about digital versus in store and how they're very different guests and how you have to create a different experience, quite frankly, as to how the food is produced in salad houses case, do you have any idea why or how they've been able to grow so significantly in the last, 15 years, the way that they have.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:Absolutely. So I think when you think of that salad category and this being well suited for lunchtime as well as their traditional presence in the northeast, it just makes sense. That customer is searching for something quick and convenient. I think of times traveling to New York City a few years ago, and you're rushing from meeting to meeting and you're wondering, can I make it down the elevator? Can I make it across the block and It's a great way to get to know your brand. And I think it's really important to stay at stand in line in order to get the salad bowl or whatever item that I want for lunch today. And if time is not on your side, you need accessibility in other manners, whether that's through a marketplace or whether that's ordering through a brand directly. And the brands that are able to bring you a seamless experience for ordering, you're only going to repeat it. You've already saved your profile information. They know who you are. Perhaps you're Gaining loyalty related to those transactions as well. And you become a more frequent customer over time. But I think that accessibility, especially in that lunch meal period is very important. And we know that's something people have really close eyes for on the Uber eats app as well. When you log in and you're looking at the delivery estimates of restaurants around you, someone 45 minutes later may not win out on that eating occasion. If you need that food in less than 15 minutes or have another meeting coming up in 30 minutes. Behind
Jeremy Julian:Yeah, no, I have that problem from time to time. I get stuck here at this desk and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go off video for this next call because I'm eating my lunch. But to your point, I think, I love that the product itself, the consumer that they're serving where they're at, because I think they're primarily in high density New York City, type of places, those solid house concepts. So it does make sense that they're able to do that. And I would also say that without making it easy for the consumer, you fail. So talk to me a little bit about how Uber direct makes it something that's accessible for consumers. Because I think all too often operators, whether it's a single unit operator, your, your Tex Mex restaurant that you grew up in. They get overwhelmed. They want to be able to do it. They look at it and go, I can't hire my own people. I need to be able to serve this marketplace. And I don't know how, help walk through what that process looks like. If I own, a couple of restaurants and I'm trying to figure out how to get Uber Direct going for my brand, Uber Eats, I don't want to say it's, tried and true. It's either integrated with the point of sale or it's a tablet, and I think everybody's talked through a lot of that, but now on the Uber Direct side, I'd love to walk through what that looks like from a guest experience and then really even from a product integration side.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:Absolutely. So for a restaurant that's beginning the first party delivery journey, your question is, how am I going to do it? And we have a range of solutions that really fit a variety of operation types. So the most simple, the simple one that you could parallel to a tablet is using an uber direct dashboard. Someone is going directly to a website to say, customer A has ordered from me and I need this to be delivered. delivered from my location to their end address. In doing so, we're also able to send that customer a notification and tracking link so that they can follow the delivery request. And then that operations manager in store can also see has a courier accepted the order. Are they already in route? Has this delivery been completed? So if a Customer calls in with a question. They're able to provide an answer to it. Of course, we also work with a variety of integration partners, and that might be point of sale companies. and you can work directly through point of sale integrations to access delivery services or through online ordering aggregators and providers. Whether you're thinking of someone like an Olo, or perhaps even a chow now, a deliver act. There are a range of options that restaurants are using for technology. And we truly believe in being able to use best in class technology across a variety of important pillars for your restaurant in order to gain the best access for your end customers. But I mentioned that tracking leak, and that's a really big part of it too, because customers have expectations about delivery. Now, if you can log into our app and see exactly where someone is, okay, they're around the corner. They're running a couple of minutes. late, you know what you're doing with your schedule. And so likewise, a customer that is ordering from you expects that same sort of convenience because if you have no idea where the delivery driver may be, for me, I'm always in meetings and I'm wondering, is someone going to ring the doorbell and my dogs are going to go crazy while I'm on this call? if I can beat the driver to the door, I can usually avoid that type of situation or even leave them a note that says, Please don't ring it. Just leave it at door. And we offer those convenient types of delivery options. That was something really astounding to me is the percentage of our Uber eats and Uber direct deliveries that are set to leave that door. I was talking to a casual dining group that was beginning to on board with us, and I asked them, Will you have an option for a customer to either meet the courier at the door or leave the product at the door? And they're like, Why would I want it left at doors? Actually, Over 50 percent of our orders are set to leave at door, and that it's just like the convenience and accessibility that people expect now. So why not use those data and trends to influence the user interface and the accessibility you're giving to your own guests
Jeremy Julian:Well, I'm old enough to remember when Amazon used to ring the doorbell and wait to hand you the package. And now anymore, it just doesn't happen. They just leave it at the door and the doorbell rings and the dogs bark like crazy. And then, eventually you go pick up your package. But I think it's, I think it's an interesting paradigm shift that I think a lot of people don't understand. Talk to me, Brandi, about the opposite side of this. We get a lot of. A lot of restaurant operators that are on the show or that I talk with, they're like, I don't want to, I don't want to leave my brand into somebody else's hands. Why is it that you think it's such a compelling offer? I know why I think it's, I think it's silly not to be in this space because the consumers are looking for it, but help. Walk them through and ease their mind that says you're not there. You're your competitor next door is there and is getting that order for those fish tacos that you talked about earlier. But what is it that, that, that you guys say to people when they struggle with this, because I think a lot of people get to a place where they don't trust it or they don't want to go that route.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:absolutely. So the first one is that you're leaving opportunity at the door and leaving money on the table. table. If you're not providing that accessibility, because as you mentioned, if the restaurant next door of someone within the same category type is offering that form of convenience, that's where the customer will navigate to or marketplace channels where you don't gain the customer data related to that transaction. So I think that's really a lot of the why for why a restaurant brand should do it. But brand experience is crucial, and that is built into this product. We recognize that when, Uber Direct is delivering an order for a restaurant brand. It is their name and reputation behind it. And so it is absolutely essential that we not only provide the same level of reliability that we would on Uber Eats, but that we actually go above and beyond that. So very important to us is that we would never prioritize our own marketplace orders over someone's first party delivery order, because that is your reputation at stake. And via us partnering with you, you're We need to be an excellent brand partner and committed to the reliability of that experience. Customers are choosing between so many options and they have a variety of, values that they're anchoring towards, whether it's value, which is your, price and accessibility, whether it's convenience, reliability, speed. Feed related to it, and we want restaurants to be able to garner the best of all of those things. Why not use the lowest price for your customer and the fastest delivery time to provide them with an excellent experience that will bring Jeremy from a once a month customer to perhaps even ordering every single week because you're finding something new that you love every time you do
Jeremy Julian:Yeah, I think that's such a critical thing to think about. And I think it's all too often people don't consider that because they have control issues or whatever else. And you do a hybrid? Can I do self delivery and Uber direct in the same environment? help me understand. So I'm a place that I want to use, I've got two delivery drivers, but if I get a third, I want to dispatch Uber direct, but I don't want always to have Uber direct to be my guy, because you know what, on a normal Tuesday, Wednesday, I can staff my pizza guy can leave to go drive stuff. But on a Friday when we're getting bombed and it's the football game or whatever else, a little bit of a different conversation. Is that something you guys offer for people?
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:We absolutely believe in hybrid delivery, and there are certain reasons that you might staff your own delivery drivers, whether that's for catering or large orders or time periods that you know there is going to be a lot of demand. But having worked in restaurant operations myself, You always have to deal with the unexpected, whether that's someone calling in or any other fire that can happen within the four walls of the restaurant. So we think it's really important to have a backup plan when that happens, and integrations and technology can provide you with that. So we work with a lot of organizations, whether they're in the world of pizza or sandwiches or other types of food that have their own delivery drivers, but also leverage Uber direct. an interesting concept is one that's really popular in college towns. And so for them, summer is a time of somewhat weaker staffing. A lot of kids are going home over the summer, but that doesn't mean there aren't people still there that want to access their food. So being able to leverage Uber's courier network during that time period helps them bring the best experience to their end customer. but there are a variety of integration partners that we work with that can also help with that. with this self delivery versus, outsourcing questions such as cartwheel and ship day. Many others out there, that really allow for someone to balance and choose between when you're leveraging your own staff or
Jeremy Julian:Yeah, no, I think that's amazing. And I think, in general, I think there are people to your point that want to do it themselves when they can, but when they can't, they want to be able to leverage some third parties and having to have people that are on part time, especially in certain States with laws and all of those kinds of things that makes it even more difficult. Brandi, what else?
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:And to me, the hybrid delivery, to me, the world of hybrid delivery. goes beyond that. So rather than looking at, I have my own fleet and I also want to leverage someone like Uber or another provider. A lot of our integrations and aggregators allow for you to leverage more than one delivery service provider. And we know that, of course, strength and coverage can really vary market price. by market with a lot of the delivery service providers. So why not be able to use the best in class of all of them? And that's really where you also get to that question of Hey, perhaps I'm partnered with three services and the one delivering this order is the one that can get it most quickly to my end customer or at the lowest cost. We're using both of those measures together to decide who should do it. And I think that's a really great system. if you have more than one delivery service provider competing for that order, it gives them All that reason and attention to be even faster, to be even more cost effective and ultimately provide the best end
Jeremy Julian:Yeah, no. And I think, speak for myself. I know I go look at Uber and Lyft when I'm at an airport trying to get somewhere. I look at both apps and I go, which one's faster and which one's cheaper. And at the time, depending upon what my needs are, I will choose them. I have very little loyalty to Uber versus Lyft when I'm trying to get home from the airport. after a business trip, cause I just want to get home to my wife and kids at the same time. I think that's a great point that I hadn't even considered is that it doesn't have to be a one size fits all. It doesn't have to be, in the store, in the Dallas store, it might be different than the store in Chicago. It might be different than the store in, in new Orleans that, they've just got different customers. They've got different times, they've got different staffing levels. Help me understand what the staffing levels look like. Cause one of the other problems that I see, whether it's, direct, Uber direct and, or, the third party marketplaces is a lot of people struggle to manage the driver communication driver. we've all been places where the drivers are there and they're waiting for their food. I had an experience recently at a large wing concept that happens to be based here in Dallas, where it didn't go as well as I would have liked it to have, on the app. Side of things. And which I know, it happens to be wing stop and they're working on trying to tighten that up the communication back to the guests. And typically they're one of the better ones, but help me understand what are those things that you would recommend people consider? Because I do think that creates some branding problems. When I got six drivers sitting there waiting, some of them are direct, some of them are going through the third party marketplaces and really struggling to manage it as a restaurant brand.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:Absolutely. So we really look at that as a few components. So like first, what is the prep time for the order? And on average, how long does it take once an order is received for you to have that packaged and ready for someone to pick up? Having that as a starting point is really important, but that's also where integrations come into play because they're constantly learning about that actual experience. So you may think your prep time is actually 15 minutes, but perhaps one of your locations is a lot more efficient and perhaps lower volume and they're driving those orders out the door in 10 minutes. We don't want the courier to arrive too late for that food because that's something that's going to get soggy or cold items are going to not end up at the right temperature. And so continuously. Optimizing that prep time via integrations, I think, is absolutely essential. And then the next part you're referring to is what we call courier wait time. So once that order is ready or once a courier has been dispatched, how long are they actually in store waiting for that order? And we know that for the people on the road, time is money, and they're not going to wait around for an endless amount of time in order to get that order and take it to another place. They'll look at another earning opportunity and perhaps cancel, which means now you have to wait for a second driver to show up at the And then that's also where sometimes you can have interactions between employees, questions about order issues. I think it's really important that restaurants view couriers as guests. Ultimately, they are, they're an individual that may or may not already be familiar with your brand, but they have walked in your own four doors. They're smelling your food. They're having an opportunity to encounter the hospitality that your own customers are. So treat them like a customer and they are ultimately an extension of your brand. And one that if you treat in a great manner will be a strong representative for you as well.
Jeremy Julian:wish more people treated them like that because I think all too often they don't treat them well and they don't ever get that gas, which is unfortunate because those same people are going to go out to eat. And if you treat them well, when they're coming in to pick up food, I promise you, they're going to want to come patronize your establishment. And when you treat them, not super well, it hurts. How do people get started? Talk to me a little bit about, so again, I'm this restaurant. I want to go, I'm already on the third party marketplaces. I've got it integrated. My point of sale, which I would say is, better than 50 percent of the restaurants out there. I know some still have the tablets, but a large percentage of them. But now I say, you know what? I'm coming into, the winter time. I want to get on Uber direct. Help me understand. What does it look like? How do they get signed up? Where do they go? What are those steps look like?
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:Absolutely. So the easiest way to get started is by going to uber. com backslash direct. That is a landing page that tells you all about the Uber direct product as well as share some of the case studies and testimonials like the one that we talked about for salad house, but you can sign up for Uber direct. directly within that dashboard. So if you plan on using the website to call for deliveries, whether that's large catering orders or whether that's standard order fulfillment, you can get started just within a couple of days via that process. You sign up, you enter your restaurant information, you'll be approved and you'll have standard pricing related to that. Now, if you Partner with a point of sale or an aggregator provider. You can also likely get set up directly through them. So square customers, as an example, can go directly within your square back end and activate uber direct as a delivery service. and you can begin delivering orders right away. Likewise, we just launched a partnership with toast P. O. S. And via toast delivery services, customers can now leverage uber direct for their on demand delivery orders. there's also an avenue of Getting consultation and making sure you're working closely with our team to optimize that experience so you can reach out to your Uber eats account manager, and they will either walk you through the various options that we have available or work directly with my team to provide consultation and a client partner who can help you determine the best options, because even when you look at. Small restaurant groups, especially the emerging ones. Each of them are prioritizing technology in a different manner. So if you're someone who has built to an API before, has a technology team that would like to customize an experience for you, that is something that we can help work with on
Jeremy Julian:Yeah. And I think all too often, or I find brands think of these things differently, some want to offer it, some don't want to offer it. we talked about salad house, 60 plus percent of their sales are going digital, whereas other brands are like, you know what, I want to partner with just one, DSP and they do it that way. And so it's been interesting philosophically to hear, what's next. What's next for Uber Direct? is it, is it, I know that we tease in the news about drones and all, robots deliver and stuff, but, is it, is that what's next? help me understand what the, if you were to put your crystal ball out there and say three to five years from now, what does it look like?
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:three to five years from now. I'm often thinking what's around the corner. However, I think there's so much opportunity for us. There is also a lot of investment in new verticals. So just as within Uber eats, you've seen the addition of grocery convenience, even pharmacies. Those are also partners that we work with directly through uber direct, and they're all things that make our ecosystem stronger. We need reliable delivery, Especially if you're taking someone's medicine from point A to B, or Apple is one of our largest customers. If you're trusting someone with thousands of dollars worth of MacBooks and iPads, you need to make sure that it's delivered to the right person at the right time and that there aren't refunds related to that request. So us continuing to optimize reliability is critical. absolutely essential to everything we do. But one of the biggest spaces that we're investing in, and I see a lot of growth in for us over the next 2 to 3 years is catering and large order fulfillment. We understand how essential these large orders are for restaurant groups, whether it's an enterprise restaurant group or an independent one. For an independent, a large order could likely make and break, make or break your P. N. L. For the week. So you want to make sure it is absolutely right, and we've been putting the appropriate guardrails in place. We've been doing large order fulfillment for a while, but understanding the uptick in catering deliveries have been doing a lot to make sure those air even more reliable in the future. And there are things that we want to add to that in the future to whether it's actually having a courier be able to go in and do some light set up, taking, sandwich boxes out of the bags as an example to make your office lunch or special occasion even more special and something that's Less, less friction for the person who was running that event. so I think that's a really big area for us and one that we see a lot of further improvement and investment
Jeremy Julian:Yeah, no, it's been amazing to watch how catering obviously died through the pandemic because we weren't meeting, nobody was meeting in large groups, but more and more nowadays, especially, a lot of people are doing the work from home, but in the office a couple of days a week, I was just talking to my neighbor. He's Oh yeah, I had coffee yesterday because they catered it to the office. And, but to your point, Without it being done properly, you can hurt that guest experience and hurt that brand promise. Whereas as you guys are continuing to grow that and we're continuing to, brands are continuing to explore that avenue. I think it's a huge opportunity for all restaurants to be considering because I think all too often people don't think about it and it's a huge revenue boost. And quite frankly, it's oftentimes way more profitable than the people sitting in the dining room when you go deliver it, deliver a catering order. Brandi, how do people get in touch with you? How do people stay up with the latest things that you guys have got going on? is there a newsletter? Is there, a social page that they should be following? Help people stay connected to what you guys have got going on, whether or not they, they decide they want to jump into. Uber directs and start to offer it for their guests. Brandi.
brandi-villarreal_1_10-25-2024_123802:of course. So we will always mention those new offerings on the uber. com backslash direct. And I also recommend following me on LinkedIn. certainly have, we have a lot of partnerships and relationships with others in the tech industry and are constantly talking about what's new, what's out there and the latest trends and innovations that we see as well.
Jeremy Julian:to reconnect and to tell you, not that we knew each other, but we did know each other or knew a lot of the same mutual people. So it's great to hear what you guys have going on. to our listeners guys, as I say, each and every time I love getting the chance to get on the air and share with you guys, some of the new cool things that we've got going on. Brandi. for what you guys do and make it a great day.
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