Uber Eats vs Mr D Food vs Bolt Food — Delivery price face-off
Ordering takeaways through Mr D Food is more expensive than Uber Eats and Bolt Food, a targeted test from MyBroadband has shown.
In September 2020 and May 2021, MyBroadband compared the cost of ordering several popular food items from well-known restaurants using Uber Eats and Mr D Food.
In both those cases, we found that Mr D Food often worked out to be the cheaper of the two.
Since then, another on-demand food delivery app — Bolt Food — has expanded its operations beyond Cape Town and into Gauteng, becoming a viable option for many more consumers.
We performed an updated comparison between these three services in early December 2022.
For our latest round of tests, we created 15 different order baskets by selecting five of the same popular food items on all three apps.
All of the prospective orders were set for delivery to the same address in Bryanston, Johannesburg. They used the same branches to ensure a fair comparison on distance-based delivery charges.
A turn of the tide
Our most significant finding regarding prices was that Mr D Food was substantially more expensive than its rivals.
The average cost of an order through Mr D Food over the five items was R131.88, compared to R127.93 for Uber Eats and R126.85 for Bolt Food.
When looking at individual baskets, it was the most expensive for three out of the five orders, and was never the cheapest, with Uber Eats and Bolt Food trading blows for the most affordable prices.
A major driver of its higher prices was its flat delivery rate of R15.00 on all orders, regardless of the distance to the branch.
That was R10.00 more than its previous fee of R5.00, an increase of 200% since 2021.
Uber Eats and Bolt Food had varying delivery fees linked to the distance of the branch from our address, ranging from R3.00 to R22.00.
The table below summarises the restaurants and menu items we used for our comparison, how much they cost using each app, and what fees the services charged in each instance.
| Food delivery service prices compared | |||
| Bolt Food | Mr D Food | Uber Eats | |
| Philly Cheesesteak Co — Rump Baconator | |||
| Meal price | R80.00 | R89.90 | R94.99 |
| Service fee | — | — | R4.75 |
| Delivery fee | R17.00 | R15.00 | R9.00 |
| Total price (excluding tip) | R97.00 | R104.90 | R108.74 |
| Taste of India — Butter chicken | |||
| Meal price | R149.00 | R149.99 | R149.99 |
| Service fee | – | – | R7.50 |
| Delivery fee | R6.00 | R15.00 | R3.00 |
| Total price (excluding tip) | R155.00 | R164.99 | R160.49 |
| Del Forno — Large Hawaiian Pizza | |||
| Meal price | R131.25 | R137.50 | R131.50 |
| Service fee | — | — | R6.56 |
| Delivery fee | R16.00 | R15.00 | R9.00 |
| Total price (excluding tip) | R147.25 | R152.50 | R147.06 |
| Kauai — Princess Wrap (wholewheat) with chicken | |||
| Meal price | R108.00 | R108.00 | R108.00 |
| Service fee | — | — | R5.40 |
| Delivery fee | R22.00 | R15.00 | R3.00 |
| Total price (excluding tip) | R130.00 | R123.00 | R116.40 |
| Ribs & Burgers — Butcher’s Original Burger | |||
| Meal price | R99.00 | R99.00 | R99.00 |
| Service fee | — | — | R4.95 |
| Delivery fee | R6.00 | R15.00 | R3.00 |
| Total price (excluding tip) | R105.00 | R114.00 | R106.95 |
| Total price for all orders | R634.25 | R659.39 | R639.64 |
| Average for all orders | R126.85 | R131.88 | R127.93 |
Aside from the cost differences, we made another interesting discovery regarding branch availability.
We struggled to set up orders for delivery from the same branches of popular restaurants through all three services.
For example, while Bolt Food and Mr D Food each offered delivery from the Mochachos branch at Rivonia Village, Uber Eats did not.
It stated that the Mochachos branch was too far, while only giving the Bryanston and Pineslopes branches as options for delivery.
Even though the Bryanston branch was available for delivery on Bolt Food, it was not on Mr D Food.
Mr D Food, in its turn, had the Pineslopes branch as an option, but Bolt Food did not.
Our experiences were similar for several restaurants, including Doppio Zero, Nando’s, and Rocomamas.
So if it is a specific branch you are after, rather than the lowest cost, it is best to jump between the apps to see which one can deliver from there.
Bolt Food’s selection remains limited
When it came to the restaurant selection, Bolt Food was undoubtedly behind the two more established players.
Popular takeaway brands like McDonald’s, KFC, Steers, and Wimpy were completely missing from its selection.
That is no surprise, given that the service is much newer and is still building out its restaurant partner base.
We also found that Mr D Food had an infuriatingly high number of branches listed from which it only offered pickup and not delivery.
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