{"id":554132,"date":"2024-08-08T08:55:10","date_gmt":"2024-08-08T06:55:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=554132"},"modified":"2024-08-08T09:01:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-08T07:01:57","slug":"we-raced-uber-eats-and-mr-d-to-kfc-and-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/it-services\/554132-we-raced-uber-eats-and-mr-d-to-kfc-and-back.html","title":{"rendered":"We raced Uber Eats and Mr D to KFC and back"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I raced Mr D and Uber Eats to KFC and took less time to buy the same food in person and get back home than both on-demand delivery services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the margin of victory against Uber was slim, and both still delivered well within their claimed delivery times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the test, I bought a Streetwise Snack Pack burger and chips in three separate orders from the same KFC branch around 2.4km from our house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The trip in our Kia Sonet to this outlet typically takes about four minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I placed the order on Uber Eats first at 18:38, followed by Mr D at 18:42, and then left our home at about 18:43 for the counter order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I made sure to follow the order progress meticulously on each app. About halfway into my drive, I noticed the live tracking on the Uber Eats app showed that the order was ready for collection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I arrived at the KFC, Uber Eats’s tracking tool showed its driver was still somewhere around the branch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spotted several Mr D and Uber Eats drivers waiting in the parking lot and a handful in the branch’s dedicated delivery pickup section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, there were no other customers waiting inside, and I quickly completed my order via one of the self-service kiosks. Impressively, I only waited about a minute after payment before receiving my order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, at that point, the Uber Eats delivery driver was already halfway to our delivery address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I left the KFC at around 18:54 and arrived home at 18:58, two minutes after the Uber Eats driver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, considering that I left four minutes after placing the Uber Eats order, my total trip time was 16 minutes, whereas the total time from payment to delivery of the Uber Eats order was 18 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Mr D app still showed the KFC branch was preparing my order upon my arrival at home. It was only at 19:07 that I received a notification that the driver was on his way. He arrived at about 19:13. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, the order was delivered 31 minutes after payment. While Mr D took substantially longer than Uber Eats, it still delivered in less than its promised time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the progress updates within the apps, the hold-up might have been on KFC’s end or in finding a driver to deliver the order. The driver’s pace was similar to that of the Uber Eats courier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below summarises the timelines for the three orders in MyBroadband’s race against<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/th>Self-drive buy and return<\/th>Mr D<\/th>Uber Eats<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Departed home<\/td>18:42<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td><\/tr>
Payment made <\/td>18:52<\/td>18:42<\/td>18:38<\/td><\/tr>
Order accepted<\/td>n\/a<\/td>18:43<\/td>18:39<\/td><\/tr>
Order ready for collection<\/td>18:53<\/td>n\/a<\/td>18:45<\/td><\/tr>
Departure to delivery address<\/td>18:54<\/td>19:07<\/td>18:52<\/td><\/tr>
Arrival at delivery address<\/td>18:58<\/td>19:13<\/td>18:56<\/td><\/tr>
Total time taken <\/td>16 minutes<\/td>31 minutes<\/td>18 minutes<\/td><\/tr>
Estimated delivery<\/td>n\/a<\/td>34 minutes<\/td>25 to 40 minutes<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The three KFC orders reunited at their delivery address<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In our three previous comparisons, MyBroadband only compared a self-drive buy and return with delivery by Uber Eats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2018, Uber Eats beat us by a few seconds for a delivery from Rocomamas. In 2022, we emerged victorious in a race to a McDonald’s, arriving three minutes earlier than the Uber Eats driver. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2023, we took less than half the time to drive to, buy, and return with the same food from another KFC outlet than it took Uber Eats to deliver the order from payment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest test result is a remarkable improvement over the last experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it should be noted that it may have been influenced by various factors outside of Uber Eats’ control \u2014 including the rate at which the different KFC branches prepared food and the number of orders from other customers at the time of our order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Big premium for convenience<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There was a significant difference between the total bills for the counter order and the on-demand services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr D and Uber Eats pay drivers and turn a profit by charging restaurants and customers additional fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Restaurants pay a commission on every item people order through the app \u2014 whether delivered or collected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To maintain a healthy profit margin, the restaurants must increase the prices of their products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to higher product prices, Mr D and Uber Eats charge delivery and service fees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uber Eats’ delivery fee ranges from R6.00 to R20.00 and is determined based on the distance between the restaurant or takeaway outlet and the delivery address. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also levies a service charge, which can be either a percentage of the subtotal or a flat fee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr D’s delivery fee includes its service charge and is set at a flat R15.00, regardless of the distance between the delivery address and the chosen outlet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that both services’ delivery and service fees exclude the optional tips that customers can add if they are happy with their experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our order, we paid the same R36.90 price for the Streetwise Snack Pack from Mr D and Uber Eats, 23.41% higher than the regular in-store price of R29.90.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr D’s flat fee of R15.00 pushed the total price without tips to R51.90, while Uber Eats’ subtotal came down to R47.38 with a R9.00 delivery charge and R1.48 service fee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uber Eats also levied a R5.00 small order fee to take its total price to R52.38.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a typical petrol consumption of about 7 litres per 100km, our Sonet would have consumed about R7.82’s worth of fuel for the 4.8km return trip between our home and the KFC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The total effective cost of our counter order was R37.72, over 25% less than using Mr D and Uber Eats. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below compares the effective pricing of the food and delivery costs of three options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/th>Counter order<\/th>Mr D<\/th>Uber Eats<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Price of food<\/td>R29.90<\/td>R36.90<\/td>R36.90<\/td><\/tr>
Service fee<\/td>n\/a<\/td>R15.00<\/td>R1.48<\/td><\/tr>
Delivery fee<\/td>n\/a<\/td>R9.00<\/td><\/tr>
Small order fee<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td>R5.00<\/td><\/tr>
Estimated petrol cost (7l\/100km)<\/td>R7.82<\/td>n\/a<\/td>n\/a<\/td><\/tr>
Total <\/td>R37.72<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>R51.90<\/mark><\/strong><\/td>R52.38<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The race was incredibly tight with one of the services. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":554186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49317],"tags":[49419,69297,21825,64438,77160,63821,35236],"class_list":["post-554132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-it-services","tag-food-delivery","tag-food-delivery-apps","tag-kfc","tag-mr-d","tag-on-demand-delivery","tag-takeaways","tag-uber-eats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554132"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554132\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554432,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554132\/revisions\/554432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}