Business Operations: Delivering for UberEats
It was reported in 2020 that UberEats had an estimated 66 million users on their platform. That’s a lot of food being ordered. The journey that starts at the restaurant’s kitchen and ends at the customer’s doorstep is often overlooked as an everyday occurrence. I’ve learned plenty about business operations working as a delivery driver in the world of on-demand food delivery.
Even in the gig economy, the key components of business operations still apply. I love Shopify’s definition of it. Everything that happens within a company to keep it running and earning money.
The 4 main pillars of business operations are:
- Process
- Staffing
- Location
- Equipment or technology
Processes directly impact efficiency and productivity.
In the case of UberEats, it starts with the customer using the app to place an order at a nearby restaurant. After the order is prepared by the restaurant, a driver in close-proximity can then accept the request via the Driver app to deliver the order to the customer.
Staffing is then predicated on the processes.
Who needs to do the work and how many people are needed? Only one person is needed to deliver an individual order. But in the grand scheme of things, hundreds of thousands of orders are being fulfilled every day! That’s a lot of drivers.
Many workers are needed to staff the restaurants as well. Within a restaurant’s infrastructure, there are countless positions within them to keep them functioning properly.
Here are some roles to name a few:
- Managers
- Chefs
- Cooks
- Servers
- Runners
- Hosts
- Cashiers
- Bussers
- Dishwashers
Plenty of teams are involved in operating the UberEats app and UberEats Driver app also.
Here are some teams to name a few:
- Engineering
- Marketing
- Sales
- Data Science
- Design
- Product Management
- Strategy
- Customer Support
- Public Policy
- Safety & Insurance
- Cyber Security
And as you can imagine, there are several roles within each team!
Location here is straightforward.
In terms of physical location, this involves the customer’s residence and the restaurant’s address.
Equipment or Technology
Uber uses the following technology:
- UberEats app
- UberEats Driver app
- Driver vehicle
- Insulated bags for food
- Phone mount
- Car charger
The key takeaway
There’s always a role to fulfill. In my case delivering for UberEats, I served as the bridge connecting the restaurant and the customer. Every company’s goal is to run their business efficiently and make money. Providing customers with what they need and keeping them happy is extremely important. Operations provides the infrastructure and serves as the catalyst to maintain all of this.
