 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| |
| Industry | Online food ordering |
| Founded | October 2012; 12 years ago (2012-10) inPalo Alto, California[1] |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | , |
Area served | |
Key people | |
| Brands |
|
| Services | Food delivery |
| Revenue |  US$10.7 billion (2024) |
 US$−38 million (2024) | |
| US$123 million (2024) | |
| Total assets | US$12.8 billion (2024) |
| Total equity | US$7.80 billion (2024) |
Number of employees | 23,700 (2024) |
| Website | doordash |
| Footnotes / references [2][3] | |
DoorDash, Inc. is an American company operatingonline food ordering andfood delivery. It trades under the symbol DASH.[4] With a 56%market share, DoorDash is the largest food delivery platform in the United States. It also has a 60% market share in the convenience delivery category.[5] As of December 31, 2020, the platform was used by 450,000 merchants, 20,000,000 consumers, and over one million delivery couriers ("Dashers").[6]
Founded byTony Xu,Andy Fang, andStanley Tang, DoorDash made its debut on theFortune 500 list in 2024, ranking #443.[7] Outside the United States, DoorDash and its European subsidiaryWolt have operations in a combined total of 32 other countries as of the end of 2024.
DoorDash has been criticized and sued for withholding tips, reducing tip transparency, antitrust price manipulation, listing restaurants without permission, and allegedly misclassifying workers.[8][9][10][11]
In late 2012,Stanford University studentsTony Xu,Stanley Tang, andAndy Fang were getting feedback on amobile app for small business owners when amacaroon store owner told them of her challenges meeting demand for deliveries.[12][13][14]
In January 2013, they launched PaloAltoDelivery.com inPalo Alto, California.[15] In the summer of 2013, it receivedUS$120,000 inseed money fromY Combinator in exchange for a 7% stake. It incorporated as DoorDash in June 2013.[14][16]
In December 2018, DoorDash overtookUber Eats to hold the second position in total US food delivery sales, behindGrubHub.[17] By March 2019, it had exceeded GrubHub in total sales, at 27.6% of the on-demand delivery market.[18] By early 2019, DoorDash was the largest food delivery provider in the U.S., as measured by consumer spending.[19] It maintained that market position in 2019.[20]
In October 2019, DoorDash opened its firstghost kitchen, DoorDash Kitchen, inRedwood City, California, with four restaurants operating at the location.[21]
In January 2020, it was reported that DoorDash had lied about skimming tips from its drivers, causing them to earn an average of $1.45 an hour after expenses, and that after the company had allegedly overhauled its tipping system, DoorDash was still manipulating per-delivery payouts at the expense of drivers.[22][23][24][25]
By June 2020, DoorDash had raised more than $2.5 billion over several financing rounds from investors includingY Combinator,Charles River Ventures,SV Angel,Khosla Ventures,Sequoia Capital,SoftBank Group,[26]GIC,[27] andKleiner Perkins.[28]
In April 2020, during theCOVID-19 pandemic, DoorDash announced it had "stockpiled tens of thousands of gloves and bottles of hand sanitizer" and was offering them to delivery drivers for free. The company also said it had changed the default drop-off option to contactless delivery.[29] That month, DoorDash became the fastest-growingfood delivery service.[30]
In October 2020, the company launched its "Reopen for Delivery" program to have brick-and-mortar restaurants that have closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic partner with localghost kitchen operators to offer food delivery- and pick-up-only service.[31]
In November 2020, DoorDash announced the opening of its first physical restaurant location, partnering up with Bay Area restaurant Burma Bites to offer delivery and pick-up orders.[32][33]
On December 9, 2020, the company became apublic company via aninitial public offering, raising $3.37 billion.[34][4][35]
In February 2021, 55% of DoorDash's drivers were women.[36]
In May 2021, DoorDash was criticized for unauthorized listings of restaurants who had not given permission to appear on the app.[37] The company was sued by Lona's Lil Eats in St. Louis, with the lawsuit claiming that DoorDash had listed them without permission, then prevented any orders to the restaurant from going through and redirecting customers to other restaurants instead, because Lona's was "too far away," when in reality it had not paid DoorDash a fee for listing.[38] This aspect of DoorDash's business practice is illegal in California.[38]
In August 2022, DoorDash announced it would end its partnership withWalmart in September, ending the companies' cooperation agreement from 2018.[39]
In late November 2022, DoorDash announced plans tolay off 1,250 corporate employees, or about six percent of their workforce. This was to rein in expenses.[40]
In June 2023, DoorDash announced it would give its drivers the option of earning an hourly minimum wage instead of being paid per delivery. However, drivers are only paid hourly when on an active delivery.[41]
In September 2023, the company transferred itsstock listing from theNew York Stock Exchange to theNasdaq.[42]
DoorDash began expanding into international markets in 2015, launching inToronto, Canada.[43] The company started operating in markets outside North America in 2019, officially launching inMelbourne, Australia, in September and later expanding further into the country.[44][45] In 2021, the company expanded its service area toSendai, Japan in June[46] andStuttgart, Germany, in November.[47] In June 2022, the company expanded into theWellington Region of New Zealand.[48]
The company expanded its service offerings in 2020, adding grocery delivery initially inCalifornia and theMidwest in August 2020.[49] DoorDash expanded the service offerings in 2021 to include DoubleDash, which allows for orders from multiple merchants, and alcohol delivery in 20 U.S. states,Washington, D.C., Canada, and Australia.[50][51]
In 2017, a class-action lawsuit was filed against DoorDash for allegedly misclassifying delivery drivers in California and Massachusetts as independent contractors. In 2022, a tentative settlement was reached in which DoorDash would pay $100 million total, with $61 million going to over 900,000 drivers, paying out just over $130 per driver, and $28 million for the lawyers.[62][10] Gizmodo criticized the settlement, noting that the $413 million that DoorDash CEO Tony Xu received the previous year was one of the largest CEO compensation packages of all time.[10]
On May 4, 2019, DoorDash confirmed 4.9 million customers, delivery workers and merchants had sensitive information stolen via adata breach. Those who joined the platform after April 5, 2018, were unaffected by the breach.[63]
In July 2019, the company's tipping policy was criticized byThe New York Times, and laterThe Verge andVox andGothamist.[8][64][65][66] Drivers receive a guaranteed minimum per order that is paid by DoorDash by default. When a customer added atip, instead of going directly to the driver, it first went to the company to cover the guaranteed minimum. Drivers then only directly received the part of the tip that exceeded the guaranteed minimum per order.[66][67]
A DoorDash customer filed aclass action lawsuit against the company for its "materially false and misleading" tipping policy.[66][67] The case was referred toarbitration in August 2020.[68] Under pressure, the company revised its policy.[69][70] The company settled a lawsuit withDistrict of Columbia Attorney GeneralKarl Racine for $2.5 million, with funds going to deliverers, the government, and to charity.[71][72][73]
In April 2020, in the case ofDavitashvili v. GrubHub Inc. DoorDash,Grubhub,Postmates, andUber Eats were accused of monopolistic power by only listing restaurants on their apps if the restaurant owners signed contracts which include clauses that require prices be the same for dine-in customers as for customers receiving delivery.[74][75][76][77] The plaintiffs stated that this arrangement increases the cost for dine-in customers, as they are required to subsidize the cost of delivery; and that the apps charge "exorbitant" fees, which range from 13% to 40% of revenue, while the average restaurant's profit ranges from 3% to 9% of revenue.[74][75][76][77] The lawsuit seekstreble damages, including for overcharges, since April 14, 2016, for dine-in and delivery customers in the United States at restaurants using the defendants’ delivery apps.[11][74][75][76][77] Although several preliminary documents in the case have now been filed, a trial date has not yet been set.[78]
In July 2021, DoorDash drivers went on strike to protest lack of tip transparency and to ask for higher pay. At the time of the strike, and, as of June 2022, DoorDash did not allow drivers to see the full tip amounts prior to accepting a delivery in the app. If customers tip over a set amount for the order total, Doordash hides a portion of the tip until the delivery is complete. The strike occurred after DoorDash rewrote its code to cut off access to Para, a third-party app that drivers had been using to see the full tip amounts.[79][9]
In August 2021, the city of Chicago sued DoorDash andGrubHub. According to Chicago mayorLori Lightfoot, the companies broke the law by using "unfair and deceptive tactics to take advantage of restaurants and consumers who were struggling to stay afloat during theCOVID-19 pandemic."[80] DoorDash and GrubHub denied the suit's merits.[80]
DoorDash has been accused of charging users of iPhone more than users on theAndroid platform. User testing claimed to show several instances of various fees and delivery charges being higher when using an Apple device. DoorDash denied these allegations in response to the ongoing US$1 billion class-action suit.[81]
In August 2023, DoorDash was obligated to pay its drivers and the city of Seattle a total of $1.6 million.[82] It was found that the platform made it difficult for users to request paid time off. DoorDash is to pay $1.1 million towards safe and sick time credits, $500k directly to drivers and an additional $8,500 in city fees.
In 2018, DoorDash launched Project DASH, a partnership with localfood security organizations to deliver donations to those in need.[83] By August 2019, the program had expanded to 25 cities in the United States and Canada and had delivered more than one million pounds of food.[84] As of September 2021, Project DASH operated in more than 900 cities and had delivered more than 15 million meals.[85][86]
DoorDash partnered with theNational Urban League in 2020 as part of its Main Street Strong program, which included a pledge of $200 million over five years to support restaurants during the COVID-19 pandemic. The partnership with the NUL includes $12 million in funding to assist drivers of color in building job skills andfinancial literacy.[87]
DoorDash has partnered withMeals on Wheels to help deliver food to senior citizens.[88]
DoorDash has an algorithm that chooses the best delivery route automatically. DoorDash's delivery system can learn on its own, and change according to parameters such as the number of delivery people available, the time of day, and how much food is expected to be ordered.[89]
Frank points to a clause in the contracts restaurants and the food delivery apps agree to that prohibits owners from charging delivery customers more than people who dine in, even though delivery costs more. "By not forcing those purchasing on apps to bear the whole amount of the fees, instead forcing all menu prices to rise together, in-restaurant diners are effectively subsidizing Grubhub's high rates," said Frank, who argues such an arrangement is anti-competitive and illegal.
Each of the firms uses "monopoly power" to prevent competition, limit consumer choice and force restaurants to agree to illegal contracts that have "the purpose and effect of fixing prices," the suit claimed. ... The four companies give restaurants a "devil's choice" that requires them to keep dine-in prices the same as delivery prices if they want to be on the app-based delivery platforms, the suit claimed. And restaurants must pay commissions to the delivery firms ranging from 13.5% to 40%, the suit alleged. ... Establishments are forced to "calibrate their prices to the more costly meals served through the delivery apps," the suit alleged.
GrubHub, DoorDash, Postmates and Uber Eats were sued on Monday for allegedly exploiting their dominance in restaurant meal deliveries to impose fees that consumers ultimately bear through higher menu prices, including during the coronavirus pandemic. In a proposed class action filed in Manhattan federal court, three consumers said the defendants violated U.S. antitrust law by requiring that restaurants charge delivery customers and dine-in customers the same price, while imposing "exorbitant" fees of 10% to 40% of revenue to process delivery orders. The consumers, all from New York, said this sticks restaurants with a "devil's choice" of charging everyone higher prices as a condition of using the defendants' services.
The New York customers, who seek class-action status, say the delivery services charge "exorbitant fees" that range from 13% to 40% of revenue, while the average restaurant's profit ranges from 3% to 9% of revenue, making delivery meals more expensive for eateries. "Restaurants could offer consumers lower prices for direct sales, because direct consumers are more profitable," the plaintiffs said. "This is particularly true of dine-in consumers, who purchase drinks and additional items, tip staff, and generate good will."
Online food ordering services | |
|---|---|
| Meal delivery | |
| Meal kits | |
| Online grocery delivery | |
| Reservations | |
| Defunct | |
| Software | |
