Ando, a restaurant that provides delivery of food has been acquired by Uber Eats. The food startup, which was started by David Chang in 2017, will stop delivery of its cheesesteak sandwiches and crunchy chicken fingers in New York City. This has been the only city where the company has been servicing. Ando will initiate its merger with the food delivery venture of the ride hailing company.
There was a notice on the homepage of Ando’s website that read, “Starting January 22nd 2018, we will no longer be serving customers in New York – online or via our Union Square location – as we ill be immediately starting to integrate with Uber Eats. To all our customers, thank you for inviting us into your homes and offices. You were as much a part of this company as all of us and it was a pleasure serving each of you.”
Chang who is also the owner of the renowned Momofuku Group of restaurants launched Ando back in 2016, when food delivery was at its peak. However, owing to tough competition and wafer-thin margins, many delivery services have shut down or been acquired by larger competitors. Some businesses such as Maple (where Chang was an investor) was acquired by Deliveroo. Muncherry had to rework its finances by cutting its staff. Hence, the merger of Ando with Uber Eats is not a surprise at all.
The startup has strong ties with the ride-sharing company. The business model of Ando was designed by Expa, a startup lab based out of San Francisco and owned by Uber co-founder Garrett Camp.
For Uber, the food delivery venture has been the only silver lining among the dark clouds, as the company has been marred with legal battles. However, Uber Eats has been doing well under the leadership of Jason Droege, who also runs UberEverything. The food delivery service is provided in 120 markets across the globe and is a profitable venture in 20 of those markets. In some cities, the food delivery business has performed way ahead of the ride-hailing business.
In a statement issued by Droege, he said, “We are committed to investing in technology that helps consumers, delivery and restaurant partners alike. Ando’s insights will help our restaurant technology team as we work with our restaurant partners to grow their business.”
