I have enjoyed listening to Delivery Wars, a podcast about the food delivery business. The narrative focuses on tensions between (1) restaurants and delivery apps and (2) drivers and the businesses.
One of the most interesting details concerns the question of whether we, as consumers, should expect (or require) businesses to have agreed to work together -- and whether such prior agreement is a question of ethics or simply a question of business.
Around 2014, Grubhub made the decision not to provide service for restaurants without their prior consent, whereas Doordash decided to expand its reach by serving restaurants regardless of whether they had consented. Subsequently, the fortunes of the two companies diverged significantly: Doordash expanded rapidly, while Grubhub lost its preeminent status in the industry. Here's a chart of market share as of June 2021:
The CEO of Grubhub explained that he did not feel comfortable providing delivery from restaurants who had not agreed to a partnership. Indeed, some restaurant owners complained about Doordash's behavior, as they had deliberately chosen not to provide delivered-food.
In a time when we are focused on the topic of consent in terms of human-to-human relationships, this story raises the question of whether consent is also important -- as a matter of ethics -- among businesses. It brings to mind legal theories of partnership and contract, and whether or not two parties can enter into a relationship without an express act of consent.
I assume that state and local governments will try to refrain, as much as possible, from regulating the relationship between restaurants and delivery services, for fear of stifling economic growth. It does seem, though, that the balance of power has shifted too much towards the corporatized delivery companies and away from independent restaurants (The Cheesecake Factory and its peers are another matter). It is an example of the way in which unrestrained capitalism can create problems (inequality, in particular), even while seemingly improving people's lives.
