Uber Eats to launch in Riyadh and Cairo

Uber’s food delivery platform, Uber Eats is going to be launched in Riyadh and Cairo soon, the company announced in a statement without specifying exact date of the launch.

MENAbytes had first reported the news about Uber Eats’ Egypt expansion in September last year.

For those who don’t know, this is how Uber Eats works: Uber partners with different restaurants to list them and their menus on the platform. Users can log into the platform using their Uber login credentials on its web or mobile apps. Once logged in, they can browse different restaurants that deliver in their areas and see their menus with prices. The users can choose whatever they like to order from the menus and can pay using the credit card associated with their Uber account or cash when the food gets delivered.

The platform is currently available across more than 200 cities around the world including Dubai and Abu Dhabi. According to the company, Uber Eats has been pretty successful in UAE with the number of orders growing by 169% in second half of 2017.

“We know that people in Saudi Arabia and Egypt have been calling out for technology to get the food they love delivered for all occasions in any locations for some time now. We’re thrilled to be answering this demand by partnering with national and local restaurants to bring the convenience of the Uber Eats app to more people in the region,” said Nic Robertson, General Manager, Uber Eats Middle East and Africa.

Uber Eats will be launching localized version of its apps in both the countries for the Arabic speaking consumers.

“While we’re a global business with a presence in more than 30 countries around the world, our recipe for success is built on catering to the local taste of the cities we operate in. That’s why we’re doubling down on creating a localised version of the app that meets the needs of the Arabic speaking population.” continued the General Manager.

The platform will be taking on local and international companies in both the countries. Egypt has seen startups like Mumm and Yumamia do a great job in the recent past. Yes, Uber Eats won’t be competing with them directly as they have a different value proposition but an international player as big as Uber coming to the market would definitely put some pressure on any existing startup in the same space.

And Saudi has a mix of local and international players; many of which are directly or indirectly owned by Delivery Hero. According to Uber Eats’ MEA General Manager, the company is already seeing a huge demand from hundreds of local restaurants who want to work with them.

We would’ve loved to get in touch with Uber to learn more about this expansion especially the launch date but because ALL our requests for a comment have gone unanswered in the past, we would save ourselves the effort this time. Perhaps their communications team are always busy in damage control.