Amazon reportedly sets up new Restaurants division
Amazon has reportedly set up a new division called Amazon Restaurants – which could signal a move into the meal delivery market. As previously reported, Amazon is already active in the express food and grocery delivery markets with Amazon Fresh and Amazon Prime Now and – most recently – its Farmers Market Direct programme in California.
There has been no official word from Amazon about “Amazon Restaurants”. However, Reuters reported on Friday (4 September) that there have been at least 15 job openings posted on LinkIn and Amazon’s own website for a division called “Amazon Restaurants” based in Seattle and New York. And the name suggests that it could be a potential competitor for DoorDash, GrubHub, UberEATS, PostMates, Groupon etc.
According to Reuters, Amazon already works with restaurants in Seattle on “Amazon Local”, through which users can buy local deals and order food for takeout or delivery. However, deliveries for this service are made by restaurant staff, not by Amazon.
IT news provider Geekwire has claimed that Amazon has already begun quietly testing its own meal delivery service in Seattle using Prime Now drivers.
