When I was a kid, Friday nights meant pizza and Pepsi. Each week we would call the local pizzeria with the same order – one large mushroom and onion, one large pepperoni, and a bottle of Pepsi. This was delivered to our door by one of a few local teenagers, and we built relationships with our delivery guys as they visited each week. The routine was comforting.
Back then there wasn’t much competition for pizza delivery. But that was about all you could get delivered. We never really contemplated changing up our cuisine because the delivery universe was pretty much limited to pizza. If we wanted to change it up, that meant cooking at home or going to a restaurant.
Today the landscape my kids experience is quite different. The entire casual dining industry has been disrupted in ways many never anticipated. In-house dining restaurants, and even my old pizza place, are being challenged by a variety of options. Delivery services like UberEats and Bite have made it unnecessary to step inside a restaurant and have expanded our dining options. Cooking is different, too. Prepared meal delivery services like BlueApron and HelloFresh have made it convenient to prepare a home-cooked meal without the need to shop – it’s delivered fresh to your door just like the pizza of my youth. But, with an important twist: it’s part of a regular subscription service- no need to call anyone.