Mr D beats Uber Eats in food delivery price shootout

Uber Eats’ service charges often make it more expensive than its biggest competitor — Mr D.

The online food delivery space recently got shaken up when Bolt Food, which had been operational since April 2020, shut down in South Africa.

Bolt said anti-competitive behaviour in the food delivery space had led it to scrap its food delivery service.

The company says dominant competitors — likely Uber Eats and Mr D — often have exclusive deals with restaurants, preventing them from selling their products through other platforms.

“Our submission to the commission sought to highlight challenges in the food delivery space,” said Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar, head of public policy at Bolt.

“The commission … found dominant players had arrangements that meant certain service providers, which account for the bulk of food delivery in the country, had exclusive arrangements with them.”

The Competition Commission’s market inquiry report said there was reason to believe that anti-competitive behaviour was taking place in the food delivery space.

It ordered several companies, including Uber Eats, Mr D, and Bolt, to revise their business practices.

Gasnolar said Bolt would shift its focus to its short-trip and last-mile parcel delivery services.

He said it would also introduce electric bike and scooter offerings to its platform.

“We had to make the very difficult decision over the past year of … closing the food delivery business in South Africa. So for the next month or so, we are going to be managing that arrangement with restaurants on our platform [so] that the off-boarding process is seamless,” he said.

Bolt Food officially shut down on 8 December 2023.

Food delivery price shootout

MyBroadband compared how much it costs to order meals for delivery from six popular fast-food restaurants — Burger King, KFC, McDonalds, Mochachos, Nandos, and Steers — on Uber Eats and Mr D.

Uber Eats was often more expensive due to its service charges, which Mr D doesn’t add to the bill.

For example, the prices of individual items ordered from KFC are similar across Uber Eats and Mr D. However, Uber Eats is nearly R13 more expensive for the entire order.

This is because it adds a delivery fee and a service charge, which varies based on the restaurant location from which you order. On the other hand, Mr D charges a flat rate of R15 for deliveries within a certain radius.

Our comparison found that Uber Eats was more expensive for five of the six orders. However, often only by a small margin.

It was cheaper than Mr D for the order from Burger King, for which the bill showed no delivery or service charge.

Uber Eats and Mr D’s online delivery prices across six popular restaurants are compared in the table below.