【Hizoban Higasa no onna】

Uber is Hizoban Higasa no onnabringing its on-demand food delivery service, UberEATS, to India three years after it piloted in Los Angeles. The taxi-aggregator is in talks with local restaurants and delivery partners before taking the service live.

UberEATS is a standalone app and is accessible in 58 locations globally, including a host of Asian cities such as Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo and Taipei.

“I am incredibly excited about bringing UberEATS to India. This is a significant investment, it spans multiple cities and regions, and it has the potential to change the food industry — with the push of a button — in one of the most vibrant food cultures in the world,” Allen Penn, Asia Pacific’s Head of UberEATS, said in a statement.

Incidentally, Uber's local rival Ola had started a similar service, Ola Cafe, in 2015 and shut it down a year later after reportedly failing to expand its network of restaurants.

The online food ordering and delivery space in India has been an Achilles' heel for the otherwise vibrant startup scene in the country. It has seen fewer survivors — the likes of Zomato Order and Swiggy — and more failures, including four last year.

Even the world's largest food delivery startup, Foodpanda, has seen troubled waters here. The diverse Indian food palate has been a tough one to cater to.

Uber, however, is calling Indian users to fill in the names of their favorite restaurants. Going by the options in the form, it appears that UberEATS will be first made available in the metro cities of Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Mumbai. Eat on, India!

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