Mapping the Landscape of Independent Food Delivery Platforms in the United States
Yuhan Liu, Amna Liaqat, Owen Xingjian Zhang, Mariana Consuelo Fernández Espinosa, Ankhitha Manjunatha, Alexander Yang, Orestis Papakyriakopoulos, Andrés Monroy-Hernández
TL;DR
The paper maps the landscape of independent U.S. food delivery platforms (indie platforms) to understand their motivations, scales, and technologies, addressing a gap left by dominant mainstream platforms. Using a mixed-method approach—scraping 495 indie platforms and surveying 29 operators via RMDA—the study reveals community-centered values, smaller-scale operations, and heavy reliance on third-party software with limited customization. It shows indie platforms as widespread yet locally focused, offering fairer terms to restaurants and couriers, but facing courier shortages, modest volumes, and financial pressures, with many platforms becoming inactive. The authors argue for a federated, open-source framework to reduce software silos, enable customization, and better support local, public-interest delivery models, highlighting implications for HCI research and local economic regeneration.
Abstract
Beyond the well-known giants like Uber Eats and DoorDash, there are hundreds of independent food delivery platforms in the United States. However, little is known about the sociotechnical landscape of these ``indie'' platforms. In this paper, we analyzed these platforms to understand why they were created, how they operate, and what technologies they use. We collected data on 495 indie platforms and detailed survey responses from 29 platforms. We found that personalized, timely service is a central value of indie platforms, as is a sense of responsibility to the local community they serve. Indie platforms are motivated to provide fair rates for restaurants and couriers. These alternative business practices differentiate them from mainstream platforms. Though indie platforms have plans to expand, a lack of customizability in off-the-shelf software prevents independent platforms from personalizing services for their local communities. We show that these platforms are a widespread and longstanding fixture of the food delivery market. We illustrate the diversity of motivations and values to explain why a one-size-fits-all support is insufficient, and we discuss the siloing of technology that inhibits platforms' growth. Through these insights, we aim to promote future HCI research into the potential development of public-interest technologies for local food delivery.