On-demand delivery startup Postmates just launched a new product called Pop to sling lunch to people in 15 minutes or less. For now, it will only be available to people based in San Francisco’s South of Market Street area during lunch time, but the plan is to expand into other locations, offer delivery in additional hours of the day, and eventually deliver more than just food in the 15-minutes-or-less timeframe.
“Pop is fast because it eliminates the pickup leg,” reads the Postmates blog post. “Rather than spending time traveling to a specific merchant location or waiting for the food to be prepared, Postmates drivers who participate in Pop carry an inventory of freshly made items ready to drop off immediately.”
At first glance, Postmates Pop reminds me of Caviar’s Fastbite, which delivers food in as little as 10 minutes to people in San Francisco’s Financial District and SoMa area. Pop will feature daily, curated menu options from its 3,000+ merchants. Lunch specials cost about $10 plus a flat $1.99 delivery fee, while Fastbite advertises its meals as costing no more than $15, with delivery included. That being said, all of Fastbite’s meals listed on the site today are $10 or less.
“Pop is more unique, as we’ll be able to offer more than food,” Postmates head of communications, April Conyers, told TechCrunch. “Moving forward, we’ll also be able to change the time of day that items are offered. Imagine ordering a date night kit – bottle of wine and meal for two.”
Starting at 11 a.m. every weekday, customers in the SoMa delivery area will see the Pop icon in the Postmates app, with delivery available until all the items are sold out. In addition to Postmates Pop and Caviar Fastbite, other on-demand lunch delivery services in San Francisco include Sprig, Munchery, UberEATS and Spoon Rocket, so take your pick. Oh, and if you want cookies, there’s Doughbies.