Food-delivery company DoorDash Inc. is set to go public this week, valued at more than $30 billion. Here is a look at how the San Francisco-based startup has leapfrogged rivals to become the dominant player in a competitive market.
DoorDash has benefited from an increase in ordering from home during the coronavirus pandemic and its prescient bet on the suburbs. The company commanded nearly half of the U.S. food-delivery market as of mid-October, up from one-third a year earlier.
Food-delivery companies started with largely separate geographic strongholds but increasingly began to eat into each other’s markets in recent years, wooing big restaurants with sweetheart deals and customers with deep discounts.
DoorDash’s strategy had been to expand into the suburbs as its rivals were focused on big cities. But the startup has pulled ahead of competitors in some big cities, too.
With little competition in the suburbs, DoorDash earned big bucks from families placing large orders. It also gave priority to expanding the number of restaurants on its app, while Uber Technologies Inc.’s Eats focused on restaurants with fast delivery.
