Similar in style to a service like Postmates, Deliveroo’s alcohol and food-delivery system operates by giving vendors a tablet by which they can receive and process orders. As purchases come in, the businesses prep the requested order prior to it being picked up by a bike-going Deliveroo employee (motorized or pedaled). Once picked up, the food (or booze) is delivered to the buying party in under a half hour — Deliveroo’s homepage cites an average of 32 minutes. Additionally, the service boasts the capability to set up bigger deliveries such as group lunches at offices.
“Deliveroo was founded on a passion for food, and this is at the core of everything we do,” a company spokesperson told Venture Beat. “We’re really excited to launch our standalone alcohol service, as it seemed like a natural expansion to our service. We’re always interested in exploring potential opportunities to innovate.”
Whether adding deliverable alcohol to its already established service is successful remains to be seen, though a recent trial conducted over the past few months reportedly went well for Deliveroo. As for the age requirement? After all, people under the age of 18 (it’s the U.K., remember?) can order a simple meal, but Deliveroo says it has trained its employees to check the identification for anyone who appears under the age of 25 in connection with alcohol deliveries. As with any alcohol peddling store or bar, there are certainly ways around this but the policy should do well to avoid rampant underage drinking.
As mentioned throughout the article, Deliveroo is strictly a U.K.-only service so those of you looking to have a bottle of vodka delivered to you while you laze on the couch may have to resort to convincing your friends. For now, at least.
