We order takeaway meals from Uber Eats, Menulog, Deliveroo, EatNow and Oz Food Hunter to assess the quality of the apps, and work out which app has the biggest range of options.
Each food delivery service receives a CHOICE Expert Rating made up of:
- ease of use (50%)
- food options (25%)
- special dietary requirements (15%)
- order tracking (10%).
Ease of use
We assess how difficult it is to set up an account, browse for a meal and place an order. This includes:
- installing and initialising the app, including setting up an account and payment method
- user interface, looking at how the app organises search results and allows you to filter, which we do by assessing the number of cuisine filters (including special dietary requirements), their accuracy, and any other search options such as price range and user ratings
- restaurant information
- meal information, including how easy it is to browse the list of dishes from a food outlet, and information provided about the dishes (including photos)
- how you order the meal.
Order tracking
We ordered the same meal from a restaurant that offers ordering and delivery through every app in our review. We do this to assess information, features and functions that the app provides after you order a meal, such as:
- cooking updates, including ETA
- delivery updates, including ETA
- whether the service uses its own drivers/riders, or a driver/rider supplied by the food outlet
- what sort of driver/rider information is available
- whether or not you can cancel the order in-app.
We don't assess food quality or driver/rider delivery time due to the number of variables involved, many of which exist outside the food delivery service's control. This would ultimately be an assessment of the food outlet and delivery drivers, which is not in our review.
Food options
We assess the number of options available in each app, by entering a delivery address in Marrickville, Sydney, as it's known for its broad variety of cuisine options. We also conduct the same search in Cairns, as this is one of a handful of regional cities where every service in our review operates.
More food outlets within the service's search proximity equals a higher score.
We search for meals across a broad range of cuisines:
- City (Marrickville): Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese, burgers, pizza, fast food, Italian, American, breakfast, Indian, sandwich, seafood.
- Regional centre (Cairns): burgers, pizza, seafood, Asian, fast food.
The locations are selected based on population density, a broad range of food options, and locations where all services are in operation.
Our test was conducted on 16 April 2019 in the early evening, when food outlets were likely to be open for dinner.
The specific number of outlets available on each app fluctuates constantly, depending on location, partnerships with the app, changing hours, unexpected closures and more. Broad results are consistent, however, so our results can be used as a general guide to which services have the most (or least) options.
Special dietary requirements
This is assessed using the same method as the food options score, within Sydney. We select criteria based on common and available health, social and religious-based dietary requirements. These are: vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher and gluten free.
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Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
