Walmart wants a bite of DoorDash and Uber Eats

Walmart wants a bite of DoorDash and Uber Eats Walmart plans to offer delivery from most of the 10,000 Dunkin' locations in the US. Joe Raedle/Getty Images Walmart wants to use its legion of delivery workers to take a bite out of DoorDash and Uber Eats.The big-box chain struck a food-delivery partnership with Inspire Brands-owned Dunkin' that will start with 150 locations in Walmart stores and expand to most of the 10,000 Dunkin' locations across the US, Walmart said on Thursday.Walmart is moving onto turf long dominated by DoorDash and Uber Eats, both of which already work with Dunkin'.The retail giant's push into restaurant delivery marks a significant evolution of its business model: Rather than simply using its vast store network and Spark drivers to deliver its own merchandise, the company is positioning itself as a broader local-commerce platform."By expanding restaurant delivery beyond our stores, we are offering a value and convenience proposition that is unmatched," said Greg Cathey, Walmart's senior vice president, e-commerce fulfillment transformation, in a press release.On Thursday, it described itself as "a rapidly emerging contender in the restaurant delivery business."Walmart will face stiff competition from established services with built-in brand recognition and operational experience. Those delivery players, meanwhile, are trying to expand their reach and improve efficiency.Uber's proposed $14.8 billion acquisition of Delivery Hero would expand the company's international reach, from Latin America to Asia. And DoorDash is making deliveries using self-driving robots — sometimes with a little help from humans.The Dunkin' partnership will allow customers to order a coffee or donut through Walmart's app or website "alongside their paper towels, milk and household essentials," Cathey said. Walmart started testing food deliveries from restaurants located within its stores earlier this year, Business Insider reported in May.In June, the retailer confirmed its entry into restaurant delivery with a Subway partnership. The sandwich chain operates about 1,400 locations within Walmart stores.The Arkansas-based chain has stores within 10 miles of 90% of the US population, it said on Thursday. Many of those stores are also close to dozens of restaurants, positioning the retailer to bundle orders from those establishments with items that customers want delivered from Walmart.Since 2018, Walmart has also grown its Spark delivery service, which relies on hundreds of thousands of independent contractors to deliver orders from its stores. Spark and its gig workers have increased Walmart's delivery speeds as more retailers, including Amazon and Target, deliver orders in as little as a few hours.Have a tip about Walmart or Spark? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely. Read next Alex Bitter is a senior retail reporter covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His work focuses major gig delivery and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is interested in everything from what it's like to work on the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his recent stories feature gig workers who have been deactivated on the apps, DoorDash hiring traditional employees to make deliveries, gig workers' use of bots, and gig work expanding into new professions, such as nursing.Alex has also written about Aldi's US expansion, Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's budget cutting. Convenience store chain Sheetz ended its "smile policy" after his reporting.Before joining Insider in September 2020, he wrote about consumer and retail companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and grew up on the Big Island.Alex lives in the Washington, DC, area, where you can find him studying ancient coins or searching for Civil War artifacts with his metal detector in his free time.Got a tip? Reach out at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (808) 854-4501. Walmart Delivery Restaurants More Fast Food E-Commerce