Uber has filed a lawsuit against rival DoorDash, accusing the company of anti-competitive tactics. The complaint, submitted to the Superior Court of California, claims DoorDash’s business practices unfairly disadvantage competitors and harm restaurant partners by limiting their ability to work with multiple delivery platforms.
At the heart of the lawsuit, Uber accuses DoorDash – the leading US food delivery service – of pressuring restaurants into exclusive or near-exclusive agreements for first-party delivery services. These services involve fulfilling orders placed directly through the restaurants’ websites and apps.
Uber claims DoorDash’s alleged tactics include threatening restaurants with substantial financial penalties or reducing their visibility on the platform if they choose to partner with competing services. According to Uber, several customers have likened the pressure to having a “gun to their head” and referred to DoorDash as a “monopolist.”
The lawsuit highlights an example involving an unnamed “significant restaurant company” that reportedly withdrew from a planned Uber Direct rollout across several brands. Uber asserts that the restaurant made this decision after DoorDash allegedly threatened to raise rates for its third-party delivery services if Uber Direct continued to be used.
Sarfraz Maredia, Uber’s head of delivery for the Americas, added that the company has increasingly received complaints from restaurants. According to Maredia, these restaurants claim that DoorDash’s tactics are restricting their freedom and punishing them for seeking better alternatives. DoorDash, however, has strongly refuted these allegations. A company spokesperson dismissed Uber’s claims as “unfounded” and attributed them to Uber’s “inability to offer merchants, consumers, or couriers a quality alternative.”
This legal battle underscores the intense competition in the food delivery market, particularly within the white-label delivery services sector. Both Uber and DoorDash launched such services in 2020. Both allow restaurants to manage orders through their own platforms, while the delivery companies handle the logistics behind the scenes.
Credit: TechSport