The Evolution of Food Delivery Systems

The concept of food delivery is more popular now than it has been at any other point in history.

This is due mostly to technological advances that make the ordering and delivery of food convenient and efficient. However as much as we like to think of office lunch delivery as a modern convenience, it actually has its roots farther back then we think. The first food delivery schemes were mostly for the wealthy:

  • In the 14th century French butchers would send their wares to the homes of their wealthy clientele.
  • In 1889 King Umberto and Queen Margherita sent word to Raffaele Esposito to deliver them a pizza to their palace in Naples. (This could be the first recorded instance of someone ordering a pizza for delivery.)

Not long after in India, Mahadeo Havaji Bachche conceptualised an idea for a business that would cook and deliver hot lunches to workers in Mumbai. The service was known as ‘dabbawala’ and today there are 5,000 such businesses delivering lunches all over India. Meanwhile America was no stranger to the ease of delivery services as goods like milk and ice were delivered using horse and carts.

The earliest recording of a food delivery system – like the ones we know today – being offered in the United States, is in 1922. Kin-Chu Cafe, a Chinese Restaurant located in Los Angeles, offered its customers the option to call the restaurant and have their meals delivered to their doors as late as 1 a.m. Their tag line? “the only place on the West Coast making and delivering real Chinese food.”

During WWII food delivery took another step forward when the UK government set up a food delivery system for families that lost their homes as a way to boost morale in the worn torn country.

With the end of WWII came the advent of T.Vs and increased accessibility to cars, both of which played important roles in the development of food delivery systems. Persons now spent leisure time at home watching T.V, which prompted restaurants, who were experiencing declining profits, to start marketing take-out schemes on television. However it isn’t until a few years after 1944 that we see the reemergence of a food delivery system similar to what we know today. Once again this delivery system was found in Los Angeles, where a pizza joint called Casa D’Amore began offering free delivery on orders that exceed $2.50.

From there keto meal delivery evolved as technology developed and with the growth of the Internet, ordering food online began to gain more and more popularity resulting in the robust food delivery systems we have today.

Now delivery is evolving once more, moving from the delivery of fast food items such as pizza and Chinese to the delivery of your favourite meals from your favourite restaurants or even providing you your coffee from outlets like starbucks singapore. Companies like Sarefood in St. Louis are taking it a step further by offering consumers the opportunity to order meals directly from chefs and have it delivered straight to their doors. Gluten free meal delivery could be a lifesaver to those whose health is reliant on these dietary restrictions. These consumers, possibly for the first time, can now get to experience ordering food from home, because of the option of  keto meal delivery which Sarefood offers. .

Food like any other industry has evolved to the beat of technology, and the way we distribute it has also changed over time including the development of an online food ordering system. As technology reaches new heights, it will be interesting to see what food distribution evolves into in the years to come.