Hello, I am Botao Li, and who I am is not important. The thing that I want to do is more important. Everyone knows food delivery platforms such as UberEat, Doordash, and there are countless companies like them. They are convenient but they are also expensive.
I was thinking about is there any value for those companies sitting there and making money from us: restaurants, customers, and the delivery guy. This question should be addressed. I will discuss it with you guys and share my new idea: A Decentralized Food Delivery Platform.
First, we need to understand the old workflow.
- The customer orders food and the restaurant starts to prepare.
- After finish the food, the restaurant will let the delivery guy pick it up.
- The delivery guy goes to the restaurant and picks it up.
- The delivery guy delivers it to the customer.
What do centralized delivery platforms do during the whole process? Nothing except providing servers. Of course, there are other services they provided such as claim missing food or customer services. But those “benefits” are not essential.
Let’s look at how those apps charge us.
- The app will charge 25% to 30% of the orders from the restaurants. To make it profitable, restaurants must increase their price in those apps. Take Panda Express as an example, a two-entree plate will cost you $7.99. But the same food will cost you $9.55 in the app. So that the restaurants can have the same profits as dining in.
- The app will charge delivery fees, services fees from each order, roughly 15% to 30% from the orders. There is someone who talked about this for the detail if you are interested. Why Uber Eats Is A Necessary Evil
- The delivery fee, which is supposed to fully give to the delivery guy, will be taken some for a portion by the app.
This is ridiculous! I am not an expert in this domain so maybe there is something that I misleading. But I will try to explain my idea as much as possible.
Let’s now look at how smart contact can help us.
- The customer places an order through a smart contract with an equal amount of money token plus tips for the delivery guy.
- The restaurant will receive the order and start to prepare the food.
- When finished, the restaurant will let the delivery guy know.
- The first person who responds to the order has the right to the restaurant to pick the order. Before leaving, the delivery guy has to confirm the order and he has to scan a QR code from the restaurant.
- The delivery guy gives the order to the customer face to face.
- A. If the customer confirms the food, the delivery guy will show a confirmation QR code and let the customer scan.
B. If the customer refuses the food because of missing food, the delivery guy will show a refuse QR code and let the customer scan.
Q&A:
Q: Why we need a QR code?
A: The QR code is a one-way confirmation. After the confirmation, the blockchain will record the transactions detail.
Q: Who can be the delivery guy?
A: Anyone! There is no requirement for your work authorizations.
Q: How to evaluate the delivery guy?
A: See the wallet transactions.
Q: What if the restaurant misses the food when the delivery guy picks it up?
A: The delivery guy has to make sure the food order is complete before scanning the QR code.
Q: What if the delivery guy stole or lose some parts of the orders?
A: The customer has the right to refuse so that the customer will use the refuse button to scan the QR code from the delivery guy.
Q: What if the customer takes the food and the delivery guy refuses to be scanned the QR code?
A: The delivery guy has to let the customer scan him, otherwise he will be charged, and the customer will get a refund by the smart contract.
Q: What if the food order is complete and the customer refuses the order and scans a refusing QR code?
A: The delivery guy can give the order back to the restaurant. The restaurant will check the completeness of the order. If it is complete, the restaurant will scan a QR code from the delivery guy to prove the order is complete. As a result, the customer will still be charged.
Q: Where can we use the token?
A: First everyone in the system has to admit the tokens. The smart contract will give additional tokens to the delivery guy, and the customer can give the token as the speed-up tips. The more speed-up tips give, the faster your order will be processed. The restaurants are also receiving the tokens.
There are other questions that I may not found it out. And yes, I need people to help me. I wish we can create a such decentralized platform to beat those companies.
I am willing to hear any suggestions or advice from you. I am also happy to discuss this with people who are interested in this idea.
This is my first time writing the story. Let me know if I was wrong about something.
Thank you so much!