Facebook Launches Food Delivery Feature

Image: Facebook

Facebook has a finger in almost everything these days. There’s that infamous "Trending" sidebar. And then there's "Watch"—a player for original video content, and Facebook’s answer to Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. Now, Facebook is getting into the food delivery game, though not in the way you might be thinking.

In a press release on Friday, Facebook announced that it was launching a new “Order Food” feature that allows hungry users to order food directly from its app and website. Facebook has not, however, created its own delivery service. Instead it acts as a facilitator, having partnered with existing services like Delivery.com, DoorDash and Olo, as well as restaurants with their own ordering platforms like Chipotle, Five Guys and Panera.

The process goes something like this: once you’ve browsed a restaurant’s Facebook page and decided that you’d like to eat there, you simply click “Start Order” in the sidebar. If the restaurant uses more than one delivery service, you will be offered the option to choose between them. Once you choose, Facebook opens the restaurant’s menu page where you can place your order and be done with it—all without leaving the app. Your order can be delivered to your door or picked up.

The new feature is just an attempt to simplify the user’s experience, according to VP of Local at Facebook Alex Himel.

“People already go to Facebook to figure out what to eat by reading about nearby restaurants, and seeing what their friends say about them,” he said in the statement. “So, we’re making it even easier.”

Positives for the social media site? According to Eater, Facebook will save “the minimum amount of data” from users’ orders, so that the site can offer suggestions in the future. Of course, it also means that users will stay on the site and consume more content.

So eat your burger and catch a few episodes of GK NOW on Facebook. You can check out any time you like, but you don’t ever have to leave.

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