In the age of coronavirus, I have certainly gotten to know my food delivery apps well. Admittedly, there are many perks to trying a new food delivery app every week, as they usually give you a discount for your first order. So, naturally, the broke college student in me has tried each one available in Madison three times each with different emails. Whether you have more money than me and just want to know which one is the best right off the bat or only have one trusty email address, I can help.
Let’s start with EatStreet. EatStreet makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside because it was founded right here in Madison. It’s also a cute green color which I like. Through EatStreet you can order delivery or takeout, whichever suits your fancy. I usually go for the takeout option when the food I want is a block away, and I feel awkward making someone deliver that to me. But to each their own.
The delivery fees and minimum order amount vary depending on the restaurant. Delivery fees range from free to $2.99 [and above], and there’s usually a minimum order amount of $10 for smaller local restaurants. At least in Madison, there are over 500 restaurant options. I’ve always had a good experience with EatStreet, and they claim to be the “smartest shortcut from hungry to happy,” which is fun.
Next up is UberEats. It’s set up a lot like the Uber app, so if you know how to use that, then UberEats is a cakewalk! UberEats has pretty comparable fees to EatStreet, but there’s no minimum order amount. Instead, there is a 15% service fee off of your order’s subtotal.
UberEats is kind of fun, because just like regular Uber, you can watch your driver’s little car come right to you on the in-app map. If you don’t care to do that, UberEats has a pickup option as well. UberEats is unique in that you can search restaurants by price range, food type and diet, such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free or halal.
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We also have Grubhub. Grubhub offers food delivery from over 200 restaurants in the Madison area, and they even do catering! Grubhub can be a really good deal because they send frequent “perk” alerts every few days with coupons for $7 to $10 off certain restaurants.
Grubhub also has a pickup option, so if you have a perk and aren’t getting delivery, you can save some serious money. Again, delivery fees and minimum order amounts vary.
Chowbus is a new delivery app specifically for Asian cuisine. It offers hand-picked local restaurants and even offers real food pictures in their photo menus to ensure users know exactly what high-quality Asian food they are receiving. The app also has an interesting feature that allows users to order food from multiple different restaurants, all for a single delivery fee.
The last unique feature Chowbus offers is a weekday $1 lunch shuttle special that allows users to save money by picking up their lunch from a “shuttle stop.” In the Madison area, Chowbus offers food from nearly 20 restaurants.
Last but not least, there’s the late-night favorite — GoPuff. GoPuff delivers everything from snacks to cleaning supplies to Tylenol. They have thousands of items available, and in my experience, delivery is pretty fast and available 24/7.
The delivery fee is always a flat rate of $1.95, with a minimum order amount of $10. GoPuff frequently has different special bundle offers and deals. Though GoPuff doesn’t deliver food from restaurants, I think it deserves to be included in the conversation.
Now that you have the rundown, you can make an informed decision on which app to use next time you’re hungry! They are all pretty comparable, so the best one really depends on what you’re looking for.
Every app offers contact-free delivery, and most also offer subscription services. For a fee each month (typically $10 to $20) you can get free delivery on your orders. So, depending on how often you order food from the same app, this could save you some moola. See for yourself what each app has to bring to the table.
