Several years ago if you wanted to order some food for delivery you weren't left with many options other than maybe several pizza choices, perhaps some Chinese restaurants, and not much else; depending on where you're from.

But now, thanks to third-party delivery companies like Uber Eats, Skip The Dishes, DoorDash, Grubhub, Deliveroo, and many others, it's helping to broaden the food space, increasing the choices.

As people grow more aware of these third-party options that might mean that they're turning toward the less traditional options like pizza that have always been there. Some have suggested that the biggest pizza companies are under attack as a result and that these third-party services could eventually have a greater impact on those pizza businesses in the years to come.

Pizza companies like Pizza Hut and others have tried to update their own delivery functions and compete by offering new products like alcohol with their pizza deliveries. The alcohol delivery happens to be a service which some of those third-party delivery companies are already offering, picking up alcohol orders from liquor stores and other venues to deliver. Is it enough to help Pizza Hut and the rest keep pace though?

For the restaurants that don't want to invest a great deal into establishing their own delivery system etc, it's a lot easier for them to go with these alternative options. But are they worth it? Some restaurants have complained about the portion that the third-party company takes from the food exchange and that in some cases it might even cost them money because the margins are too slim. Some restaurant owners have also alleged that they sometimes don't get reimbursed for canceled orders. To try and make that profit, you'll likely see items that have a different price on the menu on the app than they do in the store, or there will be delivery fees added on to compensate etc.

If the service isn't working for them though, you'd expect to see many stores cutting ties with the service, but we see the opposite and that a growing number continue to sign up.

The success that they see with the third-party delivery, which they otherwise might not have considered beforehand, could also give them the information and experience that they need to later create their own delivery infrastructure for the business as well.

Some restaurants are dedicated to saying no to the third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats and others.

Jimmy Johns for example released a national ad insisting that they would never resort to using such delivery companies, they already have their own drivers that will deliver the product and they have insisted that they don't trust anyone else to deliver the sandwiches.

Solving the growing need for time and convenience...

These third-party delivery services are offering companies a new way to grow, helping to drive sales growth on the app with online orders,offering a benefit for many well-known and much smaller food locations.

We can never get more time in our lives, and anything that can help us to save some for ourselves is going to provide us value. Many people today also want convenience, they want things increasingly brought right to their doorstep, and these services help to broaden the options of what's possible to have delivered. In the coming years it's expected that this trend will only continue to grow, with a much larger portion of restaurant sales inevitably going toward online delivery.

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