A detail of an Uber Eats food delivery container is seen in London in September 2016. (Image via Reuters)

Grannies in Running Shoes: Uber is Recruiting Elderly to Deliver Food in Japan

Kinanty Nadia Putri
Business & Industry
Retail & Food Services
Jul 05, 2019
2531
Japan is always known for its uniqueness. For now, the country strikes again as the Japanese seniors are now able to make end meets while also exercising for their health.

As one of the nations with a huge number of the aging population, Uber Technologies perceives this demographic phenomenon as a source to expand its business in Japan—where ride-sharing is banned. To utilize this senior supply as well as to find an alternative strategy to the regulations, Uber is recruiting seniors into its food delivery service, known as Uber Eats, where they prefer to deliver ramen noodles on foot in running shoes.

Met in Japan this week, the chief executive officer of Uber Dara Khosrowshahi said that as the food delivery business is growing in Japan, Uber has become a huge success in the country even though the growth is still far behind its home country the United States. He also added that many seniors have been signing up for the courier job and they could also be a very effective way to introduce Uber brand in the country.

At present, 15,000 couriers have delivered for more than 10,000 restaurants but only reached 15% of the total population in Japan.
To support its Eats business, Uber also plans to increase full-time staffing levels in the country by at least 30% next year—not only the grannies and grandpas in running shoes, but also other job functions such as sales, operations, and account management.

According to a company securities equities manager Iwai Cosmo, Uber’s cool and cutting-edge image can easily attract younger users to switch into its Eats service, making other food-delivery firms like Ride on Express Holdings Co. and Yume No Machi Souzou Iinkai Co. slid more than 3% in Tokyo.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-04/uber-is-recruiting-grannies-to-deliver-ramen-in-japan

Uber , UberEats , Japan , Business , AgingPopulation , Sci-tech , FoodService