Ride Enters Food Delivery Market, Sets Minimum Fee at 200 Birr

Ride, one of Ethiopia’s leading ride-hailing platforms, is poised to launch a new food delivery service, broadening its scope of offerings to customers.

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The company has announced that it has partnered with over 1,000 restaurants in Addis Ababa and is preparing to initially deploy 4,000 drivers, representing around 10% of its fleet, for this new venture.

The food delivery service, set to begin next week, will see drivers only picking up food within a 2 km radius of their location. In addition, Ride will not be charging commissions from drivers.

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Nevertheless, as reported by RIDE Driver Updates, a Telegram channel used by Ride to disseminate official information to drivers, the service includes a minimum fee for customers, which is capped at 200 birr for short distances. The tariffs beyond this minimum rate have not been disclosed to the public yet.

Shega was not able to reach RIDE for comment but was able to confirm the minimum service fee set by Ride.

The ride-hailing platform also envisions an end-to-end digital flow for its food delivery service, with drivers only being able to receive and transfer payments via Telebirr. The company is currently in the process of selecting drivers for the food delivery service and it has stated that the chosen drivers will undergo online training before commencing work.

The food delivery market in Addis Ababa is predominantly occupied by motorcycle and bicycle-based delivery platforms. Most of these startups charge a flag-down fee as well as a distance-based charge.

Ride’s minimum fee is considerably higher than the average food delivery price in the capital, which ranges from 50 to 100 birr, as per a 2020 report by Cepheus Capital.

Ride, which expanded its operations to Djibouti last year, is also venturing into the gig marketplace. Currently, users can hire a technician through Ride for 500 birr per hour.