Dive Brief:

• eatsa, a restaurant technology platform that includes mobile ordering, labor management, operations tools and more, has added a new suite of products aimed specifically at virtual restaurants and delivery-only concepts, according to a company press release. Deliveroo is the first third-party aggregate to use this new automated platform, which now powers its Food Market site in Singapore.   
• Customers place an order at a self-serve kiosk, check the status board and collect their food from a designated digital cubbie for dine-in or carry out. 
• Deliveroo also announced a partnership with Yumpingo, a restaurant intelligence platform, for its new Yumpingo Go solution aimed at collecting guest sentiment and actionable insights for independent restaurants. 

Dive Insight:

These two partnerships show that Deliveroo is looking to differentiate its model well beyond just delivery, a savvy move as competition in the third-party aggregate space continues to intensify. Last month, for example, Postmates filed for an IPO, joining Grubhub and Waitr as public U.S. companies. Meanwhile, DoorDash, which doubled its market share over last year, surpassed Grubhub to become the largest food delivery company in the U.S. 

The race isn't any less intense overseas, with Deliveroo's biggest footprint in the U.K. alongside Just Eat.

Deliveroo's new product suite for the virtual restaurant industry is likely an attempt to future-proof the company from potential market share erosion or consolidation and sets the company up for continued global expansion with the help of San Francisco-based eatsa's worldwide footprint. Deliveroo's Singapore site is its third "Editions" site — or delivery-only site — and its biggest, so initial deployment here will provide relevant learnings for any further growth. 

It will also allow Deliveroo to be on the forefront of the nascent virtual restaurant space. These restaurants, facilitated by the staggering growth in delivery, are expected to continue expanding as operators gravitate toward their lower costs and as more consumers crave a convenient, frictionless experience. With its eatsa partnership, Deliveroo is able to leverage the global growth trajectory of virtual kitchens and perhaps better compete with Uber Eats, which is aggressively expanding its virtual restaurant footprint. 

Further, by partnering with Yumpingo, Deliveroo puts itself into a position to win favor from more restaurants in its flagship U.K. market and therefore gain more market share opportunities. Yumpingo provides customer insights specifically for smaller restaurants, capturing real-time customer feedback and perhaps offering a major advantage in the effort to improve guest experiences as players in a crowded market fight for guest counts. 

Deliveroo isn't alone in adding tech partners to diversify its offerings as the third-party segment evolves. Last year, Grubhub acquired payments and loyalty company LevelUp, and Uber Eats launched a new self-sign-up process for restaurants.