Dive Brief:

• Postmates has partnered with AEG Presents to streamline concession orders for concertgoers, according to a press release.
• Customers can use Postmates Pickup at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival using a mobile app. The technology will allow people to skip the lines for food, beverages and merchandise and pick up their items within minutes.
• AEG Presents also will offer Postmates Pickup at Stagecoach Country Music Festival, Hangout Festival, Electric Forest, Mo Pop Festival, Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival and other upcoming events. “Our mission is to enable anyone to have anything on-demand and we’re always looking for creative, new ways to bring that mission to life,” Bastian Lehmann, co-founder and CEO at Postmates, said in a statement. 

Dive Insight:

With Postmates already having expanded its features through its partnership with The Infatuation — a digital restaurant discovery platform — the AEG Presents initiative will certainly broaden visibility for the delivery company and potentially increase its userbase. Postmates will need all the help it can get as it falls just outside of the top three in terms of delivery market share behind DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats. Along with its new Postmates Party option, other tech features and exclusive partnerships, it appears to be focused on product diversification and making itself standout in a highly competitive sector. 

Brooke Michael Kain, AEG chief digital officer, said in the release the goal of the Postmates partnership is to improve the overall experience at music festivals. To troubleshoot any long lines as a result of Postmates Pickup's involvement, there will be commissary kitchens to expedite order preparation. After orders are placed, concertgoers receive a pickup time and text message once items are ready to be retrieved from a designated Postmates Pickup location. 

While the new feature could help with brand differentiation, Thrillist claimed other Postmates projects haven't fared so well, such as its new Postmates Party feature which has led to longer wait times. Similar to the pressure delivery drivers may be under with Postmates Party, vendors and food-prep teams alike could experience added stress to the already-hectic environment of festivals and events. 

If this collaboration does succeed in an area that is untapped for delivery providers, rivalries Grubhub and DoorDash could follow suit. The companies the rapidly expanding food delivery space are jostling for position as more consumers get their food delivered to them without ever having to leave their home or office. While the AEG partnership is unlikely to move the financial needle for Postmates, it does offer the delivery company additional exposure at popular music festivals to help build up its brand.