OdaEats
 | |
| Industry | Online food ordering and delivery |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2012 |
| Founder | Ikuta Ayumi Iikubo Masao |
| Headquarters | Okayama,  Yamatai |
Key people | Kanazawa Tomoyuki (CEO) |
OdaEats (おだイーツ) is a mobile food delivery marketplace available in 6 countries. It is mostly active in Escar, but has begun efforts to expand into Valeya and Amphia. It is headquartered in Okayama, Yamatai.
The service allows users to select from local restaurants and place orders via its mobile applications as well as its websites. The company has partnered with over 27,095 restaurants in 193 cities and works with over 15,733 delivery riders. OdaEats operates in Yamatai, Chisei, Hinomoto, Shojin, Dai Hoa, Yeongseon, and Gyunghwa.
History
OdaEats was founded in 2012 by Ikuta Ayumi and Iikubo Masao in Okayama, Yamashiro, when the two were studying at the Okayama National University. The inspiration for the service came from the pair's interactions with Oda Haruichi, the elderly proprietor of a ramen shop near their home, who was excited to deliver his food to a wider customer base but was hesitant to hire permanent delivery staff as he had no way of figuring out the demand for his ramen throughout the city. Instead, Oda carried out meagre deliveries to a few regular customers via bicycle late at night after he closed his store.
Seeing a need, the two students created a system for students to order Oda's ramen online, and for other students to collect and deliver them for a small fee paid by both Oda and the customers who bought the ramen. Eventually, the system proved popular enough that students' families also began using the website, and non-student delivery riders were hired as well.
In late 2012, OdaEats was named and founded in Oda Haruichi's honour, and operations began with partnerships with numerous food outlets throughout Okayama. By mid 2013, OdaEats had expanded its range to include nearby Kobayashi, and a smartphone application was also developed. By 2015, OdaEats had spread throughout all of Yamatai and had begun expanding to mainland Chisei.
In early 2020, OdaEats expanded into the Gyunghwan market, marking its first foray outside of the Escaric market.
Platform
OdaEats processes and sends orders directly to partner restaurants, then delivers the meals by delivery riders to the customers. The service is available via its websites and mobile applications. It connects customers with restaurants that offer food delivery in their area and lets them choose, order and pay online. Customers order food by entering their postcodes on the site and browsing for food from a list of restaurants. They can create meals by browsing restaurant menus and selecting items they want to order before entering an address and proceeding to the checkout. OdaEats sends out an SMS to confirm orders and their estimated delivery time. OdaEats also has a review section on restaurant pages, where customers can comment on sales process, delivery, taste and overall impression of restaurants.