First
In 1994, the Internet was a very different place. Internet Explorer, the browser that would come to dominate world’s desktop computers for the following ten years, had just launched. Internet connections were slow and expensive. About 62,000 websites were available to the few tens of millions of desktop users surfing the web.
In this primordial soup, you could already find seeds of what would have eventually evolved into our digital economy. A few pioneers, making early attempts to leverage the potential of the Internet technology to offer a new level of convenience and build their business online. Just like Amazon, which started operating his website and sold its first book in July 1995.
Food deliveries were part of these very early Internet ventures. “In a revolutionary spin on business use of the Information Superhighway, The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (SCO) and Pizza Hut, Inc. today announced ‘PizzaNet,’ a pilot program that enables computer users, for the first time, to electronically order pizza delivery from their local Pizza Hut restaurant via the worldwide Internet.” In 1994, PizzaNet allowed customers to input name, address and phone number, as well as their choice of pizza and drinks. Restaurants would still verify each order by calling the customer. Payments would still happen at delivery. This first-of-its-kind service was in fact fascinatingly useless.
The first online food delivery platform, World Wide Waiter, launched in 1995. Craig Cohen and Michael Adelberg had graduated from MIT and Stanford together. Frustrated by the inability to fax their orders to a local joint, they decided to propose to restaurants in Silicon Valley the idea of taking orders through their Internet website. “Working up the software was difficult, but the idea is Simon simple. Punch in the address on the Internet (http: / / www.waiter.com), and you get a menu of restaurants, broken down by types of cuisine, everything from pizza to Thai”, wrote the SFGate back them. The system was still quite intricate. “The computer double checks the order with the customer, then sends the information to the restaurant in seconds by fax.”, reported Palo Alto online. Restaurants paid a commission on each order coming through their website.
“There’s going to be a day when this will be a big part of the restaurant takeout business,” said Adelberg to the NY Times, “We want to make sure we’re there then.” Waiter.com did survive and overcame the Dot-com bubble. But it operates still just in the Bay area, short of their big dream. Today is a very different world for food deliveries. The Internet reaches the majority of world’s population and is available in our everyday life through our phones. Paying and ordering online is normal and seamless. Online food deliveries have become a $100 Billion industry worldwide, and still growing 20% every year.
