Coming off news that it was about to score another $1 billion in funding, the super-hot ride-sharing behemoth Uber has come up with a way to do business in Spain even if Spain doesn t want it doing business there.
Buoyed by a war chest now estimated at $2.8 billion, Uber has started delivering prepared meals in the country as a way to get around a court order last year that forced the company s drivers from shuttling humans around.
If you can t chaffeur them, feed them.
The Wall Street Journal says Uber was applying lessons learned from its food-delivery operations back in the States:
Uber on Thursday said it opened a type of food delivery service in Barcelona, similar to one it offers in California. Drivers cars are stocked up with prepared meals, which are sold for about â ¬10 plus a â ¬2.50 delivery fee ($14).
The food service is one way for Uber to maintain a presence in Spain, after a judge in December . The five-year-old company has been trying to put out flames in various cities as it aggressively expands internationally, fueled by more than and bond holders.
While he would not say how many drivers the company has deployed in Spain, Uber spokesman Ben Novick did say that customers would get their meals delivered in ten minutes:
This is the first thing we ve launched that allows us to get back up and running in Barcelona.
The service in Barcelona is called UberEats, though it is called UberFresh in Los Angeles and Beverly Hills.
Uber stopped operating its car-hailing service in Spain in late December, after a court ordered the service to shut down and ordered to Uber.com, including connections through Uber s app.
Meanwhile, as the food-drivers continue to roll, so does the money from Uber-crazy investors:
Investors have valued Uber at $41 billion, in part based on their belief that Uber can company. In addition to food delivery services, Uber has also experimented with bike messengers in New York City and in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Nytimes.com
