In the age of social media and technology, food is not just an essential need! It has become a source of nourishment that everyone wants to share. Chefs seek appreciation and very few restaurants and digital platforms let them show their true skills.
Very few digital platforms are providing unique cuisines prepared by top-skilled chefs across the globe. Foodies find it tough to discover such platforms and that’s why we have created this post. It unveils the best place to find delicious meals prepared by following some creative recipes.
Goldbelly is that platform promoting local cuisines prepared by the most creative chefs. This platform is offering the freedom to serve unique dishes while ensuring customers are satisfied with food quality.
It was the first online food ordering platform to follow that unique business model and now it has many competitors!
What is Goldbelly?
Goldbelly is an online marketplace promoting artisanal and regional foods prepared by local businesses and chefs located across the USA. This digital platform picks products from bakeries, restaurants, delis, and other small businesses.
It features those foods on its popular web portals and ships the sold items across the country.
Joe Ariel established Goldbelly in 2013. The company had a 4-person team at that time and it was operating from a townhouse in Noe Valley, San Francisco.
The technology startup accelerator Y Combinator accepted this platform. The same year Time magazine recognized Goldbelly as one of the top 50 websites of 2013.
Fundings and Growth
The company received a seed funding of $3 million and started growing. This company’s headquarters moved to New York City in 2017, it raised more investment and grew as a large tech company.
Today, Goldbelly is collaborating with numerous businesses in the USA to deliver delicious food items. It got innovative products that you won’t find on other platforms. Therefore, it’s a unique platform to buy food and gifts for your family and friends, and other important people.
This company has raised $133.1 Million in funding to improve its platform and services. It is making approximately $22.6 million per year and it is still growing.
Its revenue and profits can grow significantly because the pandemic is over and gourmet clients are looking for some unique recipes!
Goldbelly Competitors
Goldbelly delivers creatively crafted products to its customers. That’s what makes it different from a regular online food delivery platform. It is competing against many companies that give top priority to creativity and service qualities.
The top Goldbelly competitors include the following companies:
1. Home Chef
Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois, United States
Founder(s): Patrick Vihtelic
Year Founded: 2013
This Chicago-based company delivers food and meal kits to customers’ doorsteps. Buyers receive pre-portioned ingredients along with unique recipes every week. This company has numerous subscribers and it delivers more than 3 million meals per month.
Kroger acquire this firm in 2018 for $200 million. Home Chef’s meal kits are being stocked at Kroger stores since that acquisition. Although the ownership has changed, it did not affect the company’s service quality.
It has distribution centers located across Georgia, Chicago, Lithonia, and Los Angeles. It delivers meal kits to subscribers across 48 states in the USA.
This company uses recyclable packaging materials and delivers ingredients with comprehensive cooking instructions.
Buyers do not receive prepared meals and that’s what makes Home Chef different from Goldbelly. This company allows subscribers to develop cooking skills while following recipes. It has made $500 million in 2021!
Therefore, it is one of the most profitable online food delivery companies in the USA.
Also Read: LensCrafters Competitors and Alternatives
2. Harry and David
Headquarters: Medford, Oregon, United States
Founder(s): Samuel Rosenberg
Year Founded: 1910
Harry and David are one of the USA’s oldest premium food suppliers. This company produces foods, gifts, and sells them online and through its retail stores. Its popular brands include Stock Yard’s, Harry & David, Cushman’s, and Wolferman’s.
Samuel Rosenberg founded this company as Bear Creek Orchards in 1910. It was a premium fruit supplier at that time. This company’s name was changed to Harry and David when it was incorporated in 1946.
This company is Goldbelly’s major competitor because it delivers fresh and delicious foods. Buyers rely on this firm for food gift baskets, fresh fruits, chocolates, desserts, wine, flowers and plants, and other items.
Each Harry & David brand delivers a different kind of food package and they all are doing pretty well in the American market. This company employs over 8,000 people and it makes over $230 million annually!
3. Sunbasket
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Founder(s): Justine Kelly, Adam Zbar
Year Founded: 2014
Sunbasket is one of the leading subscription-based meal delivery companies in the USA. This firm allows platform users to pick meals from a vast menu. It delivers all the ingredients and recipes in recyclable packages so that buyers can cook the recipe at home.
This company does not ship pre-cooked items, but many Americans choose this platform for the unique recipes it offers. It mainly attracts customers who follow a strict dietary regimen.
It provides gluten-free, paleo, vegan, keto, and other such diet foods. It ships only USDA-certified organic ingredients sourced from Californian farmers.
Justine Kelly started this company in 2014 along with Adam Zbar, George Nachtrieb, and Tyler MacNiven. Sunbasket was serving clients from limited regions during its initial days. Customers liked the food quality and support this platform was offering.
Therefore, it grew rapidly and gained many subscribers. This firm has gained over $592 million and it is adding many new recipes to attract more customers.
4. DoorDash
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Founder(s): Tony Xu, Andy Fang, Stanley Tang, Evan Moore
Year Founded: 2013
DoorDash is one of the USA’s leading online food ordering platforms used by millions of users. This platform provides all the popular restaurants located near customers’ homes.
Users can pick the food or restaurants they like, pick items, and then place the order. Some people have criticized this platform for not maintaining tip transparency.
Users have also criticized it for holding service providers’ tips. That criticism did not stop this platform from attracting more customers. It has expanded to Japan, Australia, Canada, and Germany.
It covers 56% of the entire US market and thus operates as the most popular food delivery platform. People choose DoorDash because this platform offers rapid delivery of food.
It has collaborated with more than 450,000 merchants in the country. It has over 20 million customers and over 1 million delivery partners.
This company went public in 2020 and it earned above $4.88 billion in 2021. Thus, it has become one of the most profit-making online food ordering platforms in the USA.
5. Chow Now
Headquarters: Los Angeles, California, United States
Founder(s): Christopher Webb and Eric Jaffe
Year Founded: 2011
It is a Los Angeles-based food ordering platform that promotes local restaurants. This platform offers an online food ordering facility and delivers food to the customer’s doorsteps.
Eric Jaffe and Christopher Webb founded this company in 2011. It became popular among merchants because it allows independent restaurants to promote their brands.
Restaurant owners get the technical support to receive orders and deliver those orders in time. It operates across the United States of America and this company has partnered with thousands of restaurants in 50 states.
Restaurants get the freedom to customize their brand details on the smartphone app. Users feel like they got a dedicated app to endorse their products.
This company met the milestone of 100 million orders in 2020 and it currently entertains more than 20,000 active customers.
This firm is making over $100 million annually while promoting small restaurant businesses across the country.
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6. Gopuff
Headquarters: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Founder(s): Yakir Gola, Rafael Ilishayev
Year Founded: 2013
Gopuff is a one-stop destination for buying all the required household items. It offers quick meals, groceries, home essentials, pet food, and many other items. This company has established over 500 microfulfillment centers.
It currently serves customers across 650 cities in the USA. It was valued as a $15 billion company in 2021 and it is now expanding in the USA and the UK.
Gopuff operates more like an online convenience store than a food delivery platform. However, it provides quick meals, snacks, drinks, and other such items to please its gourmet clients. It also delivers wine, beer, spirits, and other alcoholic beverages in certain cities.
goBeer is a separate platform launched by Gopuff to help customers order beer online. Its alcohol delivery and food delivery platforms are growing rapidly. It has many warehouses where all the promoted items are stocked for quick delivery.
Over 10,000 professionals work for Gopuff and help this platform become the largest online convenience store in the USA. This platform’s revenue has significantly increased during the pandemic. It made $200 million in 2019, $340 million in 2020, and $1 billion in 2021.
Therefore, many experts consider Gopuff a major competitor to various e-commerce platforms, including Goldbelly!
7. Imperfect Foods
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Founder(s): Benjamin Chesler, Ben Simon, Ron Clark
Year Founded: 2015
This online platform delivers groceries to people’s doorsteps that help them reduce food waste. Imperfect Foods delivers cost-effective and sustainably sourced groceries to clients’ locations.
It is a subscription-based food delivery platform that became popular among buyers, who want to reduce their environmental footprints.This platform is on a mission to save 35% of food that goes to waste every year.
It got the support of thousands of homeowners in the USA to save over 145 million pounds of food! This platform uses 100% recyclable boxes for grocery delivery.
Besides, it encourages buyers to promote this platform so that it can ship multiple orders to the same location.
While other online grocery delivery platforms are focused on increasing profit, Imperfect Foods focuses on reducing CO2 emissions. It is a great initiative and this platform has received a huge response from buyers in the USA.
8. Daily Harvest
Headquarters: New York, United States
Founder(s): Rachel Drori
Year Founded: 2015
Supplying sustainably sourced fruits, veggies, smoothies, and other foods, Daily Harvest is a subscription-based online food ordering platform.
Just like Goldbelly, this platform offers harvest bowls, soups, chia bowls, flatbreads, bakery items, and other foods. It helps local chefs reach thousands of clients seeking top-quality meals.
Rachel Drori founded this platform in 2015 to deliver fresh and health-promoting meals across the country. That was just the initial purpose. Now, this platform aims to encourage people to consume more fruits and vegetables every day.
It operates for customers’ well-being while reducing the damage done to our environment. This company has adopted greener solutions to operate in a sustainable way.
Therefore, it got many loyal customers who order fresh meals, groceries, and organic supplies weekly. This platform has received $120 million in funding and now it makes over $235 million annually!
9. Uber Eats
Headquarters: San Francisco, California, United States
Founder(s): Travis Kalanick, Garrett Camp
Year Founded: 2014
Uber is a globally operating ridesharing company that got millions of active users. It entered the online food delivery business in 2014 as Uber Eats. Today, this online food ordering platform is competing with the best companies in the world.
Unlike Goldbelly, Uber Eats deals directly with restaurants. This platform lists all the small and large restaurants in the region to provide foodies with more good options. This company provides its services in more than 6,000 cities across 45 countries.
This platform promises to deliver the food within 30 minutes. That’s not always possible and therefore it recently started stating estimated arrival time instead of fast delivery. This company is generating huge profits for the Uber company.
It has made over $4 billion in 2020 and a whopping $8.3 billion in 2021! It’s indeed the most profitable venture of its kind, but not a huge threat to curated food delivery platforms, such as Goldbelly!
10. Drizly
Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Founder(s): Justin Robinson, Spencer Frazier, Nick Rellas
Year Founded: 2012
Drizly takes online orders for alcoholic beverages and delivers the product through local retailers. This company has collaborated with over 4,000 retailers in the USA to provide quick delivery of featured products.
This platform verifies the user’s age through its identity documentation verification technology to ensure the buyer can legally consume the product. This platform is famous among retailers and consumers because it does not charge commissions.
It does not need a liquor license to run the business. It earns profit by charging a monthly fee to beverage retailers. This company is making approximately $113 million annually and expanding at a smooth pace across the country.
