When was food delivery invented

Historically, if you had access to fresh milk, your family probably owned a dairy cow. But as the United States began to industrialize, fewer people lived in rural areas. As such, people began to purchase their milk from local dairy farmers. Because milk is perishable and few people had access to refrigeration, daily deliveries were a necessity. As a result, milk delivery became a standard way of life for many Americans. Pizza delivery may have been recently popularized by college students on a budget, but it actually dates back to the lates.

The story goes that on a visit to Naples, King Humberto and Queen Margherita, the king and queen of Italy, decided to forgo their diet of fancy French cuisine. Instead, they opted to have pizza brought to them.

This was then named the Margherita pizza. And so, pizza delivery was born. Around years ago, while under British rule, India developed the dabbawala meal delivery system in busy metropolitan areas, such as Mumbai. In response to the increased number of workers in cities, this meal delivery system relied on delivery men called dabbawalas.

The dabbawalas delivered meals directly to people at their place of work. This intricate meal delivery system is now more modern, and users take advantage of the service using text messaging and email. To ensure the wellness of the British people, the government enlisted chefs and volunteers to deliver meals. After the war, this service continued to help veterans get back on their feet! This idea was so popular, it quickly spread to the United States and Australia.

Perhaps the most popular invention of the s was the TV. As more families had their own TV, people were more likely to stay home and enjoy meals together while watching their favorite shows. As a result, restaurants were seeing a steady decline in their bottom lines. To combat their declining trade, many restaurants introduced carry-out and delivery options.

Perhaps the best example of this was pizza delivery. King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy were in Naples when they wanted to try the food of the people: the delicious pizzas of the famous pizza maker Rafaele Esposito. Legend has it that Esposito served three pizzas to the royal family who had grown tired of the French cuisine as was accustomed by European royalty.

The queen loved all three pizzas, and especially adored one in particular; pizza alla mozzarella, with mozzarella cheese, tomato and fresh basil leaves which make the colors of the Italian flag. Esposito named this pizza after the queen herself, calling it Pizza Margherita. Some say that Esposito himself was summoned to the palace to prepare and bake the pizzas right there. Talk about pizzas fresh from the oven! Towards the end of the 19th century, while still under British rule, India saw a rise in workforce in crowded metropolitan cities, which paved the way for the development of a meal delivery system to solve the problems of these busy workers.

Delivery men called Dabbawalas literally translated as "one who carries a box" would bring hot lunches from homes and restaurants to the workplaces of those who would require their services. Dabbawalas would commonly use bicycles, and sometimes railway trains. These lunches would arrive in their own containers and the Dabbawalas would also have to come back to collect the empty dishes in the afternoon.

Since , Dabbawalas have been transporting lunchboxes through Mumbai, which is now the fourth most populous city in the world. Their method for delivery is conducted in a highly effective and ecofriendly manner, with almost no mistakes at all.

This system is so effective that Dabbawalas are still in high demand. The success of their structure and system has inspired many modern global companies.

There are numerous studies on the thriving business of Dabbawalas. Business leaders are known to visit Mumbai to learn more from them, and working Dabbawalas are known to give speeches and answer questions at universities for business management classes. When you think about food delivery, white paper containers and chopsticks are an inseparable part of the image and it all started with an innovative restaurateur in LA in , Kin-Chu Cafe.

The cafe was bold enough to run ads claiming to be "the only place on the West Coast making and delivering real Chinese dishes". If you think you are addicted to TV now, think again… now we at least have the option to watch what we want, when we want it. Seeing that their beloved patrons were taken hostage by these new inventions, restaurant owners knew they had to take some action - and fast. This sped up the takeout and delivery concept for restaurants.

Dine-in only restaurants added take-home and delivery options to meet the new needs. They also began advertising on television and broadcasting their menus to remind customers of their delicious food.

How do you make sure you are heard among the noise when everyone begins offering takeout and delivery services? Industrialization meant people were laboring further from home, but they still wanted something hot and delicious to eat during the workday.

Amongst the most popular take-away foods in east coast urban centers like New York at this time were oysters, scallops and other steamed, stewed or chowdered sea creatures. By the s, the company evolved into the Riegel Paper Company and by they had become Fold-Pak , the business that still produces the majority of the Chinese Take-Out containers used in the United States today.

Along the way, the quintessential white, cardboard containers gained a vaguely Chinese red temple on their sides and became a symbol of fast, casual Chinese cuisine in America. And that was no coincidence: even before their food arrived in those boxes, Chinese restaurants were well ahead of the restaurant delivery trend in the United States.

The earliest known reference to delivery services of the kind modern eaters know and love today in fact comes from a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles.

After the Second World War, the concept of delivery took off across a broader swath of the restaurant world. By the early s, the bourgeoning American middle class had purchased second cars, moved to the suburbs and discovered the primal joys of television. As families increasingly spent their leisure time in their own homes glued to the boob tube, restaurants saw their profits steadily declining. In the postwar years, take-out and delivery became something for everyone.