{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T12:25:31Z","timestamp":1776083131263,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":52,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"CSCW1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]],"date-time":"2024-04-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1713312000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Beyond the well-known giants like Uber Eats and DoorDash, there are hundreds of independent food delivery platforms in the United States. However, little is known about the sociotechnical landscape of these \"indie'' platforms. In this paper, we analyzed these platforms to understand why they were created, how they operate, and what technologies they use. We collected data on 495 indie platforms and detailed survey responses from 29 platforms. We found that personalized, timely service is a central value of indie platforms, as is a sense of responsibility to the local community they serve. Indie platforms are motivated to provide fair rates for restaurants and couriers. These alternative business practices differentiate them from mainstream platforms. Though indie platforms have plans to expand, a lack of customizability in off-the-shelf software prevents independent platforms from personalizing services for their local communities. We show that these platforms are a widespread and longstanding fixture of the food delivery market. We illustrate the diversity of motivations and values to explain why a one-size-fits-all support is insufficient, and we discuss the siloing of technology that inhibits platforms' growth. Through these insights, we aim to promote future HCI research into the potential development of public-interest technologies for local food delivery.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3637369","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,29]],"date-time":"2024-04-29T10:05:31Z","timestamp":1714385131000},"page":"1-20","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Mapping the Landscape of Independent Food Delivery Platforms in the United States"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"8","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6852-6218","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yuhan","family":"Liu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5170-1945","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Amna","family":"Liaqat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-2949-7379","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xingjian","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-1116-2002","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mariana Consuelo Fern\u00e1ndez","family":"Espinosa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-4341-6948","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ankhitha","family":"Manjunatha","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4212-0228","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alexander","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4680-0022","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Orestis","family":"Papakyriakopoulos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4889-9484","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Andr\u00e9s","family":"Monroy-Hern\u00e1ndez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,26]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_1_1_1","volume-title":"Ordering in: The rapid evolution of food delivery","author":"Ahuja Kabir","year":"2021","unstructured":"Kabir Ahuja, Vishwa Chandra, Victoria Lord, and Curtis Peens. 2021. Ordering in: The rapid evolution of food delivery. McKinsey & Company (2021)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_2_1","volume-title":"The state of gig work","author":"Anderson Monica","year":"2021","unstructured":"Monica Anderson, Colleen McClain, Michelle Faverio, and Risa Gelles-Watnick. 2021. The state of gig work in 2021. (2021)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3555134"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bjoern Asdecker and Florian Zirkelbach. 2020. What Drives the Drivers? A Qualitative Perspective on what Motivates the Crowd Delivery Workforce.. In HICSS. 1--10.","DOI":"10.24251\/HICSS.2020.490"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_5_1","volume-title":"More than a Job': The Food Delivery Co-Ops Putting Fairness into the Gig Economy. The Guardian (May","author":"Atkinson Sophie","year":"2021","unstructured":"Sophie Atkinson. 2021. `More than a Job': The Food Delivery Co-Ops Putting Fairness into the Gig Economy. The Guardian (May 2021)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0308518X20914346"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_7_1","volume-title":"Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology","author":"Braun Virginia","year":"2006","unstructured":"Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke. 2006. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, Vol. 3, 2 (2006), 77--101."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jcom.2022.100167"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_9_1","unstructured":"US Census Bureau. 2022. Tiger\/line shapefiles. https:\/\/www.census.gov\/geographies\/mapping-files\/time-series\/geo\/tiger-line-file.html"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_10_1","volume-title":"A Mixed-Methods Analysis of the Algorithm-Mediated Labor of Online Food Deliverers in China. arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.04518","author":"Chen Zhilong","year":"2022","unstructured":"Zhilong Chen, Xiaochong Lan, Jinghua Piao, Yunke Zhang, and Yong Li. 2022. A Mixed-Methods Analysis of the Algorithm-Mediated Labor of Online Food Deliverers in China. arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.04518 (2022)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_11_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3544548.3581517"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1525\/joae.2021.2.2.221"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3460231.3474599"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978--94-007--7844--3_4"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijgfs.2021.100330"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_16_1","volume-title":"Are GrubHub and DoorDash the Next Vertical Monopolists? Chicago Policy Review (Online)","author":"Gondek Nick","year":"2021","unstructured":"Nick Gondek. 2021. Are GrubHub and DoorDash the Next Vertical Monopolists? Chicago Policy Review (Online) (2021)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_17_1","volume-title":"Twitter Blue Sky","author":"Jay","year":"2021","unstructured":"Jay Graber et al. 2021. Ecosystem review. Twitter Blue Sky, January (2021). https:\/\/t.co\/U5DczWX1qb"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2378023119870041"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_19_1","unstructured":"Carsten Hirschberg Alexander Rajko Thomas Schumacher and Martin Wrulich. 2016. The changing market for food delivery. (2016)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_20_1","unstructured":"Alicia Kelso. 2020. Now That DoorDash Is Public Here's How It Plans To Be Profitable. https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/aliciakelso\/2020\/12\/10\/now-that-doordash-is-public-heres-how-it-plans-to-be-profitable\/."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_21_1","first-page":"61","article-title":"The Rise of the Platform Economy","volume":"32","author":"Kenney Martin","year":"2016","unstructured":"Martin Kenney and John Zysman. 2016. The Rise of the Platform Economy. Issues in Science and Technology, Vol. 32, 3 (2016), 61--69.","journal-title":"Issues in Science and Technology"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_22_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3555645"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_23_1","unstructured":"Toby Jia-Jun Li Yuwen Lu Jaylexia Clark Meng Chen Victor Cox Meng Jiang Yang Yang Tamara Kay Danielle Wood and Jay Brockman. 2022. A Bottom-Up End-User Intelligent Assistant Approach to Empower Gig Workers against AI Inequality. arxiv: 2204.13842 [cs]"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_24_1","volume-title":"Examining Indie's Independence: The meaning of\" Indie\" Games, the politics of production, and mainstream cooptation. Loading","author":"Lipkin Nadav","year":"2013","unstructured":"Nadav Lipkin. 2013. Examining Indie's Independence: The meaning of\" Indie\" Games, the politics of production, and mainstream cooptation. Loading..., Vol. 7, 11 (2013)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_25_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3491102.3517524"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_26_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3563657.3596123"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_27_1","unstructured":"Vivienne Machi. 2021a. Delivery Apps like Grubhub and DoorDash Charge Restaurants Huge Commission Fees. Are Delivery Co-Ops the Solution? https:\/\/thecounter.org\/delivery-apps-grubhub-doordash-charge-restaurants-commission-fees-delivery-co-ops\/."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_28_1","unstructured":"Vivienne Machi. 2021b. Delivery Co-Ops Provide an Answer to High Fees and Low Wages."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_29_1","first-page":"1","article-title":"What people hate about being managed by algorithms, according to a study of Uber drivers","volume":"30","author":"M\u00f6hlmann Mareike","year":"2019","unstructured":"Mareike M\u00f6hlmann and Ola Henfridsson. 2019. What people hate about being managed by algorithms, according to a study of Uber drivers. Harvard Business Review, Vol. 30, August (2019), 1--7.","journal-title":"Harvard Business Review"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_30_1","volume-title":"Travel, Transport and Logistics, Market report","author":"Netzer Thomas","year":"2017","unstructured":"Thomas Netzer, Jan Krause, Ludwig Hausmann, Florian Bauer, and Tim Ecker. 2017. The urban delivery bet: USD 5 billion in venture capital at risk? McKinsey & Company, Travel, Transport and Logistics, Market report (2017)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_31_1","volume-title":"Indie: an American film culture","author":"Newman Michael Z","unstructured":"Michael Z Newman. 2011. Indie: an American film culture. Columbia University Press."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_32_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3355369.3355572"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_33_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/anti.12546"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_34_1","volume-title":"Media Cloud: Massive Open Source Collection of Global News on the Open Web.. In ICWSM. 1034--1045.","author":"Roberts Hal","year":"2021","unstructured":"Hal Roberts, Rahul Bhargava, Linas Valiukas, Dennis Jen, Momin M Malik, Cindy Bishop, Emily Ndulue, Aashka Dave, Justin Clark, Bruce Etling, et al. 2021. Media Cloud: Massive Open Source Collection of Global News on the Open Web.. In ICWSM. 1034--1045."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_35_1","volume-title":"Delivery Apps Are Still Hurting Restaurants. https:\/\/www.eater.com\/2019\/5\/29\/18636255\/delivery-apps-hurting-restaurants-grubhub-seamless-ubereats. Eater (May","author":"Saxena Jaya","year":"2019","unstructured":"Jaya Saxena. 2019. Delivery Apps Are Still Hurting Restaurants. https:\/\/www.eater.com\/2019\/5\/29\/18636255\/delivery-apps-hurting-restaurants-grubhub-seamless-ubereats. Eater (May 2019)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_36_1","volume-title":"What this is and isn't about. Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet","author":"Scholz Trebor","year":"2016","unstructured":"Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider. 2016. What this is and isn't about. Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet (2016), 11--3."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_37_1","volume-title":"After the gig: How the sharing economy got hijacked and how to win it back","author":"Schor Juliet","unstructured":"Juliet Schor. 2021. After the gig: How the sharing economy got hijacked and how to win it back. Univ of California Press."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_38_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3449138"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_39_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3359175"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_40_1","unstructured":"Len Sherman. 2019. Can Uber Ever Be Profitable? https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/lensherman\/2019\/06\/02\/can-uber-ever-be-profitable\/."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_41_1","unstructured":"The Bluesky Team. 2022. A Self-Authenticating Social Protocol. (2022). https:\/\/blueskyweb.xyz\/blog\/3--6--2022-a-self-authenticating-social-protocol"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_42_1","unstructured":"Walter Thompson. 2020. The Hidden Cost of Food Delivery."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_43_1","volume-title":"Rescuing Restaurants: How to Protect Restaurants, Workers, and Communities from Predatory Delivery App Corporations. American Economic Liberties Project","author":"Tkacik Maureen","year":"2020","unstructured":"Maureen Tkacik. 2020. Rescuing Restaurants: How to Protect Restaurants, Workers, and Communities from Predatory Delivery App Corporations. American Economic Liberties Project (2020)."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_44_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3462204.3481757"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_45_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/anti.12641"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_46_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0950017019836911"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_47_1","volume-title":"The Free Encyclopedia. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=List_of_restaurant_chains_in_the_United_States&oldid=1142350529 [Online","author":"Wikipedia","year":"2023","unstructured":"Wikipedia contributors. 2023. List of restaurant chains in the United States -- Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=List_of_restaurant_chains_in_the_United_States&oldid=1142350529 [Online; accessed 2-March-2023]."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_48_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3479535"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_49_1","volume-title":"Qualitative Analysis of DoorDash. In 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI","author":"Zhang Yiwen","year":"2021","unstructured":"Yiwen Zhang. 2021. Qualitative Analysis of DoorDash. In 2021 3rd International Conference on Economic Management and Cultural Industry (ICEMCI 2021). Atlantis Press, 65--68."},{"key":"e_1_2_1_50_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/INFCOMW.2019.8845221"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_51_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1057\/jit.2015.5"},{"key":"e_1_2_1_52_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10708-017--9793--8"}],"container-title":["Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3637369","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/3637369","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,22]],"date-time":"2025-08-22T17:30:15Z","timestamp":1755883815000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3637369"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]]},"references-count":52,"journal-issue":{"issue":"CSCW1","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/3637369"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3637369","relation":{},"ISSN":["2573-0142"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2573-0142","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2024,4,17]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2024-04-26","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}