Uber Eats workers wait for orders in central Kiev, Ukraine July 31, 2019.
Valentyn Ogirenko | Reuters
Uber Eats on Wednesday rolled out a feature meant to end the annoying challenge of splitting the bill.
The company is launching new group ordering features, which will let people pick what they want and pay for their items so the person ordering doesn’t get stuck footing the bill. Uber Eats will also set deadlines for group orders and auto-reminders for people to place their orders.
The updated group order works by having one person choose a restaurant and send out a link to the people they want in their order. Everyone just picks and pays for what they want and then it’s delivered as a single order. It’s a change from other apps, where you can order as a group but one person still needs to pay for the total.
The new features come as more people return to the office and friends start to socialize again as Covid-19 restrictions ease and cases go down. Uber first introduced group ordering in late 2019, but the pandemic started a few months later and people were less likely to be hanging out together.
Uber has invested heavily in its Eats segment. When the pandemic hampered its ride-hailing business, Eats became a key revenue driver. As things return to a sense of normal, Eats is still managing to be a strong player. In its most recent earnings statement, Uber said delivery revenue came in at $2.42 billion.
