How Fast Food Deliveries Went Mainstream
Even before the Covid epidemic food habits in Britain were starting to change.
We British were always fond of eating out, when we could afford it. Restaurants were not terribly popular after the s2nd World War though; after all few could afford them! During the 1950s much changed though. Berni Inns came in 1956 and all of a sudden the nations's favourite starter was prawn cocktail followed by fish and chips for those who were short of cash and steak for those that weren't. Black Forest Gateau replaced apple pie and custard in the nation's heart.
OK the prices were not high but there was a gap in the market for something cheaper, and it wasn't long before fast food came available, with a Wimpy Bar seemingly on every Hight Street. Hamburger and chips was a typical meal there; something that health advocates would be horrified with now!
Kentucky Fried Chicken, launched by the mythical Colonel Sanders got well established in Britain with an agressive campaign to recruit franchisees and by now the traditional English chippie was feeling the pinch.
Chinese chip shops were biting hard into their market. From having a choice of cod or haddock with chip and peas there was all of a sudden a range of dozens of exotic dishes available at affordable prices. Indian restaurants and takeaways followed and then the most popular dish in Britain became chicken tikks massala; completely unknown of course on the Indian sub-continent!!
By now cooking was falling in favour; many people claimed to be too busy to make a meal at night and for many families a high proportion of their food was from a takeaway. However sometimes the weather was bad and if an obliging fast food shop had a delivery service why go out into the cold and rain?
And so the delivery driver in his car or scooter became a regular sight. Most of them were uninsured for food deliveries; the concept of courier insurance or specific insurance for delivering food hadn't really taken off; but most police officers won't aware of this so by and large it was ignored.
Then came the 21st Century! Firms like Deoiveroo and Just Eat reasoned that there was a market for helping hungry Brits to book meals online from a local restaurant ot takeaway; and with a squad of delivery drivers they could look after all the problems of collecting the food, and delivering it to the customer! Fast food delivery became a growing industry.
The Covid epidemic was a disaster for many businesses. For the fast food delivery industry it was heaven sent! Millions of people were in lockdown so unable to even go out to collect a pizza from the local takeaway; but the pizza could come to them, as well as the curry, the burger, the fried chicken, and any other form of fast food!
Naturally the police were soon aware of thousands of uninsured fast food delivery drivers bustling around the streets and they prosecuted a few; the result was an explosion of insurance policies specifically covering fast food deliveries!
After the end of Covid restrictions so many people were used to ordering a burger with fries on their mobile phones that business for these delivery firms actually increased, rather than declined. And this is how a new fashion in food was born!