“There is a whole new economy that has been booming during the pandemic, and that is food delivery apps,” said Ligia Guallpa, Executive Director of the Worker’s Justice Project, a Brooklyn-based worker center organizing delivery workers. Earlier this month, DoorDash went public, with its stock rising by 86 percent, surpassing its initial public offering price of $102. The pandemic has only increased the value of food delivery apps, with companies such as DoorDash, Postmates, and Uber Eats nearly doubling their business. Of all cities, New York City is the largest food app delivery market with New Yorkers spending $773.70 per capita. It’s estimated that the market in 2018 was worth $25.7 billion and is projected to rise to be worth $33.2 billion by 2022. During the same period, app orders more than doubled from 403 million to nearly 904 million. Five years later, that number had dipped to about 1.02 billion. According to market research firm NPD, in 2010, nearly 1.39 billion phone delivery orders were placed directly to restaurants in the US.

Since first appearing in the early 2000s, food delivery apps have exploded in popularity radically reshaping consumers’ relationships with food as well as workers’ relationships with their employers. We consistently have to be moving across the city to find work and have no place to rest with dignity.” “These days we literally have to be in the streets looking for deliveries now. “We used to have a boss who would give us a place to eat, be nice to us, and treat us with dignity,” he said.

This Christmas will be his third year without the joy he felt looking forward to a bonus. If he wants to earn a living he has to constantly be moving sometimes traveling five miles to make a delivery. It was not unusual for his boss to cook his workers meals, give them a place to rest, and reward them for their hard work with annual Christmas bonuses. The job was never easy but looking back he realized he took the perks of the job, which almost seem like a luxury today, for granted. Prior to making the shift to DoorDash and Relay three years ago, Ajchee worked as a delivery man for Iggys Pizzeria on 1st Ave. Ajchee moved to New York from Guatemala in 2004.

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