Amazon this morning launched its restaurant delivery service in Manhattan, announcing that more than 350 restaurants have signed up for the debut of the service in New York City.
That’s despite reports that the company is charging restaurants a hefty 27.5 percent cut of each customer bill to participate in the Amazon delivery service, up to twice the amount that some competing restaurant delivery services charge.
One-hour restaurant delivery is free for Amazon Prime members, and Recode reports that the company is making that structure permanent for customers, after previously describing it as a limited-time promotion. As in other cities, Amazon is offering to refund the price of any item that a customer finds at a lower price on the restaurant’s in-person menu within 24 hours of placing a delivery order through the Prime Now service.
It’s the latest in what is becoming a rapid expansion of the one-hour restaurant delivery service. The company also launched restaurant delivery today in Dallas, following rollouts in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, Baltimore, Austin and Chicago.
