Amazon Restaurant Delivery Eyes LA — And Beyond

Does fine dining qualify as fast food if a steak is filleted, cooked and delivered to a diner’s home in under an hour? Amazon is taking one step closer to letting everyone decide for themselves.

Amazon announced Tuesday (Nov. 10) that the company is expanding its Prime Now delivery service to include food delivery from local restaurants in the Los Angeles area. The service currently exists in Seattle, where it launched in September, and Portland, where it launched last month.

Restaurants involved in the rollout include: Umami Burger, Baby Blues BBQ, Wokcano, Hurry Curry of Tokyo, Feast from the East, and John O’Groats Restaurant, to name a few.

In addition to restaurant delivery, Prime Now member in LA are also now able to get delivery on “tens of thousands of items” from Amazon and Los Angeles stores such as Sprouts Farmers Market, Bristol Farms, Sprinkles Cupcakes, Erewhon Organic Grocer and 99 Ranch Market, Amazon announced.

Gus Lopez, general manager of Amazon Restaurants, told Re/code that the company plans to continue expanding the service to new cities as well.

“I’d characterize this as beyond the concept being experimental to something we’re actively growing,” Lopez told Re/code.

So why Los Angeles?

“Los Angeles is known for great local restaurants with cuisines from around world,” Lopez stated in a company release. “We’re excited to offer Amazon Prime customers in Los Angeles a fast and convenient way to enjoy some of the city’s best restaurants without having to stand in line or brave the traffic.”

According to Re/code, Amazon plans to expand the service to other cities where Prime Now is currently available.

That could mean one-hour restaurant delivery could soon be available in markets like Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, New York and San Francisco. While the move might be welcomed by residents in those cities, Lopez and Amazon might be similarly enthused, as Amazon takes a certain percentage from every purchase through its restaurant delivery program, though Lopez declined to specify how much.

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