Who invented delivery

Roman kitchen of a thermopolium in Via Consolare at Ruins of Pompeii, an ancient Roman city destroyed by the volcano Vesuvius. Pompei, Campania, Italy. The first recorded instance of food delivery comes from Italy in , when King Umberto and Queen Margherita succumbed to laziness and called upon Raffaele Esposito to deliver a pizza to them at their palace in Naples. Chef Raffaele Esposito is credited with the creation of Pizza Margherita — topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil to represent the national colours of the Italian flag.

Soon after this, a man in India named Mahadeo Havaji Bachche also came up with an idea for a company dedicated to making and delivering home-cooked lunches to workers within the city of Mumbai. In the meantime, The Skinny reports that Americans were revolutionizing delivery services as delis and other merchants began using horse-drawn carts to carry food to where customers were. The government in the U. After the war ended, this idea was adopted by the private sector in the United States, and the modern take-out delivery service was established.

The rise of food delivery in the United States was caused by economic necessity, as during the s, the growing American middle-class were content to stay at home watching their new television, and to make their food in their own kitchens. This meant the restaurant industry in the U. King Umberto I and Queen Margherita of Savoy were in Naples when they wanted to try the food of the people: the delicious pizzas of the famous pizza maker Rafaele Esposito. Legend has it that Esposito served three pizzas to the royal family who had grown tired of the French cuisine as was accustomed by European royalty.

The queen loved all three pizzas, and especially adored one in particular; pizza alla mozzarella, with mozzarella cheese, tomato and fresh basil leaves which make the colors of the Italian flag. Esposito named this pizza after the queen herself, calling it Pizza Margherita. Some say that Esposito himself was summoned to the palace to prepare and bake the pizzas right there.

Talk about pizzas fresh from the oven! Towards the end of the 19th century, while still under British rule, India saw a rise in workforce in crowded metropolitan cities, which paved the way for the development of a meal delivery system to solve the problems of these busy workers.

Delivery men called Dabbawalas literally translated as "one who carries a box" would bring hot lunches from homes and restaurants to the workplaces of those who would require their services. Dabbawalas would commonly use bicycles, and sometimes railway trains. These lunches would arrive in their own containers and the Dabbawalas would also have to come back to collect the empty dishes in the afternoon.

Since , Dabbawalas have been transporting lunchboxes through Mumbai, which is now the fourth most populous city in the world. Their method for delivery is conducted in a highly effective and ecofriendly manner, with almost no mistakes at all. This system is so effective that Dabbawalas are still in high demand. The success of their structure and system has inspired many modern global companies. There are numerous studies on the thriving business of Dabbawalas.

Business leaders are known to visit Mumbai to learn more from them, and working Dabbawalas are known to give speeches and answer questions at universities for business management classes. When you think about food delivery, white paper containers and chopsticks are an inseparable part of the image and it all started with an innovative restaurateur in LA in , Kin-Chu Cafe.

The cafe was bold enough to run ads claiming to be "the only place on the West Coast making and delivering real Chinese dishes". If you think you are addicted to TV now, think again… now we at least have the option to watch what we want, when we want it. Seeing that their beloved patrons were taken hostage by these new inventions, restaurant owners knew they had to take some action - and fast.

This sped up the takeout and delivery concept for restaurants. Dine-in only restaurants added take-home and delivery options to meet the new needs.

They also began advertising on television and broadcasting their menus to remind customers of their delicious food. How do you make sure you are heard among the noise when everyone begins offering takeout and delivery services? Suddenly, people are curious. The newspaper claims pizza is super popular in Southern Italy and calls it the perfect food for takeout or delivery. The war ends in and American soldiers return home. Millions of Americans start settling into a new, more comfortable life.

They ditch the city for the suburbs and plant themselves on the couch in front of the TV as much as possible. This leads to some serious struggles for restaurants across the country, which pushes them to turn to takeout and delivery.

These services go from novelty to norm in no time. By the s, pizza catches on. Better late than never, right? Most pizza spots offer takeout and delivery, which further popularizes these services. Looks like LA was ahead of the delivery curve. Fast forward to the s, Pizza Hut launches Pizzanet. Pizzanet is actually one of the first websites on the internet, meaning pizza is probably the first good bought and sold online.

The more you know, people!