Uber Eats set to launch in Tamworth in July as part of regional rollout

It might be a staple in capital cities, but now thousands of Australians living in regional centres like Tamworth will be able to order meals to their homes after Uber revealed plans to expand food-delivery services into several parts of the country.

The tech giant, which operates the largest food-delivery platform in Australia, has launched its service in seven regional towns, in addition to six added earlier in June.

Tamworth locals have already taken delivery of promotional material after Uber letterboxed locals to notify them of its arrival, before the national announcement.

Local businesses are already listing their menu items on the popular service online.

The move comes after an e-commerce survey found online purchases in regional towns jumped during the past year and as another found more than seven million Australians regularly use meal-delivery services.

Regional towns to get access to Uber Eats for the first time include Gladstone in Queensland, Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Burnie in Tasmania, Warragul in Victoria and a host of NSW locations inducing Bowral, Lismore, Tamworth and Coffs Harbour.

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Uber Eats marketplace director Ed Kitchen said the towns were chosen for having a large population within a 30-minute delivery range of restaurants.

"We've seen cities where there is an under-served population and a growing restaurant base that are looking for the ability to drive e-commerce," he said.

"We don't think that metropolitan Australia should have a monopoly on convenience."

Food from local restaurants and national chains would be offered on the platform first, Mr Kitchen said, before Uber added grocery deliveries from Coles, IGA and BP.

"We have plans to launch a number of new markets later this year," he said.

"For us this is not job done."

The food-delivery launches come after Australia Post's Inside Australian Online Shopping Report found online purchases rose by 6.5 per cent in rural towns last year and 5.7 per cent in remote communities.

Market research firm Roy Morgan also found seven million Australians over the age of 14 use meal-delivery services in a three-month period, up from 3.6 million people in 2020.

But Australians living in capital cities were more likely to order meals to their homes, the company found, with 38 per cent using food-delivery services compared to 24 per cent in country areas.

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