Uber plans food delivery service UberEATS in 10 cities

New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are among the cities that will benefit from the full scale UberEATS app

(Uber)

Uber is preparing to launch a food delivery app in 10 cities in a bid to build the company’s first standalone app since the ride-hailing service launched five years ago, according to reports.

New York, Los Angeles and Chicago are among the cities that will benefit from the full scale UberEATS app, which has been live in Toronto for a month.

The app lets users to order food from local restaurants for delivery by Uber drivers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In Toronto customers have been able to order from a full restaurant menu between 10am to 10pm. Uber promises to deliver within 40 minutes for a fee of about $5 an order, depending on the city.

From the end of March, UberEATS will exist as a stand-alone app in the Apple App store and Google Play, a company spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal.

The company's current UberEATS service, a feature within the Uber ride-hailing app, consist of a lunch time only service in five US cities: San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Austin. It is also available in Paris.

Uber lists Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, and Washington, DC as UberEATS as participants. But is unclear if Paris will participate in the full scale launch.

Uber said it would give drivers the choice of being an UberEATS driver or not, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The move will pit Uber against other US food delivery services such as GrubHub, Postmate and DoorDash.