Amazon seems keen on telling the world that it is indeed an e-commerce giant, as it starts testing a restaurant delivery in the Seattle area as part of its new Prime Now service. Moreover, the company is hinting that it may launch the service to other cities in the near future.
With Amazon's restaurant delivery service, Prime customers can now order their meals from restaurants in the area, which include Wild Ginger, Skillet, and Cactus.
Amazon is testing restaurant delivery in select areas of its hometown for members of its Prime Now service, the company said Tuesday, from spots such as Marination Station, Re:public, Café Yumm, Mamnoon, Ten Mercer and many more.
"We have a high bar on restaurants we want to include," said Gus Lopez, general manager of Amazon Restaurants, to the press. "And for some of them, they are offering delivery for the first time. They are thrilled they've chosen to work for us and we are thrilled they've chosen Prime Now."
The company promises to make food deliveries in less than an hour. The service is currently available only through Prime Now, an added perk for Amazon Prime members — who will be able to count on one-hour delivery for $7.99, or two-hour delivery for free. Amazon Prime membership costs $99 a year.
To take advantage of the service, members need to download the Prime Now mobile application on their devices. They will then start to see the added restaurant feature. However, Amazon said the service will be on a gradual roll-out, which suggests that more local communities will probably be added within the coming weeks.
With the help of the app, members can look through menus and place their orders. Additionally, they can even monitor the status of the delivery. Upon placing the order, Amazon will then deliver the meal in less than an hour.
Lopez added in an interview that the company's aim is to unveil this service in more cities soon. The rumor mill hints that the next city may be New York. Reports say the rumor is based on the listed Amazon job openings within the city. Lopez, however, negates these earlier reports, saying Seattle and New York are simply the locations for the Amazon Restaurants team.
Amazon Prime is only available in 10 cities in the U.S., which include Portland and Seattle. Other members' benefits include unlimited music streaming, free unlimited photo storage, and a lot more.
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