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Alan K
Alan K
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I vaguely recall reading this article though I don't recall which issue it was in.

To "eat {someone else's} lunch" means to defeat someone else in (usually commercial) competition. It is a common idiom used in business books, especially books on sales, such as "Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition".

In this case it is not a reference to the restaurants behind Uber Eats, but rather to catering companies, as mentioned in the second sentence.

Previously if a company needed to put on food for its staff (for example if they were working overtime, or having some kind of regional conference), the company might hire caterers to deliver and set up food for the employees, whether on an ad hoc basis or as part of on-site cafes.

Uber Eats is trying to eat into that market (no pun intended... OK, maybe a little pun intended) by replacing caterers with its own deliveries. That means that money which used to go to the catering companies will go to Uber Eats instead. Uber Eats will thus metaphorically "eat the catering companies' lunches".

I vaguely recall reading this article though I don't recall which issue it was in.

To "eat {someone else's} lunch" means to defeat someone else in (usually commercial) competition. It is a common idiom used in business books, especially books on sales, such as "Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition".

In this case it is not a reference to the restaurants behind Uber Eats, but rather to catering companies, as mentioned in the second sentence.

Previously if a company needed to put on food for its staff (for example if they were working overtime, or having some kind of regional conference), the company might hire caterers to deliver and set up food for the employees.

Uber Eats is trying to eat into that market (no pun intended... OK, maybe a little pun intended) by replacing caterers with its own deliveries. That means that money which used to go to the catering companies will go to Uber Eats instead. Uber Eats will thus metaphorically "eat the catering companies' lunches".

I vaguely recall reading this article though I don't recall which issue it was in.

To "eat {someone else's} lunch" means to defeat someone else in (usually commercial) competition. It is a common idiom used in business books, especially books on sales, such as "Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition".

In this case it is not a reference to the restaurants behind Uber Eats, but rather to catering companies, as mentioned in the second sentence.

Previously if a company needed to put on food for its staff (for example if they were working overtime, or having some kind of regional conference), the company might hire caterers to deliver and set up food for the employees, whether on an ad hoc basis or as part of on-site cafes.

Uber Eats is trying to eat into that market (no pun intended... OK, maybe a little pun intended) by replacing caterers with its own deliveries. That means that money which used to go to the catering companies will go to Uber Eats instead. Uber Eats will thus metaphorically "eat the catering companies' lunches".

Source Link
Alan K
Alan K
  • 2.6k
  • 14
  • 14

I vaguely recall reading this article though I don't recall which issue it was in.

To "eat {someone else's} lunch" means to defeat someone else in (usually commercial) competition. It is a common idiom used in business books, especially books on sales, such as "Eat Their Lunch: Winning Customers Away from Your Competition".

In this case it is not a reference to the restaurants behind Uber Eats, but rather to catering companies, as mentioned in the second sentence.

Previously if a company needed to put on food for its staff (for example if they were working overtime, or having some kind of regional conference), the company might hire caterers to deliver and set up food for the employees.

Uber Eats is trying to eat into that market (no pun intended... OK, maybe a little pun intended) by replacing caterers with its own deliveries. That means that money which used to go to the catering companies will go to Uber Eats instead. Uber Eats will thus metaphorically "eat the catering companies' lunches".