Delivery apps like Uber Eats help people get meals delivered to their homes easily and have been especially useful during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the Uber Eats app has installed a new feature that will help you find Black-owned businesses to support.
In an email to customers last week, Uber released a lengthy statement outlining all the company hopes to do to ensure the safety of Black community members. They donated $1 million to the Equal Justice Initiative and the Center for Policing Equity and have updated their community guidelines. On the Uber Eats platform, Black-owned businesses will be promoted under a banner that can be found on the app's landing page.
A banner that reads "Support Black-owned restaurants" will be available in select markets in the United States and Canada. The banner features an "Order Now" button that leads customers to a list of Black-owned restaurants in their delivery vicinity to order from. The app will not automatically filter restaurants in this way, but if you press the Order Now button you will be redirected to the list.
Although this feature is only available in major cities right now, it is meant to only be a starting point for Uber Eats. A spokesperson for Uber confirmed that with more input from the community and restaurants themselves, Uber hopes the lists will grow. To encourage customers to purchase meals from Black-owned businesses, Uber is also waiving the delivery fees for these restaurants for the rest of the year.
