18 Ways to Position Your Food Delivery Service and Double Ride-Hailing Revenue with a Super App

The Super App, a collaboration between Onde and Playfood, now offers eighteen options for customising the food delivery button in the customer app. This seemingly minor UI update is actually a significant business decision. Read on to find out what this update unlocks and why the Super App model is the fastest way for ride-hailing operators to generate a second revenue stream.

The companies that built billion-dollar platforms

didn't just develop transport apps

They created daily habits. Grab, Bolt and Gojek — remained in the ride-hailing sector. They all followed the same pattern: launch one high-frequency service, earn user trust, then add a second. The numbers tell the story plainly.

In 2024, for example, Grab's food delivery segment generated $1.49 billion in revenue, overtaking its own ride-hailing segment, which generated $1.05 billion. Uber Eats now generates $13.7 billion annually and has 95 million users worldwide. When the collapse in Uber's ride revenue by 50% in 2020 due to the pandemic hit, Eats grew by over 200% — effectively saving the business. Gojek's customer retention rate increased from 47% to 79% after it expanded its services, and the proportion of users purchasing multiple services grew from 12% to 54%.

The logic is simple: every cross-promotion happens inside an app that the customer already has. There are zero additional marketing costs. The Super App by Onde and Playfood is built on this model — not as an aspiration, but as proven architecture that over 40 operator businesses are already using today.

Two platforms. One app. One business decision.

The Super App is a collaboration between Onde, a ride-hailing platform with over 10 years' experience and over 400 businesses in 75 countries, and Playfood, a white-label food and grocery delivery platform with 77 contracts signed across 44 countries. Together, they have powered over 40 Super App businesses worldwide.

The global online food delivery market is projected to reach $1.85 trillion by 2029. This growth will not come from saturated markets, however, as the Middle East and Africa currently represent just 3% of food delivery revenue and Latin America just 7%. Markets with high levels of ride-hailing penetration are still in the early stages of adopting food delivery services.

Importantly, 30% of ride-hailing users now expect a Super App experience from their operator, and 44% of these are likely to use the food delivery service if it is available in the same app.

A key insight for ride-hailing operators is that they have already built the most difficult element: a user base that trusts their app. Food delivery is the next revenue stream, not a new venture. It runs on the infrastructure you already have.

The frequency argument is decisive. On average, people order food deliveries roughly once a week. They take a taxi once or twice a month. This weekly interaction ensures that your app remains on the home screen and that your brand is at the forefront of people's minds. Overall user engagement is 30% higher on platforms offering multiple integrated services than on those focused on a single service.

Podcast: Food delivery or ride-hailing: Which Should Be Launched First?

RIDE Food, one of Playfood and Onde's fastest-growing Super App partners, joins us to answer the question that every new operator asks: which vertical should you prioritise at launch? Hear the answer backed by experience directly from the operators who have done it.

What's inside the Super App ecosystem?

The Super App is a comprehensive dual-business infrastructure. Both verticals have their own dedicated tools and share a single customer-facing app and a unified brand identity.

Ride-Hailing (Onde)

• Customer App

• Driver App

• Operator App

• MyHub

Food Delivery (Playfood)

• Customer App (integrated or standalone)

• Web Marketplace

• Vendor App

• Admin Panel — 8 modules: Call Center, Workers, Vendors, Marketing, Classifier, Couriers, Settings, Analytics

Case Study: RIDE Food — Revolutionizing Ethiopia's Food Delivery Market

RIDE Food launched in Ethiopia with the Super App model and has since grown rapidly to become one of the country's leading on-demand platforms. Their success demonstrates the potential of using ride-hailing infrastructure as a launchpad for a comprehensive food delivery service.

The update that changes how partners position their delivery service

One of the most common questions that partners ask when setting up their Super App is deceptively simple: what should the button that opens the food delivery section actually say?

It is not just a cosmetic consideration. The label on that button is the first thing a customer reads when deciding whether to tap it. It defines how the delivery service is perceived — whether it's fast, wide-ranging, specialised or convenient. In different markets, different words work better than others.

The latest update gives partners 18 distinct options for this button's text, enabling them to match the label precisely to their market positioning, target customer and services offered.

The 18 available button copy options are: Delivery, Marketplace, Market, Store, Express, Express Delivery, Fast Delivery, 15-Minute Delivery, 30-Minute Delivery, Groceries, Food, Eats, Food & Groceries, Supermarket, Minimarket, Pet Store, Pharmacy, Convenience Store, Shop, Hypermarket.

The range spans broad, multi-category labels, such as 'Marketplace' and 'Delivery', speed-promise names, such as '15-Minute Delivery' and 'Fast Delivery', and niche, vertical labels, such as 'Pharmacy', 'Pet Store', and 'Convenience Store'. Partners running a grocery-first operation can label the button 'Supermarket' or 'Groceries'. Those positioning themselves on speed can choose Express or 30-Minute Delivery. Those going broad can choose Food & Groceries or Hypermarket.

A white-label platform should adapt to the partner's brand and market reality, not the other way around. Naming is part of positioning. Positioning drives conversion.

Why this matters for operators? Your brand, your market, your customers.

The name of the button is the first signal that your app sends about the kind of service that you offer — and now you can control exactly what that signal says.

Why the Super App model wins in emerging markets

Customers who already use your ride-hailing service and trust your brand are the most cost-effective audience for food delivery. With cross-promotional features built into the platform, such as push notifications, in-app banners and loyalty programmes spanning both services, the cost of acquiring a food delivery customer drops to almost nothing when that customer is already using your ride-hailing app.

One Super App partner in East Africa illustrates this clearly, even with paid promotion. They launched food delivery on top of their existing ride-hailing base, reaching 94,320 app installs at a cost per install of just $0.25 — a benchmark that most standalone food delivery platforms spend years trying to reach.

• Better driver utilisation — existing ride-hailing drivers switch to courier mode during off-peak hours. No additional hiring. More income per driver.

• Lower customer acquisition cost — your ride-hailing user base is already warm. Cross-promotion happens inside the app they already have installed.

• Two revenue streams, one operational base — ride fees and food delivery order fees from the same fleet, the same app, the same brand.

• Fast to launch — Super App partners go from contract to ready infrastructure in 3–4 weeks, faster than standalone because the user base already exists.

• Dedicated support from both teams — Onde and Playfood support the launch from onboarding through to active growth.

Webinar: How to Build a Super App from Scratch — A Step-by-Step Guide

from Industry Experts

Playfood CEO Andrei Balahanski will take you through the full playbook, covering everything from market research and naming to choosing delivery types, setting up operational zones and devising marketing strategies that will be effective from day one. The webinar is practical, structured and built on real partner experience.

If you run a ride-hailing business, your users will already be asking for food delivery services. In most markets, there is still an opportunity to be the go-to food delivery platform. The infrastructure to run it is already in place. The question is how quickly you can set it up under your own brand.

The 18 positioning options are a small feature with a clear message: the platform adapts to your market, not the other way around. Your brand. Your market. Your customers.

With the food delivery market set to reach $1.85 trillion by 2029, now is the time to start offering food delivery services. Other on-demand operators are already doing it. The model is proven and the data is clear.

Frequently asked questions