Uber Eats or Rider Growth

Company Context

Uber operates a two-sided mobility and delivery platform across ride-hailing and food delivery. In the region under review, Uber already has an established rides business and a smaller but growing Uber Eats presence. Regional leadership must decide where to deploy the next 12 months of growth investment: expand Uber Eats more aggressively or prioritize rider growth in the core mobility business. The decision matters because capital, local operations bandwidth, and city-level regulatory attention are limited, and management believes only one of the two bets can receive full support this year.

Strategic Situation

You are the regional strategy lead for MetroAndes, a cluster of three large cities in Latin America. Uber currently serves 5.2 million annual active riders in the region and 1.1 million annual active Uber Eats consumers. The rides business is profitable on a contribution basis, while Eats is growing faster but remains more operationally complex. Competitors are active in both categories, and local regulators are considering new rules on gig worker protections and delivery fees.

The GM asks for a recommendation: should Uber allocate the next $25M growth budget primarily to Uber Eats expansion or to rider growth? You should evaluate market attractiveness, competitive intensity, unit economics, cross-platform synergies, and execution risk.

Data Points

Additional market context:

• Total addressable annual market in MetroAndes: 220M ride trips and 95M food delivery orders
• Uber current share: 31% of ride trips and 12% of food delivery orders
• Main competitors: one strong local ride-hailing player with 24% rides share, and two delivery apps with 34% and 29% delivery share
• Operational constraint: only $25M and one cross-functional launch team can be fully dedicated this year
• Board expectation: the chosen strategy should show a credible path to >$15M incremental annual contribution profit within 24 months

Deliverables

1. Size the near-term opportunity for rider growth vs. Uber Eats in MetroAndes.
2. Compare the strategic attractiveness of each option, including competition, market maturity, and defensibility.
3. Assess unit economics and estimate which investment is more likely to meet the board's 24-month profit target.
4. Consider whether cross-platform synergies materially change the decision.
5. Recommend one priority and outline a practical go-to-market plan.

Constraints

• Budget is capped at $25M for the next 12 months.
• Leadership wants a single primary focus, not an equal split.
• Any recommendation must work within current regulatory uncertainty and existing local operations capacity.
• The region must show measurable results within 24 months.