Dubai’s Careem expands food delivery service to Makkah

Dubai’s Careem has expanded its delivery services to Saudi city of Makkah, giving residents an option to order from over 100 restaurants and outlets including Al Baik, McDonald’s, Maestro Pizza, Pizza Hut and Baskin Robbins.

More outlets are being added every week, the company said in a statement.

The delivery service, Careem Now, is already operational in Jeddah and Riyadh.

Users can log into the separate Careem Now app with their existing Careem credentials. If they have a credit card registered with Careem, it will be automatically linked, as will any saved addresses from the Careem ride-hailing app.

The app connects users with nearby restaurants and offers curated collections, reordering, search options, sorting and tagging based on cuisine or dietary requirements and real-time tracking of orders.

Adeeb Warsi, managing director of Careem Now, said: “Only 15 per cent of the food delivery market in our region currently operates via an app, but Careem Now is changing that and enabling people in Makkah to order from a wide range of restaurants easily.”

He added: “The idea of having to call up a restaurant and read out a list of items, and hope it’s all written down correctly, are increasingly over-ordering by the app is how the industry is moving.

“The younger generations are driving digital ordering – which in the US is growing three times faster than dine-in traffic – and it’s now increasingly available in the Middle East.”

The food delivery market in Careem Now’s target countries is predicted to grow to around $25bn by 2022, it said.

Careem currently has over 33 million customers on the platform and an existing delivery system via the Careem app.