Square Places an Order for Main Line Delivery

December 12, 2024         By: Mike Dautner

In economics circles, there exist what are called “complementary goods.” Goods that are often bought alongside other goods are generally examples of these; french fries, for example, are commonly complements to cheeseburgers.

Either can be bought separately, but they’re commonly bought together. Batteries and flashlights, cameras and film—back when there were film cameras—and so on all add up to complementary goods. Recently a new such complement may have sparked up as Square announced plans to buy food delivery service Main Line Delivery.

Main Line Delivery has focused on the Main Line area of Philadelphia, and for eight years has made just about any restaurant a delivery restaurant. Interestingly, Square’s Caviar food delivery service also operates in Philadelphia, so it may be that Square wanted some competition out of the way, as well as gaining an opportunity to expand.

Caviar has had its share of growth, and recently considered the notion of selling to Uber or GrubHub, but the early talks broke down without incident, and Caviar is still in Square’s hands. With Main Line Delivery’s acquisition, meanwhile, Caviar may be expanding.

With Caviar already on the rise—recent reports suggested 11 times weekly order volume since Square originally acquired it—an expansion does make sense.

This is actually a great idea. Combining a mobile payment platform and a food delivery service just works; it’s that complementary good I described earlier. Pay for the food on the payment platform, order it delivered from the same interface, and have the same company’s delivery service get the food to the door.

It’s a great idea, and should be a rousing success. Even restaurants that wouldn’t ordinarily deliver can become delivery restaurants with this approach, and if the Federal Aviation Administration would just get out of the way already, we could be using drones for this to send food just about anywhere a drone battery can reach.

Square may not be expanding Caviar, but this new acquisition suggests it might be. Soon, all restaurants may be delivery restaurants, and with mobile payments to pay for it all, figuring out a night’s dinner may be easier than ever.