DoorDash

By 2019 DoorDash had become the largest on-demand food delivery platform in the US, but it had never operated outside North America. Australia's delivery market was already crowded — Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Menulog were entrenched, and Foodora had exited the year before amid gig-economy legal battles. DoorDash chose Melbourne, "the most livable city in the world", as its first offshore beachhead, drawn by the density and diversity of its food scene.

Rather than launching thin, DoorDash signed thousands of Melbourne restaurants before day one — national chains like Nando's, Salsa's, Boost Juice and Betty's Burgers alongside local favourites — so the app felt full from the first open.

The launch offer was free delivery on all orders over $10 for the first 30 days, plus a "30 or $30" promotion guaranteeing delivery within 30 minutes or a $30 credit — a direct attack on the incumbents' weakest point, delivery reliability.

DoorDash established its Australian head office in Melbourne with around 50 direct jobs, courted by Invest Victoria, and framed the entry around supporting local restaurant operations rather than just aggregating them. It flagged expansion through Melbourne's suburbs, surrounding regional cities and "Australia broadly" through 2019–2020.

DoorDash entered late and priced patiently while competitors fell: Foodora (2018), Deliveroo (2022) and eventually Menulog all exited, leaving DoorDash as the main medium-term threat to Uber Eats — later differentiating through unique partnerships such as its tie-up with Aldi.

• A local GM at launch, an agency for the noise. The Melbourne launch was fronted by DoorDash Australia general manager Thomas Stephens, with PR, social and influencer work run by Australian agency Haystac (BWM Dentsu) — DoorDash's first brand launch outside North America.
• The founding GM built a $1B business. Rebecca Burrows, DoorDash Australia's founding general manager, scaled the business from a team of about 15 to 220 employees and beyond $1 billion in topline revenue, reaching profitability ahead of schedule — launching Australia's first third-party grocery delivery, the DashPass subscription and a white-label delivery offering, plus the New Zealand expansion.
• Local leaders got exported. Burrows relocated to San Francisco in 2022 to run DoorDash's international operations across Canada, Australia and New Zealand — succeeded locally by Melbourne-based GM Puji Fernando (2022–2024). Australia became a leadership farm, not just a market.

• Full marketplace at launch — pre-signed chains meant no empty-app problem.
• Promotions targeted at switching behaviour, not just awareness.
• A real local HQ gave credibility with restaurants, regulators and government.
• Late-mover discipline — let better-funded rivals exhaust themselves, then consolidated share as they exited.

• First market outside North America (September 2019)
• ~50 direct jobs created at the Melbourne head office at launch
• Thousands of restaurants live on the platform from day one
• One of only two major platforms still standing as Menulog wound down

1. Enter a saturated market only with a sharp, operational point of difference — DoorDash chose delivery-time reliability.
2. Pre-signing supply before launch beats spending the same money on ads after launch.
3. A local HQ and government relationship (Invest Victoria) smooths entry into a market wary of gig-economy operators.
4. In shakeout markets, survival is a strategy: the last well-capitalised challenger inherits the exiters' share.