Uber Eats offers free delivery from restaurants owned and run by black people

Company says it will also be offering discounted rides to black businesses impacted by Covid-19

Uber Eats announces free delivery for black-owned restaurants (Stock)

Uber Eats has announced it will be waiving delivery fees for orders placed from restaurants run and owned by black people for the remainder of the year.

“We are committed to supporting the black community,” the ride-sharing company's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a statement shared Thursday. “As a starting point, we will use Uber Eats to promote black-owned restaurants while making it easier for you to support them, with no delivery fees for the remainder of the year.”

When users open the Uber Eats app in major US and Canadian cities, they see a notice at the top that says “support black-owned restaurants.”

“You asked for an easy way to order from black-owned restaurants - we listened,” the app reads above listings for restaurants owned by black people in your area.

On Twitter, Uber Eats followed up the announcement with a video in which it names various restaurants owned by black people throughout the country.

In the statement shared Thursday, the ride-sharing company also said it was making a number of other commitments in support of black Americans, including offering discounted rides to black-owned small businesses “who have been hit hard by Covid-19”.

“I wish that the lives of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless others weren’t so violently cut short,” Khosrowshahi wrote. “I wish that institutional racism, and the police violence it gives rise to, didn’t cause their deaths.”

Khosrowshahi also reiterated Uber’s commitment to creating a “community that treats everyone equally and with dignity” and said the company does not tolerate “discrimination, harassment, or racism” on its platform.

“We will hold everyone who uses Uber accountable to these standards of basic respect and human decency,” Khosrowshahi continued. “I respectfully ask anyone not willing to abide by these rules to delete Uber.”

Uber’s announcement comes as numerous companies have pledged their commitment to supporting the black community amid ongoing protests against police brutality and racism in the US following the death of George Floyd.