Food Delivery App Crisis Plan: Responding to the COVID-19 Outbreak in March 2020
Company: Meta
Role: Product Manager
Category: Product / Decision Making
Difficulty: medium
Interview Round: Other
It is March 2020, and COVID-19 is spreading quickly. You are the product manager for a food delivery app of your choice. Explain how you would respond: what you would do in the first weeks, how you would prioritize among competing needs, what longer-term changes you would plan, and how you would track whether the response is working.
```hint Every side changed at once
Think through what lockdowns and fear of infection do to each group the app depends on: customers, restaurants and couriers. Then separate what must happen this week from what can wait.
```
### Clarifying Questions
- Which app and which market are we talking about, and does it rely on its own pool of independent couriers or mainly on restaurants that deliver themselves?
- Has leadership set a priority for this period: growth, supporting restaurants and couriers, or protecting profitability?
- What are local governments requiring right now, for example dine-in closures or stay-at-home orders, and are deliveries treated as an essential service?
- How much budget is available for fee waivers, courier support or safety supplies?
### What a Strong Answer Covers
- An assessment of how the outbreak shifts customer demand, restaurant supply and courier supply, with the safety of couriers and customers treated as a firm constraint.
- Concrete product and operational changes for each side of the marketplace, sequenced into immediate, near-term and longer-term phases.
- A way to prioritize under heavy uncertainty that weighs urgency, impact, effort and reversibility.
- Metrics and guardrails for tracking the response, including marketplace balance and safety.
- Risks such as regulation, reputation and what happens to demand when restrictions ease.
### Follow-up Questions
- Orders surge while many couriers stop working out of fear of infection. What do you do first?
- A city proposes capping the commission delivery apps charge restaurants. How do you respond as the product owner?
- Which of your changes would you keep after restrictions end, and how would you decide?
Overview: A Meta product manager execution question set in March 2020, asking how you would lead a food delivery app of your choice through the COVID-19 outbreak. It tests how you assess changes for customers, restaurants and couriers, sequence urgent and longer-term actions, prioritize under uncertainty and track the response.