Ranking Candidate Cities for an Uber Eats Expansion: Criteria, Scoring and Pilot Plan

Uber has decided to bring Uber Eats, its food-delivery service, to a few cities where it is not yet available. As the product manager, how would you decide which cities get the launch? ```hint A marketplace has three sides A city only works when customers, restaurants and couriers all show up at once, at a cost that can eventually pay off. Ask which of those you can already observe in a candidate city before spending anything. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Which country or region are the candidate cities in, how many cities are we picking, and over what time frame? - Do the candidate cities already have Uber rides, so there is an existing rider base and driver pool to draw on? - What does the company want most from these launches: the fastest market share, a quick path to profitability, or learning for a wider rollout? - Are there budget or team limits that cap how many cities can launch at the same time? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - Setting the launch goal first and showing how it changes the selection criteria. - Criteria covering all three sides of the marketplace (demand, restaurant supply, courier supply), plus competition, unit economics, regulation and operational readiness. - Concrete, measurable signals for each criterion, especially ones the existing rides business can provide. - A transparent scoring or ranking method, a check of how sensitive the ranking is to its weights, and validation before committing. - A pilot plan with success metrics, guardrails and criteria for scaling up or pulling back. ### Follow-up Questions - The top-scoring city has an entrenched competitor with most of the market. Do you still launch there? - After launch, couriers are scarce at dinner time because drivers prefer ride requests. What would you do? - Three months in, how would you decide whether a launch city is working?