After an Online Petition, All Major Food Delivery Apps Now Serve Wards 7 and 8

Following a communal plea for equal treatment by southeast diners, Doordash is the latest company to commit to delivering food across the Anacostia River — an area of D.C. that’s historically been snubbed by several restaurant-related apps until now.

Postmates and Caviar, which also previously avoided Wards 7 and 8, finally authorized service there in April. That means all D.C. residents can now order from all three apps and get food delivered to their doorstep.

The companies were put on notice about the dearth of delivery options by a Spendrise campaign organized by Ward 7 resident Latoya Watson in early April; the petition has since gathered 800 signatures of support. About half of the signers identified as residents of Ward 7 or Ward 8 and the other half indicated they are current customers of Caviar, Postmates, or Doordash.

“I live in River Terrace [in Ward 7], and I worked downtown. The disparity between what I could access at work versus at home is astounding,” Watson says in an official statement. “Black people deserve quality food and equal service, and that’s why I started this campaign. Something has to change.”

Postmates was the first to respond and expand to all of D.C. on April 18. An “Eat-In for Equal Service” campaign planned for April 27 pushed the remaining service providers to come on board; residents were being asked to only order from companies actively serving all eight wards. On April 25, Caviar agreed to expand its coverage to the unserved wards. Doordash followed a day later.

Restaurants including chain pizzeria Mellow Mushroom, Lebanese eatery Muncheez, DC Wingos, and Imm Thai got in on the call to action via social media:

• Petiton hopes to end DC’s food delivery desert east of Anacostia River [WTOP]