Brief:

• Burger King partnered with food-delivery service DoorDash to offer delivery from 1,300 locations throughout the United States, per a statement. As part of their partnership, Burger King is offering free delivery for orders of $15 or more on Labor Day weekend, from August 31 to September 3.
• Customers can place Burger King orders at DoorDash.com or on the DoorDash mobile app, which is available on iOS and Android. DoorDash is now available in more than 1,000 cities in the United States and Canada.
• In addition, DoorDash on Tuesday announced it had paired with Chipotle Mexican Grill to provide deliveries from more than 1,800 locations nationwide, per Reuters. The burrito chain offered free delivery on any order of $10 or more for a limited time.

Insight:

Burger King has ramped up its transformation efforts this year, and it is expanding its delivery capabilities as it attempts to keep up with rivals like McDonald's that have aggressively pushed ahead with delivery service. McDonald's has rolled out delivery service with UberEats in the past year and a half after testing the service with about 220 McDonald’s stores in Florida. McDonald's last month celebrated the one-year anniversary of its delivery partnership with Uber Eats in Canada with a social media sweepstakes.

Burger King's partnership with DoorDash isn't the first time the burger chain has tried out delivery services. The company was a trailblazer in fast-food delivery with its 2011 test of BK Delivers in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami and Washington, D.C., per QSR magazine.

While BK Delivers was not a success, much has changed in the past decade, including the greater technological sophistication of services like DoorDash, GrubHub and UberEats, and greater customer demand for food deliveries among the millennial generation. Off-premise sales have increased 0.5% this year from to-go and delivery services, according to a report by marketing agency Acosta and restaurant consulting firm Technomic. Their annual survey found that 51% of total U.S. diners and 77% of millennials have ordered food for delivery in the prior few months.

DoorDash two weeks ago introduced a $9.99-a-month subscription service that offers unlimited, no-fee deliveries on orders of $15 or more, and is currently available in California, Texas and the Midwest. Wendy's, The Cheesecake Factory, California Pizza Kitchen and White Castle are among the restaurants that offer DashPass delivery. The company also added a free pickup service, but didn't disclose which or how many restaurants were participating.