Dive Brief:

• Amazon is leveraging its Prime Now program in its hometown of Seattle to experiment with restaurant delivery, GeekWire reports.

• The move is an experiment in an already crowded space, with on-demand, app-services like GrubHub, Cavier, UberEats, Postmates, and others flooding the streets in cities like San Francisco with food deliveries from grocery stores, restaurants, and liquor stores.

• Another such experiment is Amazon’s recent move, also through Prime Now in Seattle, to offer one- and two-hour delivery of beer, wine, and spirits. 

Dive Insight:

Amazon has offered restaurant takeout delivery in the past, but until now has mostly used third-party services itself to cycle or drive food to customers. Its Prime Now experiments in Seattle indicate that the retailer sees promise in these models despite the fact that, especially in food delivery, its bike and car-based messengers will be passing by those of several other companies as they ride back and forth.

For now, though, the experiment is being offered only to Amazon employees, according to GeekWire.