On your bike as Deliveroo's dark kitchens get set for launch

Once a fortnight Deliveroo's Australian manager, Levi Aron, pulls on one of the start-up's reflective nylon jackets and hops on his bike as a delivery rider.

"You never know what is going to happen," Aron tells Fairfax Media. "One day I delivered to a middle-aged couple and they went back inside and came out carefully counting out $5 worth of 20¢ coins in a tip."

For Aron the benefits aren't the tips but instead the chance to get a different perspective on the booming food delivery business he heads up.

"I get to check out the technology and ride with other riders and see where they are coming from," he says.

It's all part of Aron's attempt to keep it real as Deliveroo gets set to take the next big leap in food delivery in Australia launching its so called "dark kitchens", known as Deliveroo Editions here.

Dark kitchens

Deliveroo Editions enables the British start-up, which was most recently valued at more than $2.6 billion, to bypass eat-in diners and restaurants' existing customer bases all together by building 15 vertically integrated kitchens in Australia. Read more