A new food delivery service is on the scene in Montreal, as San Francisco-based DoorDash has launched in the city today (August 14).

DoorDash has been on an expansion binge within Canada, aiming to be present in 100 cities by the end of 2019 — it’s been present in English Canada for some time now (it launched in Toronto in 2015), but Montreal is its first move into the francophone world.

Upon its launch, DoorDash is sticking mostly to the west side of the city: it’s available in Côte-des-Neiges, NDG, Lachine, Westmount, Ville-St-Laurent, Town of Mount-Royal (TMR), and Ahuntsic-Cartierville as of today. More neighbourhoods and boroughs should be added in the first few weeks, including the Plateau, Little Italy, and the Ville-Marie/downtown area — DoorDash is planning to eventually deliver to all of the greater Montreal area.

The full list of some 300-odd Montreal restaurants that have signed up with DoorDash is on its website, but includes plenty of local chains like Notre Boeuf de Grace, Korean resto Mon Ami, shawarma favourite Boustan, and most companies under the Foodtastic umbrella, such as burger joint La Belle et La Boeuf and pizzeria Bacaro; deliveries operate from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

The company has also set up two offices in Montreal — a downtown office will deal with the corporate side, while another in Ville-St-Laurent will bring in delivery contractors.

DoorDash’s set-up is similar in function to existing delivery services in the city — restaurants sign up to work with the company, and deliveries are carried by a fleet of DoorDash’s own contractors, not the restaurants themselves. Germany-based Foodora operates similarly, as does Uber Eats — DoorDash joins those two companies in an increasingly crowded delivery scene in the city.

Similarly to other companies’ oft-criticized policies, DoorDash’s delivery cyclists and drivers are not employees, but “independent contractors”, meaning they are not subject to minimum wage laws. Doordash did face an additional controversy last month due to a policy where it counted customer tips towards its base wages for delivery workers, instead of as a bonus on top. It has since changed that policy.

There are a couple of somewhat more local options, too — Montreal-based Golo has a similar function (although it also delivers products from retail stores), and there’s Skip The Dishes, which is based out of Winnipeg, but was acquired by British company Just Eat in 2018.