Unlocking Economic Growth in Regional Australia Through Digital Delivery
Oxford Economics Australia delivered an independent economic impact assessment for Uber Eats, quantifying additional revenue for restaurants, GDP contribution, and consumer wellbeing benefits across 67 new regional markets.
Background: Regional Restaurants Faced Revenue Limits Amid Rising Costs and Digital Gaps
Despite growing regional populations and rising demand for convenience, many local restaurants in regional Australia lacked access to cost-effective digital delivery solutions. This limited their ability to reach more customers, adapt to post-pandemic business challenges, and meet seasonal demand without overextending their resources.
The Challenge: Bringing Tech-Driven Convenience to Underserved Regions
Uber Eats needed to expand into over 100 regional towns, but required a robust, evidence-based framework to understand the full economic and social impact of such a move. With varying demographics, digital readiness, and employment conditions across regions, a detailed, location-specific assessment was essential to ensure stakeholder confidence and investment alignment.
The Solution: Quantifying Growth: Evidence-Based Insights to Power Regional Expansion
Oxford Economics Australia partnered with Uber Eats to provide a detailed economic impact assessment. Deliverables included:
- Estimation of $45 million in additional restaurant revenue from new regional locations.
- A quantified $19 million GDP contribution, identifying the direct impact of increased demand.
- $161 million in consumer wellbeing value, calculated through consumer surplus methodology, indicating strong consumer demand and satisfaction.
This data-driven analysis helped Uber Eats make strategic expansion decisions while communicating clear value to local businesses, policymakers, and community stakeholders. The study’s conservative modelling ensured credible, decision-ready insights, reinforcing the platform’s role in enabling inclusive economic growth.
The experts behind the research
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Angus ColovicSenior Economist, OE Australia
Angus is a Senior Economist in Oxford Economics Australia’s Consulting team, where he leads economic impact assessments, cost-benefit analyses, and input-output modelling to inform major investment and policy decisions. With a background in applied microeconomics and advanced quantitative methods, he advises government and private sector clients on complex, data-driven questions. He previously held consulting roles at PwC and KPMG.
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Michael BrennanDirector - Economic Impact
Michael Brennan is a Director at Oxford Economics, based in Australia, specialising in applied microeconomics, including cost-benefit analysis, program evaluation, business cases and economic impact assessment. He has extensive experience advising government and corporate clients across transport, energy, technology, defence and infrastructure sectors.
Before joining Oxford Economics, Michael held leadership roles at Accenture Strategy, AlphaBeta and Deloitte Access Economics, where he led major projects on the energy transition, digital transformation, infrastructure investment and workforce planning. His work has influenced public policy, government investment decisions and regulation across some of Australia’s most critical industries.
Michael holds a Bachelor of Economics (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia.
