>are you saying the market was so small that it might as well not have existed?
They're saying that the space these companies are competing in literally did not exist. It didn't in the US, maybe not 15 years ago, but 20 years ago it was nonexistent.
Waiters on Wheels was founded in 1987 and had cornered the market. But they really only did large orders as far as I'm aware; used more for a corporate lunch than a dinner for two at home.
B2B and B2C are so different from each other they are essentially entirely different market segments, even if they are providing roughly equivalent services.
They're saying that the space these companies are competing in literally did not exist. It didn't in the US, maybe not 15 years ago, but 20 years ago it was nonexistent.