SAN FRANCISCO – Uber is adding grocery delivery through its Uber and Uber Eats apps in several U.S. cities, the company said Wednesday.

The ride-hailing service is collaborating with Cornershop, a grocery delivery startup based in Santiago, Chile. Uber last year agreed to take a majority stake in Cornershop, and the deal is expected to close soon, Uber said in a July 7 statement.

Raj Beri, global head of grocery at Uber, said the deal will help the company realize its vision of being a one-stop shop for all of its customers’ food occasions. “Today’s product integration marks an important step in our partnership with the team at Cornershop to bring grocery delivery to millions of consumers on the Uber platform,” Beri said.

Cornershop provides delivery services in Latin America, and has made recent entries into markets in the United States and Canada.

“We launched Cornershop almost exactly five years ago today, and it’s hard to imagine a better way to celebrate our anniversary than joining forces with the best on-demand platform around. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Uber to take our mission to millions,” said Oskar Hjertonsson, Cornershop’s founder and chief executive officer. “Uber is the perfect partner to bring on-demand groceries from incredible merchant partners at the touch of a button across the Americas.”

Uber has experimented with grocery delivery in more than 30 countries, and demand has surged 176% since February, the company said. Uber hopes to eventually make the grocery delivery service available worldwide. Grocery delivery in the United States is a competitive business, with established rivals like Instacart and Amazon Fresh, Grubhub and DoorDash.

Uber’s ride-hailing business has plummeted during the coronavirus pandemic, but demand for delivery of restaurant meals through Uber Eats has soared. To augment that business, Uber this week announced it would acquire food-delivery service Postmates.

“Uber and Postmates have long shared a belief that platforms like ours can power much more than just food delivery — they can be a hugely important part of local commerce and communities, all the more important during crises like COVID-19,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a July 6 statement.