Delivery Apps killing Eat Places

I don’t use these services, so I have no personal experience.
What say you?

I don’t use delivery apps - but it was an interesting read.

If they are so bad for business, why do restaurants participate?

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Two sides of a coin here. Near me, Restaurant A and Restaurant B were both opened by the same guy (left A to open B, after a falling out with the business partner). We are in the delivery service catchment for Restaurant A and use it periodically. We no longer eat there, as the food isnt quite as good as Restaurant B, which we visit fairly regularly (and is outside our delivery area). A couple of visits ago, we got chatting to the owner of B on this very subject, asking him if he planned to start doing deliveries in that area. He said “no”, because his judgement was that the high commission demanded by the delivery service would hit his profits too hard (although he did say he might consider doing delivery directly). He said the delivery company would charge him 30% of posted menu price which, I’d have to agree, seems extortionate. So, effectively, he would have reduced profits but still his fixed overheads. So, yeah, I have lots of empathy with his view. But I’m also a really big fan of restaurant quality food being delivered to my door.

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Some of what’s in the article seems legit, but not all of it. For starters, restaurants have the option of not offering delivery, or of offering delivery only to people who call, so if the apps are “killing” them, maybe don’t use the apps.

The reason the delivery services are useful is that there’s often a language barrier between restaurant employees and English-only me, so being able to type my order and address is helpful. I only use Seamless and Delivery, and I’m pretty sure that my food is delivered by a restaurant employee (I recognize some of them), not an app employee. I also tip in cash.

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But the new generation of Social Scientists will tell us: “This will all sort itself out.” :rofl:

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I’m in nyc and use seamless occasionally. For restaurants that are fairly close they send their own staff delivery person, further away it’s likely to be a delivery service driver.
I’m aware of the fees to the restaurants and there are two places i order from that don’t have delivery people on staff and use only the app delivery people- so therefore the restaurant is able to employ one less person. I do call or use the restaurants’ own website to place an order when possible- when i was ordering in every night in philly i always called in my orders since they were local businesses and there weren’t any langut barriers
Restaurants can certainly adjust their menu prices to stay profitable-and from what i can tell locally they do.
I always tip in cash- generally for everything everywhere possible

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But who gets the tip? The delivery guy or the establishment?

There is plenty wrong with the system, but the article doesn’t make much sense other than as a rant.

There are enough complaints about owners not giving wait staff tips and the kitchen staff getting none of it in most cases, but from the article it’s utopia until the delivery apps come in… ok.

Where’s the balance? Some delivery services open up a much wider delivery radius to a restaurant than it could otherwise cater to, tiny restaurants may choose only to deliver via a service so they don’t need to have their own delivery person, online order technology is provided where some restaurants might never have been able to afford creating it for themselves, and so on.

I wish the author had actually done some research on the various apps and how their systems vary - would have been more helpful than painting them all with a single ranting stroke.

These apps aren’t going away any more than other technology is, but we can choose to patronize the ones that use good business practices vs not.

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I have no dog in this hunt, as i live just far enough outside a medium-sized city that none of them operate here.

But.

The service can’t damage a restaurant without the restaurant’s participation. If their accounting is lax enough that they dont realuze that the fees are not workable until its too late, then the problem is the accounting, not the service. If the delivery fees are 30% of the check, then I’d raise the prices to that service or would simply forgo it altogether and would hire a delivery driver…and maybe pay him and my staff a decent wage.

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I hand cash to the poor guy who is schlepping food around manhattan on foot or bike- and i watch him shove it in a pocket. So I’m going with doubtful he does or is even expected to hand over to said establishment he works for.
And I’m ok with that since my feeling is generally the delivery guy (and it’s always a male) isn’t making a living wage

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As someone who delivers for a couple of services in my town, I can attest to the fact that the drivers get the tip. Because the delivery fee for each delivery (regardless of how far, or how high the total $ of the order) is a measly $3.25.

Plenty of restaurants in our area opt out, but just as many are good with paying the 30% the delivery services charge them.

It also means they don’t have to hire their own delivery drivers. AFAICT, it’s a win/win situation, at least in a smallish college town. There’s obviously a market for delivery.

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Agree with everything that’s been said here. In my immediate neighborhood, very few places deliver except the local pizza/sub shops and then a lot of Chinese places who hire their own delivery. In other words, delivery is so limited that unless I want pizza (bleh), I’m cooking or I have to walk to pick it up.

The advent of delivery services has been helpful for those nights/days when I really need delivery, and it’s allowed me to try different restaurants that I don’t always get to. The fees they mention are indeed crazy! This is where more competition could be helpful. I understand delivery services may need a large fee to encourage good, reliable workers to work for them, but it’s a hard balance with a restaurant industry that often has small margins. Hiring a reliable dedicated delivery person may sound like a way to circumvent the fees, but it’s a big hit to your expenses.

I’d like to think this is killing any restaurants, as it’s an option to sign up, but there is a role for delivery services. Hopefully with time, they’ll work out the right model that can benefit both vendors, and give customers reasonably priced food options.

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No doubt, delivery apps have reduced the footfall to the restaurants leading to decreased sales and profit. But, restaurants must evolve with time. They need to make us of the technology and go online and start delivering food straight to their consumers’ doorsteps using an ideal online ordering software like Hyperzod and Shopify.
This will increase both sales and consumer outreach.

The lightbulb put kerosene lamp companies out of business. It will sort itself out.

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And CFL’s have put the light bulb companies out of business!

But on topic-- We only use a local company here in Portland “2dinein” but they have gone the route of a delivery fee PLUS padding the menu items $1 to $3. They didn’t do the padding when they started out (iirc). Obviously they’re doing what they feel is necessary but while we like them it has significantly cut back on how often we use them-- from 2-3 times a week to once or twice a month.

The bigger reason for our cut back though it the restaurants’ own prices. E.g., the chicken picatta from our fav local place was a $13.95 lunch special just before COVID hit. Now it’s $19.75. That + fee, tax, & tip = a $60 bill for 2. It’s now a “special occasion” meal.

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“And CFL’s have put the light bulb companies out of business!”

or mebbe:
In April of 2022, The Biden Administration in conjunction with the Department of Energy implemented new standards that ban the manufacturing of most traditional incandescent light bulbs past July of 2022 – and prohibits anyone from selling them past February of 2023.

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Good move :slight_smile:

They use about a 1/4 of the energy of incandescent bulbs while lasting up to 6 times longer.

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and are not suited to every single application.
and cost more than 3x their savings
and about 150% of them are made in China and fail near immediately.
the life expectancy has been greatly exaggerated.
the environmental impact has been greatly suppressed.
but, heh, why not - feels good, do it.

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:zipper_mouth_face:

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