Local restaurants owners are fed up with the fees associated with third party delivery apps, but feel they have no choice but to continue using them if they want to continue to stay in business.
The restaurant industry has been hit hard throughout the pandemic, especially during the second wave, with indoor dining shuttered and business limited to take-out and delivery.
Currently third party apps are not allowed to collect more than 25 percent in fees from restaurants after pressure from the Ford Government to ‘cap’ delivery charges; however owners say it's not enough.
“I’m so livid but if I don’t have [a delivery app], I have to lay off all my employees," shares frustrated restaurant owner Edson Nava of La MexiCanada on Holland Street.
Since the pandemic began, restaurant owners have been making extreme (and costly) changes to the interiors of their restaurants to accommodate Covid regulations, along with patio additions and extensions to help keep business flowing. However, with a second lockdown, owners are feeling defeated. Without the option of indoor dining, they are forced to focus on the only options to get the food out the door – delivery and take-out.
“We don’t do delivery because we don’t have the man-power,” says Nava, who has had to lay off staff twice since the pandemic began. “But [third party delivery apps] take a commission from us – 25 percent is a lot of money!”
As the Ford government urges people to stay home, third party delivery companies continue to see a rise in online orders for many local restaurants. But fees associated with those third-party delivery apps can leave zero margin for profit.
Back in October, popular delivery company Uber Eats lowered its delivery fees with certain stipulations to both restaurants and customers ordering online, however, that fee percentage has since gone back up in the new year.
Skip the Dishes implemented a similar support package at the start of the pandemic that included a 25 percent commission rebate for restaurant partners, and state that independent restaurant partners on the platform are currently paying less than 20 percent in commission while their dining rooms are closed.
“We continue to work side by side with our restaurant partners to provide direct, impactful support, and in addition to our 25 percent rebate, Skip’s support package includes: 0 percent commission rate for new restaurants joining the network during the lockdown period, 10.5 percent commission rate to any restaurant on Skip looking to utilize staff to facilitate their own delivery while leveraging Skip's technology and customer base, and the continuation of our restaurant tipping initiative, which has seen over $1.2 million in generous donations from Skip customers go directly to local restaurants," states a spokesperson from Skip The Dishes.
Despite the incentives in place by both delivery parties, local restaurant owners say they are still struggling to make ends meet, let alone make any profit from take-out and delivery orders.
“I haven’t seen any change in fees,” shared Amber Lee, manager of Bradford’s St Louis Bar & Grill, who said that the restaurant relies solely on Skip the Dishes to help deliver their take-out orders. “We only use Skip to assist with our deliveries… I assume that if the fees got too ridiculous, our head office would shut it down and look elsewhere for options."
On the other side of the coin, former Skip the Dishes delivery driver Brandon Thornton said that he was not making enough as a driver, and ultimately had to leave the company to find alternate employment. Thornton worked for Skip from February to April 2020 in Bradford, and says he was spending more money on gas than he was making with the app.
“With Skip, you have to give a tip on their app, it’s mandatory and you can’t bypass that… 10-15 percent tip plus the $2.99 or $3.99 delivery fee customers pay and that’s it – that’s our paycheck,” said Thornton.
Thornton says that Skip the Dishes does not pay employees an additional fee for delivery; drivers' only payment is from the fees associated with the app plus any tip received from customer orders. On top of that, Thornton adds that Skip does not provide any personal protective equipment, forcing its drivers to provide their own protection out of their own pockets.
“I was lucky to be making maybe $20-$30 during a 3-4 hour shift,” said Thornton, who was averaging 25-30 hours a week making deliveries in Bradford. “It’s not like I was getting an hourly rate on top of these orders… it wasn’t worth it."
Cody Thor, who has been a delivery driver with Uber Eats since September of last year, shares a similar experience to Thornton's, but adds that she at least receives a ‘base pay’ of $3 on top of the delivery fee, although zero tip most of the time.
“All I get is $3 per order and what I really depend on are the tips," says Thor. “But there’s many customers who don’t tip at all, or only tip under a dollar because they don’t understand that that’s all we’re making."
Thor explains that Uber Eats can also make ‘adjustments’ to the tips based on whether they feel the driver was ‘good’ or not, and that most times she doesn’t receive her final tip until hours after the delivery was done. Thor works approximately 20 hours a week and focuses on the ‘dinner shifts.’
“That’s where the money is”, she says - but still makes just under $200 a week, and does not get compensated for her gas during travel.
“Uber Eats doesn’t pay enough in my opinion,” admits Thor. “And customers are too cheap - the lowest tip I got was 50 cents because Uber Eats is charging them enough, so they feel they don’t need to tip."
Uber Eats did not respond to BradfordToday's request for comment.
While frustrated drivers and maxed-out restaurant owners continue to remain in ‘survival’ mode, two creative Ontario developers have stepped up to try and help restaurants take back their income, and have recently developed alternate apps that attempt to steer customers around the third-party delivery fees.
'Not-ubereats.com' is a new app created by developer Randy Singh which serves to help customers find nearby restaurants that offer their own delivery service, cutting out third-party fees and commissions.
Another app called 'Ambassador,' developed by Nav Sanga, provides restaurants with an online platform to process their own take-out and delivery orders. Instead of instead of charging a fee per order, Ambassador charges restaurant owners a flat monthly rate of $99.
Both apps are designed to be temporary initiatives designed to help restaurants in the interim, but only assist those restaurants that have their own delivery services already in place.
In Ottawa, an alternate local delivery option was launched to help restaurants tired of paying third-party app fees.
Karen Wood is the creator of 'Love Local Delivery', a site which bypasses commission fees by employing independent delivery drivers to transport foods to customers who pay a direct fee of $5, while restaurants pay a $2 fee to be part of the platform. Drivers are also compensated for their kilometres.
To help support local restaurants during lockdown, the Bradford Board of Trade (BBT) recently launched a take-out challenge, encouraging residents to order take-out from a local restaurant, take a picture of their meal, and post on social media with the hashtag #BWGtakeout and tag of the restaurant.
Each post counts as an entry in a weekly draw where one lucky winner receives a $100 gift certificate to be used at any participating restaurant.
For more information about the #BWGtakeout challenge, visit: BWG Takeout Challenge | BBT (bradfordboardoftrade.com)
