• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • Finance
  • Politics
  • US News
  • Political Humor
  • Technology
Restaurants, delivery apps still at odds as demand grows

Restaurants, delivery apps still at odds as demand grows

April 21, 2021
Micro Market Vending

Micro Market Vending: Revolutionizing Workplace Breaks

August 27, 2025
Corporate Catering

Corporate Catering: The Smart Way to Fuel Workplace Events

August 27, 2025
music downloader

Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

August 26, 2025
youtube downloader

The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

August 26, 2025
y2mate

Download YouTube Videos Easily: Top 5 Free Online Tools

August 26, 2025

Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

August 26, 2025
mp3 juice

Top 5 MP3 Downloaders You Can Use on Any Device

August 25, 2025
Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

August 22, 2025
youtube to mp3

The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

August 21, 2025
Ivermectin 3 mg

Ivermectin 3 mg for River Blindness: A Trusted Preventive Treatment

August 14, 2025
TikTok Video Downloader

Fast and Free TikTok Video Downloader – No App Needed

August 12, 2025
ERP for Manufacturing

ERP for Manufacturing: What It Is, How AI Is Transforming It, and Your Guide to Building Custom ERP Software

August 8, 2025
  • About
  • NewsTalkFlorida
  • SportsTalkFlorida
  • FeedBox
Saturday, August 30, 2025
  • Login
  • Register
Inside The Nation
  • Daily Buzz
    How To Insulate External Doors: A Simple and Effective Guide

    How To Insulate External Doors: A Simple and Effective Guide

    Door-Rain-Deflector

    How an Exterior Door Rain Deflector Can Improve Your Home’s Curb Appeal

    The Dodgers add another star pitcher Kirby Yates

    The Dodgers add another star pitcher Kirby Yates

    NFL Network analyst Marc Ross rips Giants: “They’re a mess!”

    The Commanders lost to the Eagles but won back their fans

    NFL Network analyst Marc Ross rips Giants: “They’re a mess!”

    With Super Bowl LIX around corner, which team gets most action?

    Leading US-Bred Dirt Horses Have Excellent Chance at Dubai World Cup

  • US News
    • All
    • EDUCATION
    youth life coach Austin

    The Inspired Minds Approach to Helping Teens Navigate Life with Strength

    non denominational church

    Discovering Spiritual Growth at Plano’s Non-Denominational Churches

    Succeeding in NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 3 and 4: Elevating Your Nursing Practice with Data and Leadership

    Succeeding in NURS FPX 4050 Assessment 3 and 4: Elevating Your Nursing Practice with Data and Leadership

    teen confidence coach

    Your Teen Deserves to Feel Confident—Let Austin’s Top Life Coach Help

    electric panel repair

    Top Signs Your Home Needs Electrical Repairs

    How Tutoring Services Can Benefit A Child’s Education

    How Tutoring Services Can Benefit A Child’s Education

  • Politics
    • All
    • international News
    10 Reasons You Need a Firearms Lawyer for Gun Ownership Rights

    10 Reasons You Need a Firearms Lawyer for Gun Ownership Rights

    The Rays and the A’s future remains in flux

    The Rays and the A’s future remains in flux

    Harris Shines In Her Debate With Trump

    Harris Shines In Her Debate With Trump

    Look For Shapiro To Replace Blinken As Secretary Of State In A Harris Administration

    Look For Shapiro To Replace Blinken As Secretary Of State In A Harris Administration

    Harris Expected To Name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz As Her Running Mate

    Live Video Coverage Of The 2024 DNC: Gov. Tim Walz Gets His Night To Shine

    Live Video Coverage of the Republican National Convention

    DNC 2024 The Obama’s Rock Chicago, While Pelosi Handles Protesters

    Live Video Coverage of the Republican National Convention

    Live Coverage of the 2024 Democratic National Convention: “Thank You Joe,” It Is Biden’s Night

    Biden Accomplished More Than Any Other President Since FDR – But Harris Has The Roadmap To The Future

    GOP Attacks on Harris and Walz are just wrong and misleading

    It’s Harris-Walz 2024: The Minnesota Govenor Wins The Veep Stakes

    It’s Harris-Walz 2024: The Minnesota Govenor Wins The Veep Stakes

    Harris Expected To Name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz As Her Running Mate

    Harris Expected To Name Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz As Her Running Mate

    • Political Humor
      youtube downloader

      The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

      Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

      youtube to mp3

      The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

      How Can GST Help Industrial Businesses Claim Input Tax Credit Efficiently

      Innovating Nucleic Acid Detection: Advanced Minor Groove Binder (MGB) Probes and Custom Solutions

      How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

      How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

      Custom Synthesis: A Comprehensive Exploration of Key Elements in Chemical Production

      The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

      The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

      Digital physiotherapy

      How Digital Physiotherapy is Transforming Rehab: Smart Tech for Faster Recovery

  • Business
    • All
    • Finance
    • Marketing
    • Real Estate
    • Technology
    Micro Market Vending

    Micro Market Vending: Revolutionizing Workplace Breaks

    Corporate Catering

    Corporate Catering: The Smart Way to Fuel Workplace Events

    music downloader

    Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

    Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

    Rebuilding Broken Product Processes: When It’s Time to Rethink Your PLM Strategy

    ERP for Manufacturing

    ERP for Manufacturing: What It Is, How AI Is Transforming It, and Your Guide to Building Custom ERP Software

    End-to-End IDO Development Services: What to Look for in a Technology Partner

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    The Ultimate Guide to Travel Agencies in London

  • Entertainment
    music downloader

    Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

    youtube downloader

    The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

    mp3 juice

    Top 5 MP3 Downloaders You Can Use on Any Device

    TikTok Video Downloader

    Fast and Free TikTok Video Downloader – No App Needed

    ERP for Manufacturing

    ERP for Manufacturing: What It Is, How AI Is Transforming It, and Your Guide to Building Custom ERP Software

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    Cannes to Host D-Day Film Festival Honoring Joséphine Baker and Transatlantic Heritage

    Cannes to Host D-Day Film Festival Honoring Joséphine Baker and Transatlantic Heritage

    yt1s

    Yt1s – Download YouTube Videos & Music in Seconds

    mp3juice

    Free YouTube to MP3 Downloader – You Should Try Now

    download youtube videos in mp3

    Download YouTube Videos in MP3– Free & Easy

  • Environment
    youtube downloader

    The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

    Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

    youtube to mp3

    The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

    How Can GST Help Industrial Businesses Claim Input Tax Credit Efficiently

    Innovating Nucleic Acid Detection: Advanced Minor Groove Binder (MGB) Probes and Custom Solutions

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    Custom Synthesis: A Comprehensive Exploration of Key Elements in Chemical Production

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    Digital physiotherapy

    How Digital Physiotherapy is Transforming Rehab: Smart Tech for Faster Recovery

  • Health
    youtube downloader

    The Importance of YouTube Downloader in Today’s Digital Music World

    Molecular Dynamics Simulation: A Powerful Tool for Molecular Research

    youtube to mp3

    The Role of YouTube to MP3 Converter in the Era of Digital Music Access

    How Can GST Help Industrial Businesses Claim Input Tax Credit Efficiently

    Innovating Nucleic Acid Detection: Advanced Minor Groove Binder (MGB) Probes and Custom Solutions

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Using Tubidy

    Custom Synthesis: A Comprehensive Exploration of Key Elements in Chemical Production

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    The Benefits of Custom Application Development for Businesses in Detroit

    Digital physiotherapy

    How Digital Physiotherapy is Transforming Rehab: Smart Tech for Faster Recovery

  • Our SItes
    • FeedBox
    • NewsTalkFlorida
    • SportsTalkFlorida
No Result
View All Result
Inside The Nation
No Result
View All Result
Home Daily Buzz

Restaurants, delivery apps still at odds as demand grows

Post Pandemic People Like Eating At Home More Than Restaurants Expected

by Jim Williams
April 21, 2021
in Business, Daily Buzz
0
Restaurants, delivery apps still at odds as demand grows

effray Gardner, the owner of Marsatta Chocolate explains his artisan hand-crafted chocolates to new customer, Katherine Trontman at his company's flagship store in Torrance, Calif., Sunday, March ...

498
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Diners got used to delivery during the pandemic, and the habit may stick long after dining rooms reopen. But restaurants and delivery companies remain uneasy partners, haggling over fees and struggling to make the service profitable for themselves and each other.

Companies like DoorDash and UberEats helped many restaurants stay in business during lockdowns, allowing diners to stay in and still order out. But that convenience came at a price: Delivery companies can charge commission fees of 30% or more per order, hurting restaurants’ already meager profits.

Some restaurants, fed up with the fees, have since started their own delivery or dropped off the platforms altogether. Delivery companies are trying to keep them in the fold with lower-priced services and relief funds. But they’re not making money either.

“The relationship was bad, and it didn’t get better with the pandemic,” said Karan Girotra, a professor at Cornell University’s Johnson College of Business.

Girotra said delivery can be profitable in dense neighborhoods, where multiple orders can be delivered quickly and cheaply. But in sprawling suburbs, the cost of shuttling food gets too high.

“The economics don’t work out, so the delivery companies have to squeeze someone,” he said. “They have to squeeze the restaurants, the customers or the people working on these platforms.”

Figuring out how to make delivery profitable could be crucial in the coming years. Delivery was already growing before the pandemic, but it surged worldwide during lockdowns. Online orders for home delivery more than doubled in the U.S., Russia and Canada last year, and jumped around 30% in France, Germany and Spain, according to NPD Group, a market research company.

In a recent survey, the National Restaurant Association found that 60% of U.S. adults — and 71% of millennials — said they’re more likely to get delivery now than they were before the pandemic. But it’s unclear how many people will stick to delivery once the pandemic is over and they can dine in again.

Robbin Swaney, a retiree in Walker, Michigan, said she and her husband started getting delivery about once a week from Uber Eats early in the pandemic. At the time, they wanted to help local restaurants, but they have also come to like the convenience.

“We’ll keep doing it,” Swaney said.

Some restaurant owners still welcome delivery companies as partners. Corey Kaplan, who owns Corey’s NYC Bagel Deli in downtown Chicago, said DoorDash expanded his reach when his usual traffic of office workers dried up. The company lowered his commission fees and even provided bags.

“DoorDash singlehandedly saved this store,” said Kaplan, whose delivery orders now make up 70% of his sales, up from 20% before the pandemic.

Chocolate maker Jeffray Gardner says he probably loses money on the one or two delivery orders he gets each day at Marsatta Chocolate in Torrance, California. But he’s still happy to work with delivery companies because they help him reach a wider audience. Last year, he even drove for DoorDash and UberEats to make extra cash and meet other local restaurant owners who might stock his chocolates.

But many restaurant owners say they can’t make the math work.

Evelyn Shelton, the chef-owner of Evelyn’s Food Love in Chicago, says the food she makes in her 40-seat restaurant, like fried lobster, is expensive, so her margins are already slim. She only briefly tried third-party delivery before deciding to focus on catering to survive the pandemic.

“Doing a revenue share with someone who hasn’t bought any food or paid any labor doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “We’re too tiny to give away all the profits.”

Many U.S. and Canadian lawmakers agree, and temporarily capped the fees delivery companies can charge to restaurants during the pandemic. DoorDash said it lost $36 million in the fourth quarter alone because of fee caps in 73 cities, counties and states like Washington and Oregon.

Kevin Huang, vice president of merchant operations at San Francisco-based DoorDash, said he understands the impulse to protect restaurants. But if DoorDash charges diners more to make up for the lost revenue, then fewer people will order. That hurts restaurants and the gig workers who drive for DoorDash, he said.

Huang says the relationship between restaurants and delivery companies is frayed partly because delivery grew so quickly during the pandemic.

“Overnight they were forced to rely on delivery in order to stay open,” he said. “There were probably things lost in terms of how our business works and how our pricing structure works.”

Huang said the company is trying to build trust. It’s making more in-person visits to restaurants to educate them about their options, like building their own websites so they can bypass some DoorDash fees.

Uber Eats said it’s experimenting with new pricing tiers. It has a light plan — with a 5% commission fee — that lets restaurants use their own drivers, for example. A premium plan, with a 20% commission fee, gives restaurants more visibility on the app and access to Uber Eats drivers.

But delivery costs money, and the companies are under pressure to start showing profits. DoorDash and Uber Eats both lost money last year, even though their sales more than tripled. European rivals Deliveroo and Just Eat Takeaway.com — which recently acquired U.S. delivery company Grubhub — also lost money last year.

“If those guys can’t turn a profit, it shows how broken the system is,” said Josh Saltzman, the co-founder of Ivy and Coney, a restaurant and bar in Washington.

Last May, Saltzman formed D.C. To-GoGo, a delivery service for independent restaurants.

D.C. To-GoGo now has 62 restaurants and 20 delivery drivers who make an average of $18 to $28 per hour, including tips, Saltzman said. The site charges restaurants a 15% commission.

Others are trying to band restaurants together. The Restaurant Empowerment Project, which was founded late last year by Oakland, California-based entrepreneur Sheng Xie, aims to give independent restaurants the same power to negotiate delivery commissions as big chains like McDonald’s and Starbucks. Xie said 700 restaurants have already signed on.

“Food delivery is here to stay,” Xie said. “But a lot of restaurants are very scared right now. They fear going back to normal, paying 30% or more and having no choice but to use these apps.”

After an unprecedented year, many restaurants are somewhere in the middle. Philadelphia restaurant owner Aaron Anderson thinks delivery fees are too high. But he also sees some value in delivery companies, which can help restaurants test new concepts.

Anderson, who operates four Original Hot Dog Factory locations, started a delivery-only brand late last year called Chef Big Rube’s Kitchen. It’s been so popular that Anderson will soon open a physical restaurant. He hopes it will be packed with patrons who aren’t getting delivery.

“Once things open back up, a lot of people are not going to be using the delivery apps, and that gives us the leverage to negotiate those fees,” he said. “Right now, we don’t have that leverage.”

___

On Twitter, follow @deeanndurbin_ap.

Comments
Jim Williams
Website |  + postsBio

Washington based CEO & Founder of LJC. Media covering politics, sports, & entertainment A seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director, and podcast host. Digital Director and Washington Bureau Chief at News Talk Florida & The Daily Cable

  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    The Dodgers add another star pitcher Kirby Yates
  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    The Commanders lost to the Eagles but won back their fans
  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    With Super Bowl LIX around corner, which team gets most action?
  • Jim Williams
    https://insidethenation.com/author/jimwilliams/
    Leading US-Bred Dirt Horses Have Excellent Chance at Dubai World Cup
Tags: DoorDashfast foodGrubhubUber Eats
Share199Tweet125Share35SharePin45
Jim Williams

Jim Williams

Washington based CEO & Founder of LJC. Media covering politics, sports, & entertainment A seven-time Emmy Award-winning TV producer, director, and podcast host. Digital Director and Washington Bureau Chief at News Talk Florida & The Daily Cable

Plugin Install : Widget Tab Post needs JNews - View Counter to be installed
  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Hitman shoots husband and kills son of Judge overseeing Deutsche Bank Epstein trial

Hitman shoots husband and kills son of Judge overseeing Deutsche Bank Epstein trial

July 20, 2020
Tanzanian President Samia’s trip to Europe Is a Strategic Move

Tanzanian President Samia’s trip to Europe Is a Strategic Move

February 18, 2022

The 4Rs of Tanzania President Samia

October 7, 2022
The Role of AI in Human Resources

The Role of AI in Human Resources

1
Girl with Shopping bag

8 Super Effective Shopping Tips to Save More Money in Chandigarh Malls 2023

1
Bubble-Wrap-For-Packing

The Benefits of Using Bubble Wrap for Packing

1
Micro Market Vending

Micro Market Vending: Revolutionizing Workplace Breaks

August 27, 2025
Corporate Catering

Corporate Catering: The Smart Way to Fuel Workplace Events

August 27, 2025
music downloader

Free MP3 Music Downloader Tools You Should Try – Fast & Easy

August 26, 2025
Inside The Nation

Copyright © 2020 Inside The Nation.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • NewsTalkFlorida
  • SportsTalkFlorida
  • FeedBox

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Daily Buzz
  • US News
  • Politics
    • Political Humor
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Our SItes
    • FeedBox
    • NewsTalkFlorida
    • SportsTalkFlorida

Copyright © 2020 Inside The Nation.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In