WASHINGTON — As restaurants across the country have been forced to close dining rooms and switch to delivery-only services, many are turning to third-party applications like Uber Eats and Postmates to order meals with the touch of a screen.
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While many of these services are offering discounts and free delivery, small local restaurants say partnering with these companies hurt their bottom line.
“The delivery companies are making it look really good, in the sense that they are offering free delivery to the customers,” said Thomas Ward, owner of Pig Floyd’s Urban Barbakoa in Orlando.
"What they don’t tell you is they charge 25 to 30 percent on the ticket,” he added.
For Ward, delivery and takeout meals are his restaurant’s main stream of revenue. He ultimately decided against partnering with these third-party food delivery companies because they would take too large of a cut of his business. He is now offering free delivery services himself.
“I even have my father doing deliveries. Anyone that can help do deliveries in their cars, we’ve got them going,” Ward said.
"Right now, obviously anything that comes in we have to keep. We can’t discount it, we can’t afford it,” he explained.
Uber Eats and Postmates declined to respond to these specific complaints from restaurants, and instead are pointing to a list of actions they’ve taken to increase more orders at small restaurants. However, many say they don’t go far enough.
"We think it’s great that there are services to deliver food, but they are going to have to do it in a way that allows the restaurants and businesses to still make money,” said John Arensmeyer, the founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, a group that advocates on behalf of small businesses.
“We cannot allow groups to take advantage of the situation. There will need to be government intervention if that continues,” Arensmeyer said in a Skype interview with Spectrum News.
Small business owners say the best way to support local is to order food for pick-up or ask the restaurant directly if they are providing delivery options.
“This is the time to support local. Don’t go through the apps, because it just makes it harder for restaurants that are just trying to make it through this time,” Ward said.