🕒 10 min read

This past weekend, Uber Eats left diners without their meals. The food delivery app was down from Friday to Saturday evening – primetime for delivery orders, even during the current state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As if they don’t have enough to contend with already, restaurant workers had to jump on social media to try and reach customers, and ask them to call instead.

IF THERE WAS EVER A TIME TO GET RID OF DELIVERY APPS, IT’S RIGHT NOW

If this has occurred prior to March 18  2020, you might chalk it up to yet another frustrating tech hiccup.  But at a time when, as a result of social distancing protocols and lockdown requirements, the public is relying on food and drink delivery more than ever, and restaurants have only pickup and delivery to count on to survive the next few days, weeks, and months ahead, like many things now, we cannot continue as we did before. 

The only way forward?  It’s imperative the public take action and delete all delivery apps. 

THE PROBLEM

While American-owned Uber Eats promotes free delivery to it’s customers, you may not know the company charges restaurants 30 per cent on each order, on top off additional fees restaurants have to pay to be on the app. With restaurants barely managing as it is, this extra cost is decimating any chance they have of getting through this crisis.

And while other delivery apps such as DoorDash, Skip The Dishes , and for now, Foodora (after five years, they’re ceasing operations May 11th) and charge less, and some have even reduced their fees and commissions, it’s still comes down to – most foodservice businesses on the apps can’t afford to pay rent, never mind extra costs at this time. And many smaller businesses couldn’t afford to be on the apps in the first place.

EVEN THE MAYOR AGREES

It’s become such a ubiquitous issue, last week Mayor John Tory asked all food delivery companies and apps to temporarily reduce their commissions,” so that these restaurants can stay in business,” and Food & Wine Magazine recently published an article titled, “It's Time to Delete Your Delivery Apps.”

This however, is not a new notion. Industry folks have documented their outrage for years. Editor In Chief Amanda Kludt of influential U.S. food news site Eater published, “Why I’m Deleting Delivery Apps From My Phone,” in September, well before the coronavirus crisis. And Toronto food writer Corey Mintz chronicled the issues in an article for TVO, in 2018.

While the Eater and Food & Wine articles cover the American system, the inherent problems are the same north of the border.

LOCAL RESTAURATEURS SPEAK OUT 

Zoe Atkinson, proprietor and pastry chef of west-end’s popular Contra Café agrees. “I don’t understand how small businesses can even use them. It’s not an option for a place like Contra - the percentages they take are often your whole profit margin,” she said via interview.

Even sizeable chains such as The Burger’s Priest can’t manage the deep cuts, according to an article published in The Financial Post last week. 

And while Liberty Entertainment Group has 12 colossal venues throughout Toronto - including behemoths Casa Loma and Liberty Grand - and four properties in Miami, Florida, they are not immune to the gauging rates. President & CEO Nick Di Donato posted an infographic on his social media yesterday featuring the following costs:

DoorDash 10 %
Foodoora 20%
Skip the Dishes 20%
UberEats 30%

In an interview with Toronto Restaurants, local chef Aaron Okada said, “I think to properly support restaurants, we need to cut out the ‘middle man.’ The realities of restaurant math means profit margins are generally so low, that a 30 per cent commission on delivery apps means a loss for the restaurant. After all the operating costs involved, many restaurants only have about 8-10 per cent profit - if they’re lucky. During this pandemic, so many restaurants that are remaining open for delivery are doing so out of desperation, and are almost held hostage to the idea that delivery apps such as UberEats provides the greatest exposure for them.

With UberEats (and others) refusing to wave their large commissions during this time, they are not only not helping restaurants - they are directly contributing to their downfall. The potential survival of restaurants is so complex, but in terms of customers supporting by purchasing - the best way to do this is to purchase directly, and do a curb-side pick up if possible.”

A Restaurants Canada survey published April 2 reveals:

-  Many jobs lost due to COVID-19 may not be recovered
-  Nearly one out of ten restaurants have already closed permanently
- Another 18 per cent will permanently close within a month if current conditions continue. 

LAUNCHING MORE APPS ISN’T THE SOLUTION

Many companies have recently launched apps where they are listing restaurants offering takeout and delivery, but trying to find nearby options by having to click repeatedly on a map to discover options isn’t effective, especially if you live in the downtown core and can’t access all the options due to the overcrowding and overlap of Google pins. 

And the addition of yet more apps isn’t the solution either, because it leads to segmented markets - one app will have certain restaurants, while others don’t. And restaurants cannot be asked at this time to repeatedly sign up for every app to try and get the exposure they so desperately need and deserve.

They need to be in one place, where everyone can access them.

A SOLUTION, FOR NOW 

Since the public is relying on social media right now to discover the latest updates, and restaurants are depending upon it to communicate their latest offerings, why not keep it there? 

1. All Foodservice Businesses: Post one image of text on social media including the restaurant/bar/café/store name, telephone number, neighbourhood they serve, the type of food and drinks you offer, and include the hashtag(s) of the service(s) you provide: #TAKEOUTTORONTO #DELIVERYTORONTO.* This will serve as a visual directory for customers to easily locate what’s available in their neighbourhood and support local businesses.

*Don’t have time or don’t know how to create the image? Toronto Restaurants will create one for you, free of charge. 

2. Businesses: Upload your menus as images and use the hashtags so they can be easily discovered and accessed online. 

3. Diners: Find and follow your local BIA (Business Improvement Area). They often have the most up-to-date information as to what’s open, etc., in your area.

4. Diners: Take part in the Toronto Restaurants Takeout/Delivery Challenge and show your support for your favourite spots.

5. Diners: As Helen Rosner wrote in The New Yorker, “Pick up the damn phone.” Calling a restaurant to place your order takes as much time as it does to tap out your options on your phone. Neither does texting or emailing them, if that’s what they prefer.

CHANGE IS POSSIBLE

Look, the above is not a perfect solution, but if we all join in, it could make the difference to places remaining open another month, maybe more. And we’re all spending time posting and scrolling through our feeds anyway. This doesn’t require much more than that.

We’ve had to adapt many ways of life since March 18th – losing jobs, staying away and apart from family, friends and colleagues; transitions to working from home, shopping once a week, wearing masks, wearing gloves, washing our hands repeatedly - surely we can do this too.

Change is possible: Thanks to an online petition, licensed Toronto bars and restaurants got the go ahead to sell liquor with food delivery and takeout just a month ago. We didn’t have that available pre-coronavirus, so the win felt extra sweet.

We can do this, but only if you step in, step up, and take action by deleting these apps.

During this time of self-isolation and quarantine, we’ve come to know our local business owners and community perhaps better than any other time in our lives. Wouldn’t it be great to get to know the folks putting their lives on the line to prepare and serve your food?

All it takes? A single phone call, text or email. That can’t be too much to ask.