to ask you to order from your takeaway directly not via Deliveroo/Uber Eats if possible?

[roses2]

I was having a chat with my local takeaway owner last week and he said he gets a lot of orders from Deliveroo/Uber Eats and the fees are crippling and he is now selling his business.

Deliveroo and Uber Eats take 30% + vat commission which he just can't sustain. This is also contributing to the high prices and low quality.

I am lucky that all my favourite take aways are walking distance so always order direct and collect.

If you want to save your local takeaway please go direct where you can

No, nobody is sitting down thinking "I want to appeal to Uber Eats so I'll make this food crap with tiny portions." They're really not. Blaming online ordering for bad restaurants is absurd.

Who says the food is crap? It's appealing to a different market who want lightning quick service, no leftovers and meal deals. It's like the McDonalds of Chinese food. It's just different and appeals to different people.

Witchcraft?

Or a very good insulated bag and a fast scooter.

I only order takeaways online if I’m at mum’s, and we do it direct as the apps don’t work for us. There are also two takeaways in walking distance from her house.

They also treat the workers awfully. Modern slavers 😤

They opt in
It costs an amount or percentage of each order BUT the idea is that they get more business and don't have to manage their own deliveries.
It works really well for some but not all of them

No, I just won't feel bad about living my life in a way that minimises stress and increases convenience in a really busy, frantic, stressful world. I just won't. I'm not stopping into the shop to get batteries and I don't care if the shop that sells the batteries closes down. If it closes down, it's because it wasn't needed. Same as lamp lighters aren't needed now and AI software developers are. That's how it goes.

I won't store paper menus in my house or search for local restaurants online and look up their food hygiene ratings myself or go out in the evening, either taking my kids or making sure they're cared for and stand in a takeaway and wait for my bag of food. I won't phone and speak to someone on the phone who can't understand me and makes me feel stressed and awkward and doesn't always get my order right. I will click and order exactly what I want and then someone will bring it to my door when I'm safe and warm at home in my pyjamas with my children. I don't care who is providing this service - I want this service and I'm prepared to pay for this service. Call me a monster or whatever. I really won't feel bad about it.

Yep, and they don't do enough to prevent their accounts from being bought and sold on the black market for human trafficking.

My local takeaways don’t offer their own delivery, and some of them double the price of food delivered.

What’s the point of useless pseudo activism like this?

Most takeaways don’t have their own delivery drivers because it costs them too much. They make the cost of delivery apps back through the price of the order. So the customer pays in any event.

Your local takeaway owner is clearly not reflecting this in his prices and if he is doing it, then he is not competitive vs other local takeaways.

What don’t people understand about market forces?

Can he not put his price up on Uber eats/deliveroo? I live in a big city and I always save a significant amount if I order direct from the place. S&P chips will be 70p more expensive and so on.

So invest in an insulated bag…
we get fish and chips from
the shop, either 5 or 7 miles away. They stay hot with added insulation of a large warm towel. No deliveries here.

Worse yet … is dining-in and waiting ages because the restaurant prioritize the Deliveroo.

The restaurant is cold because the guys are streaming in & out of the door. Plus the “ambiance” ruined by helmeted people loitering outside, coming in & out. And driving on the pedestrian footpath, the delivery ruining the restaurant experience.

Many have 2 level pricing. £14.99 for kebab plus about £3 in fees but £9.99 to collect
Indian was £75 on line delivered. Phoned it through and collected for £46 (local chain)

I prefer to pick up myself as for some reason takes ages for food delivery to reach our house (even if the restaurant is 5 mins away) so I always order directly. But it’s good to know that detail about fees to restaurant.

My work give us £12 per day (you are in the office) to spend on Deliveroo.
So i have no choice but to use them and all the takeaways have put their prices up, A small meal costs between £12 - £14

For me the main issue is ordering directly you have to pay cash and normally have to collect.

If I'm having a take away it's generally because I can't be arsed cooking. If I can't be arsed cooking, then I can't be arsed walking to the take away either.

Those that do deliver want cash which I generally don't have on me. See above as to why I'm not going to the cash machine.

The Indian we use have a card reader they bring so you can pay with a card on delivery, I use them all the time even if I have a voucher code for deliveroo etc. So if I can order direct I will. But if businesses aren't making any effort to make it convenient for customers then they are going to suffer.

They can also choose not to be on Uber/Deliveroo etc. There's a Chinese round here that isn't on any of them but has managed to stay open and busy for years because they are good.

I find this fascinating. Pre Deliveroo, did your office provide a daily food allowance? or was it that you got food in the office, catered, and now you're working from home so that isn't an option?

In whcih case, there must be a bunch of takeaway places that are suddenly getting business which they would not have got before. This is the type of thing where a deliveroo works in the takeaway's favour surely?

As for small meal pricing - around here, that's pretty standard, deliveroo or not. A basic curry, without rice or bread, is around £10-12. So you're easily looking at £15 per head, before you factor in any additional costs.

Very high turnover of drivers, and I've still never understood how the owner makes money. He's got to pay staff to deliver his food and make a profit.
They've got to use their car/motorbike and their petrol. How can it be worth it?

None of the places in my area do their own anymore. They've basically been forced into reliance on Deliveroo etc. There is a couple places that do their own delivery but frankly the food isn't great. I try and go and pick it up if I can, but usually I can't. It is a real shame. But if you do use those intermediaries always give a cash tip to the rider. They're paid such a pittance.

Balls - all the takeaways in my area have their own delivery drivers and always have had. Just now those drivers are supplied with branded coats and bags. The only 'not employed by the takeaway' drivers we have round here are the deliveroo guys who do McDonalds who of course have never had in-house delivery.

The annoying part is that even when I order directly, it typically costs the same as using the delivery services.

If the price for using the convenience of the full price od delivery services (including those 30%) was a clear add on, it would be better for the businesses and for environment.

No thanks.

Having food delivered is something I'm happy to pay extra for, for the one night a week we get takeaway and I don't have to cook. We only use Deliveroo once a month for fish and chips usually. The other places we order from do their own deliveries.

Plus it just doesn't make sense to have individual cars driving eight miles to pick up food when a delivery driver can take several orders at once.

I also have the main food shop delivered which saves time and energy at the weekend. Shopping for five adults is not much fun.

I meant we have no delivery options. We used to have a mobile fish and chips van which did the rounds of all the little villages, but they have moved to more lucrative rounds. I think it was too expensive to keep firing up and cooking small batches.
so it’s collect or nowt!

Yeah because it happens in your area, it must be true of everywhere. Never mind the statistics around majority of takeaway services being provided by uber, Deliveroo and just eat nationwide.