As previously mentioned, for food delivery services to work, every level of the operation needs to profit. The restaurant making the food needs to make money, the app you’re using needs to make money, and the drivers delivering your food need to make money. After they’ve all gotten their slice of the pie, you’re left paying double the price of your actual order.
That being said, everyone still suffers. The apps charge each restaurant a certain percentage for digital real estate, while paying drivers only by commission or a fraction of their tips. According to The Guardian, because many drivers are strategically hired as “independent contractors,” apps can get away with paying them less than minimum wage. Customers, in turn, pay more for the convenience.
At the end of the day, these costs have many restaurants rightfully reconsidering whether or not they want to be featured on third-party apps. Jimmy John’s, for example, pledged in 2019 that it would never team up with the likes of Grubhub, and instead stuck with delivering its own food. Likewise, some customers have decided against paying extra to use delivery apps, and as such, the golden age of food delivery apps could very well be over.
