Comment by fpgaminer | Hacker News Reader

Comment by fpgaminer | Hacker News Reader

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(Preface: I'm sure your app filters for stuff like this)

I got kinda burned when I tried to order direct from a restaurant. The last time we ate there they included a little "order online" card with a link to their website. So the next time, in the spirit of supporting businesses directly, I went to their site and ordered. They did use a third-party handler (ChowNow I think?), but I figured it was a kind of order management third-party. In fact, after placing the order, I got an additional email from that third-party handler congratulating me on ordering directly from restaurants, and that they explicitly don't charge restaurants a fee. Neat, right? Well, Lo and behold, behind the scenes they just used DoorDash to handle delivery...

That sucked because A) it was more hassle for me to sign up for Yet Another Account, and B) I have DashPass (free delivery and discounted service charge) but didn't get to use it, so it ended up costing me more even with the coupon the restaurant threw in.

Hell, there are even pizza places around me that use DoorDash for delivery. Pizza places, for goodness sake!

It's a weird world I suppose.

That happened to me as well here in AZ. There is a popular local cookie place that we wanted to support. Ordered a dozen cookies from their website thinking it would put more money in their pocket vs ordering from DoorDash. However, the entire delivery process was DoorDash done all via SMS. It was odd.

I have actually seen quite a few restaurants do this, where they use a third-party ordering system but then delegate to DoorDash/GrubHub for delivery. Is it maybe because the delivery service gets a smaller cut in this case? I wonder if the total fees add up to a smaller number with the two middlemen than with only DoorDash/GrubHub. Presumably, the latter can charge more if they also handle the transaction as well as bring traffic, as opposed to only handling delivery.

> Is it maybe because the delivery service gets a smaller cut in this case? Yes, this is correct. If you order from DoorDash directly, the restaurant will pay anywhere from 15-40% of the total transaction.

Restaurants that have partnered with DoorDash for delivery logistics only will pay usually around $7 per order (this varies depending on geography and overall partner terms).

However, the key difference is that this delivery fee is almost always passed on to the customer. So from a restaurant's perspective, they are getting a great deal: Delivery logistics for customers who want delivery, but if they're using a low/no commission direct ordering service, they keep (most of) the full order margin.

> Restaurants that have partnered with DoorDash for delivery logistics only will pay usually around $7 per order

Did you mean 7 percent of the order perhaps?

I got kinda burned when I tried to order direct from a restaurant.

If it's a "mom and pop joint" with 1 or maybe at most a handful of locations located in the area, skip the app and just call it in. Nothing to download or sign up for, no chance for an unseen middle-man. These non-chain restaurants are literally the "service industry", I've found I always get a higher level of service when talking to a human on the phone, at a couple of our regular places the servers that pickup ask how I'm doing, have an idea of how we like things, politely inquire about the kids, etc... A couple of them offer online ordering, but I always just pickup the phone and hand over my credit card when they bring the food out, IMO it's a better experience for all parties involved.

Edit: Caveat, I'm old enough that to-go/delivery over the phone was the only option at one point, not app first; and even before the pandemic found DoorDash and their ilk to be parasites that I wouldn't use.

Wow, that's really wild. Would you mind sharing the name of the restaurant? I'd love to reach out to them to understand what happened there. And thanks for posting this, that's definitely something I'll take into consideration.

Off topic, but your comment made me think of the way my view toward restaurants has changed.

If the pandemic has taught me anything, it’s that restaurants as a concept are just kind of terrible and unnecessary, at least for the bulk of the world’s unremarkable places.

If a perfect vaccine was distributed to every person on the planet right now I wouldn’t be back to visit 95% of restaurants out there.

During “lockdown” I learned to make all kinds of food and way more interesting, higher quality cocktails than 95% of bars and restaurants have, for a fraction of the price.

I learned that my restaurant visits were there to satisfy an emotional desire, and they didn’t even do a great job of that.

I learned that the desire for a “quick meal” is a farce, that homemade food isn’t really a time sink for someone deep into the habit.

My future restaurant visits will be way more sparse and deliberate. I’m going to be holding restaurants to the standard of making something that I literally can’t make at home without going to culinary school and apprenticing under a master chef.

It isn’t a noble act to support your local business if the business isn’t meeting your needs, and at this point I’m not sure how my local dive is going to be able to adapt to my modified needs.

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