Aussie restaurants abandon food delivery apps
Australian restaurants are dropping away from what they call “parasite” food apps.
They’re telling their customers to get their food another way.
Aussie eateries are claiming these apps are exploiting small businesses.
Two popular establishments in Melbourne and Sydney have taken to social media protesting against apps such as Uber Eats, Foodora and Deliveroo — on social media.
What they’re doing instead is urging customers to do it the old fashioned way by going to the restaurant to pick it up themselves if there is no delivery service.
One is the Marios Cafe, the iconic eatery on Melbourne’s Brunswick St, Fitzroy. It has been trading since the 1980s.
As reported in news.com.au, owner and co-founder Mario Maccarone got stuck into the tech giants in a fiery social media post, accusing the third-party sites of being “parasites” which take “high percentages” from small, hardworking Aussie businesses.
“We do not use Foodora, Deliveroo or Uber and we encourage u (sic) not to,” he wrote on the cafe’s Facebook page on Sunday.
“They are parasites that take high percentages from the establishments that they have sucked into dealing with them (up to 30 per cent,” Maccarone wrote on Facebook.
“If you need to have your food delivered, make sure the establishment you are ordering from has their own delivery. Do not order from any of the delivery groups. Call the restaurant direct and make sure they have their own delivery, or otherwise get of your ass and go and pick it up or better still eat it there.
“Please spare a thought for the people who are loosing (sic) money for your comfort factor and the delivery people are earning next to nothing for their work, while the people in their ivory towers are earning big time for doing nothing.”
Taste of Texas BBQ, the popular grillhouse on Sydney’s Upper North Shore, has also announced it is pulling out.
“There will be no home deliveries thru (sic) Menulog, Taste of Texas app or by phone while the takeaway option will remain open,” the company announced in a Facebook post.
“We apologise to our loyal Menulog and app customers who have been ordering home deliveries every week. It’s becoming unsustainable for small businesses like ours to employ drivers and pay commission to do deliveries.”
Leon Gettler, 5th September 2018
