Everyone’s ordering delivery, but apps aren’t making money

Enlarge / Two Uber Eats delivery courier wait outside Mc Donalds fast food in Ghent, Belgium on May 14, 2020. As Belgium takes steps in easing Restrictions, Restaurant and cafe are not allowed to open to customers only fast food and take away is allowed. restaurants and restaurants may not reopen before June 8. (Photo by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images) (credit: Getty Images)

When Luke Edwards opened OH Pizza & Brew in 2014, the Columbus, Ohio, restaurateur thought delivery apps could help his business. His chicken wings and specialty pizzas-the most popular and appropriately named Bypass," topped with pepperoni, sausage, ham, salami, bacon, and extra cheese-needed an audience. And he says working with apps such as DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Canada's SkipTheDishes helped him build a loyal following, allowing him to open two more OH Pizza & Brews, with another location on the way.

But by January 2019, Edwards had had enough. For one, he didn't think the services were helping his bottom line. Even though we were bringing in more money, after paying out the commission rates, we were seeing a decrease in net profits," he says. The drivers were inconsistent, he reports, and sometimes lacked equipment like insulated food bags to keep deliveries warm. Edwards also found it harder to get in touch with customer service reps for the apps, who would sometimes refund customers at the eatery's expense for deliveries he believed had gone well.

Quickly, I realized [the apps] were good at the search and optimization thing," he adds. They were terrible at delivery." Today, OH Pizza & Brew pays its own contracted drivers to deliver, which Edwards believes saves him money.

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