Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • - [Narrator] For many people throughout the pandemic

  • dinner plans usually look like this.

  • You look up your favorite local restaurant

  • on an app like Uber Eats or Deliveroo

  • if you're in the UK, place an order,

  • track it on the map, grab the bag from your doorstep

  • and voilà, dinner delivered.

  • But sometimes in those bags,

  • restaurants include notes like these

  • encouraging customers to order directly from them next time.

  • That would mean

  • they don't have to pay delivery companies

  • commission fees of up to 35%.

  • Restaurants around the world

  • have organized to push delivery services

  • to lower their fees.

  • While recognizing these apps have become very important.

  • - They are massively crucial

  • but grudgingly crucial actually (chuckles)

  • it's hard giving away your hard-earned cash to a platform,

  • but yeah they're keeping us afloat.

  • - [Narrator] While restaurants have been struggling

  • with the pandemic, delivery services like

  • Uber and DoorDash have boomed.

  • By the end of 2020 food delivery spending

  • had more than doubled compared to 2019.

  • But spending at restaurants was down roughly 5%.

  • - That will be the legacy of the pandemic in this sector.

  • Everyone had to change their behavior overnight.

  • - [Narrator] So are delivery apps,

  • helping restaurants or hurting them?

  • The food delivery market as we know it

  • actually started about 20 years ago,

  • when Grubhub in the US and Just Eat in Europe,

  • entered the market.

  • - The generation one operators,

  • the roots of this business model

  • we're working with independent restaurants

  • and independent restaurants that had existed for decades

  • prior to the platform coming along.

  • I got my Deliveroo bag and my bike

  • and I'm gonna spend a couple of hours doing some orders.

  • - [Narrator] Giles Thorne researches

  • European internet companies for Jefferies

  • and to better understand the food delivery industry

  • he spent some time actually making deliveries

  • for Deliveroo in the UK in 2019 and 2020.

  • - Everything changed in around 2016, 2017

  • because the generation two competition came in

  • and these were delivery led.

  • These were platforms like Deliveroo, like DoorDash,

  • like Uber Eats that saw the consumer value,

  • the utility of an online food delivery app

  • and that the branded chains, the big restaurants

  • not the independent pizza parlor in London

  • but the McDonald's three doors along

  • would also benefit from the utility

  • of this type of platform.

  • - [Narrator] There are a lot of companies

  • vying to take control

  • of the food delivery industry right now.

  • The global market was projected to be

  • worth $285 billion in 2020.

  • Margins are low meaning despite high demand

  • delivery companies mostly operate at a loss.

  • - The reason why a platform

  • will not be making money at this point in time

  • is essentially because they are in a competitive market.

  • Did somebody say Just Eat

  • They are having to spend a large amount of money,

  • primarily through marketing

  • to get consumers, to download the app and start using them.

  • The platform says, right,

  • I got three other guys in my market

  • by the of next year I wanna get two of them to exit.

  • So I'm gonna spend a hundred million dollars

  • buying up every billboard.

  • And I'm gonna send a message to the other guys

  • that they are not gonna get traffic.

  • And that's the logic.

  • That's why people don't make money.

  • - [Narrator] Since the delivery market's inception

  • there has been a lot of consolidation.

  • Just Eat has undergone six major mergers and acquisitions

  • in the last five years.

  • Last year, it was acquired by Takeaway.com

  • which then acquired Grubhub for $7.3 billion

  • in the US Uber Eats acquired Postmates

  • for 2.65 billion in stock.

  • (bell ringing)

  • In December, 2020 DoorDash went public.

  • By the end of the year

  • the company was worth at least $50 billion.

  • Uber, DoorDash and Grubhub now control roughly 98%

  • of the overall US food delivery market

  • in terms of transactions.

  • In the United Kingdom, Uber Eats, Just Eat and Deliveroo

  • are among the most popular food delivery apps.

  • One restaurant working with delivery services like these

  • is Tai Kitchen in London.

  • - We set up the business just before COVID hit.

  • We literally were open

  • a week before the pandemic.

  • - [Narrator] The owner Richard Poole

  • has relied on services like Uber Eats and Deliveroo

  • to keep the restaurant alive

  • during various levels of lockdown since March, 2020.

  • - Those plans were in the pipeline

  • when it came to us having, eat and service

  • and having that extra revenue stream

  • but obviously that went to part.

  • So we had to improvise.

  • - [Narrator] Tai Kitchen also offers its own service

  • for in-store collection.

  • - We had to have our own delivery service

  • but obviously it's a lot...

  • The logistical nightmare of having your own delivery service

  • it's real.

  • It's a real challenge.

  • That's why we outsource it to Deliveroo and Uber Eats

  • to deliver our food.

  • Another thing is Deliveroo and Uber Eats,

  • they basically own all the drivers (giggles)

  • It's very, very hard to find independent.

  • Well, technically they are independent, right?

  • But it's very hard to find someone who'd come over

  • to work with you.

  • Do you know what I mean?

  • 'Cause basically, they own the fleets.

  • - [Narrator] Uber Eats has nearly 5 million drivers

  • and delivery people globally

  • and DoorDash has over 1 million.

  • Most apps offer restaurants,

  • a range of services

  • from just helping facilitate online ordering

  • to actually delivering the food.

  • If the app handles the delivery

  • the fees can range from 10 to 35% of the total order.

  • - The whole balance of deliveries and take-aways.

  • But right now it's like 80% deliveries

  • like the whole 85 from our point of view.

  • So I think let's say to improve things would be

  • more people actually coming to collect.

  • So you come collect an order

  • you basically gave the restaurant,

  • a hundred percent of the revenue.

  • - [Narrator] These tensions over commission fees aren't new.

  • McDonald's franchisees have complained publicly

  • that Uber Eats erodes their margins.

  • While Uber has said it offers some large restaurant chains

  • a lower service fee.

  • In 2019 representatives from the two companies

  • said they reached a new deal.

  • And since the pandemic hit

  • various regions in the US including New York, LA

  • and Philadelphia have temporarily capped delivery fees

  • for restaurants at 10 to 15%.

  • DoorDash has said the commission caps

  • ultimately restrict restaurant choice.

  • Precisely when restaurants need the full range of options

  • to help their businesses survive and thrive.

  • Some restaurants are even working out of ghosts kitchens

  • where they cook food exclusively for delivery services.

  • - At Uber Eats, drivers have switched off their hailing apps

  • this weekend to demand better treatment

  • from the food delivery service.

  • - [Narrator] Delivery apps have also come under pressure

  • from gig workers, demanding better employment protections

  • including better wages and sick pay.

  • The CEO of Uber

  • recently called for dialogue

  • but said its delivery app allows workers to make money

  • in a flexible way.

  • DoorDash Grubhub and Uber Eats told the Wall Street Journal

  • they've provided drivers with various PPE.

  • And Just Eat said it supports contact free delivery

  • and has given restaurants reduced commission fees

  • throughout the pandemic.

  • As these companies have become a key part

  • of many people's lives, regulators are watching

  • to see the impact on competition, consumers,

  • delivery drivers and restaurants

  • - It's very hard to see our money go

  • like that amount go to them

  • but again, credit where it's due

  • they are keeping us afloat.

  • So even with the commission rates, being that high

  • if it wasn't for them, we'd actually have to shut.

  • (soft music)

- [Narrator] For many people throughout the pandemic

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it