Restaurant owners less than appy

GOLD Coast restaurant owners have slammed food delivery services – including UberEats – for “ridiculous” transaction fees they say place pressure on already tight margins.

Restaurant owners also complained about long wait times and poor service delivery.

However while some highend eateries have shunned the services, which also include Deliveroo and Menulog, others say they provide valuable cash flow during the tough winter months.

Pat Gennari, whose eateries include Marina Mirage’s Glass and Broadbeach spots Koi and The Loose Moose, said he tested UberEats recently and found its service “a joke”.

Mr Gennari said he ordered from The Loose Moose for an Isle of Capri address and it took the driver 45 minutes to take the order to the Surfers Paradise enclave.

He said he followed the driver using the app, and could see the time included a stopover for another delivery drop-off at Monaco St, Broadbeach Waters.

“I think it is ridiculous. It does not give the consumer the proper product,” he said.

“They are getting greedy, trying to fit in two deliveries per trip. If they want to charge 35 per cent they should make sure the service is of a high standard.”

He called UberEats to complain and was offered a voucher as compensation.

Mr Gennari said, while noting UberEats was the best of the services on offer, that he had to ditch menu items or turn UberEats off completely during busy periods.

“We have taken items off (the UberEats menu) quite often at Koi,” he said.

“If someone orders a medium steak, by the time it reaches the customer it is well done. So items that don’t travel well, we don’t offer.”

Glen Day, president of the Restaurant Industry Support Gold Coast Association, said the transaction costs were “ridiculous”.

“It is good for Uber,” he said.

“They are making good money, taking around 30 per cent per transaction. If a food order costs $21, they make $7.”

Mr Day, who owns two Pancakes in Paradise restaurants and three Mexicanthemed restaurants, said he used UberEats and other services such as Menulog.

He said he had considered rolling out his own delivery service, but decided the costs were too high.

“We are not big enough to go on our own,” he said.

“We’d need to buy vehicles and pay drivers. It would need to be a large grouping of restaurants doing it (to make it worthwhile).”

Mr Day said the service did, however, provide cash flow during winter.

“It is a little bit of money when times are quiet,” he said.

Mr Day said outsourcing deliveries to a third party also meant they did not have quality control.

“Half the time they are late to pick up an order and sometimes it does not get to the customer. You don’t know if they have eaten the food on the way.”

Mr Day said some customers did not know that UberEats was a third party, and would abuse restaurant owners if there were problems.

Scott Budgen, of high-end seafood restaurant Shuck in Main Beach, said it would be “suicide” to use UberEats.

“I find it ridiculous charging 30 per cent,” he said.

“They want to hold on to your money, you have no rights whatsoever.