New food delivery app aimed at local market
Creators out to challenge big-name rivals by charging lower commission rates
A just-launched Ottawa-based food delivery app says it will more fairly charge the restaurants it serves compared to its well-established big-name rivals, which are committing “highway robbery,” the Ottawa company 's co-founder and president says.
“We're trying to plug in a functional system, not just grab cash while the market's available,” says Ryan Hardy of GETIT Technologies.
His company launched the Getit Local app last week. Roughly 50 restaurants now make food available through the app, and Hardy said he hopes to double that number over the next three months. He says other restaurants had signed up, but then postponed their participation due to the latest pandemic lockdown.
GETIT is receiving $25,000 from the By Ward Market BIA to help subsidize three months of free pickup and delivery for 50 of the BIA's businesses, Hardy says.
It hopes to add 50 more businesses outside of the By Ward Market that will pay $99 a month during a three-month trial period, he adds.
The giants of food delivery, such as Uber Eats and Skip The Dishes, typically charge commissions of up to 30 per cent on orders their drivers deliver, eating deeply into the profits many restaurants might see. Last fall, the Ontario government capped those services' fees at 20 per cent in so-called “grey” lockdown zones.
Hardy calls the big companies' fees “absolutely criminal” and says restaurants who view them as “necessary evils” to reach customers, particularly during the pandemic, can spend between $1,000 and $3,500 a month on fees.
When its trial period ends, GETIT will have a tiered pricing system that will charge restaurants and other food businesses between $100 and $700 a month depending on the level of service, Hardy says.
In its first week, GETIT saw 1,000 downloads of its app, Hardy says, adding that the big publicity push for Getit Local by his company and participating restaurants will take place next month.
While GETIT is trying to help Ottawa businesses with their COVID-19 pivoting, Hardy and co-founder Ben Lacroix had to transform their own business after the pandemic disrupted their initial plan.
Before the pandemic, Lacroix had developed an app called Stadiyum that enabled in-seat food ordering at sports venues and was approaching NHL and AHL teams to test his creation. “Then COVID hit and derailed Ben's whole business model,” Hardy says.
But Lacroix and Hardy saw that software meant for stadiums could be morphed into an app to help small businesses.
“We pivoted to survive,” Hardy says, although he adds that “price gouging” by food delivery's established players leaves a big opportunity open for his company.
The Centretown restaurant Union Local 613 has signed up with GETIT for the trial period. Co-owner Ivan Gedz said the decision still entails a risk because the monthly fee is charged regardless of sales while people need to download the new app before GETIT can even begin to penetrate the market.
But GETIT is still “a lot more cost-effective for us at the moment,” Gedz says. He notes his business still uses Skip The Dishes and Uber Eats to enable deliveries, but says “it's one of those damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situations.”
Getit Local is not the first Ottawa initiative meant to give restaurants a cheaper alternative to signing up with Uber Eats or Skip The Dishes.
The app upkū works with a small number of By Ward Market eateries. The early days of the pandemic saw the launch of Love Local Delivery, a partnership between Knock On Wood Communications and Responsible Choice, which before the pandemic was essentially a designated-driver service. Love Local Delivery is web-based but does not have an app.
Responsible Choice's drivers also drive for Getit Local, and some kind of partnership looks to be in the future for Getit Local and Love Local Delivery.
“Everybody gets to come to the table representing their strong suits,” says Stephanie Kelly, a senior project manager at Knock On Wood. “We'll get to do the pieces that we're good at.”