DoorDash to create websites for restaurants wanting to avoid marketing fees
Commissions as high as 30% paid to delivery companies are a sore spot for some restaurants
Cities are looking to cap GrubHub commission fees as a backlash grows against delivery apps charges. FOX Business’ Kristina Partsinevelos with more.
Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox. Sign up here.
Food delivery company DoorDash announced on Thursday a service to help restaurants build their own websites for online ordering so they do not have to pay marketing commissions to the platform itself.
Restaurants will also not have to pay most fees for the new DoorDash Storefront service through the end of the year, providing some relief to a ravaged industry as it starts reopening in some areas, DoorDash's Chief Operating Officer Christopher Payne told Reuters exclusively.
Commissions as high as 30% paid to delivery companies --- including Grubhub Inc, Postmates and Uber Technologies Inc's Uber Eats --- are a sore spot for some cash-strapped mom-and-pop restaurants.
iStock
The fees, especially those charged for marketing, are under increasing scrutiny, with deliveries rising as people have stayed home to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
FOOD DELIVERY FROM GHOST KITCHENS BRINGS RESTAURANT QUALITY FOOD TO THE MASSES
DoorDash waived commissions over the last couple of months and provided other relief totaling about $120 million to help independent restaurants through the pandemic, Payne said.
CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC BOOSTS COMFORT FOOD SALES
But about 40% of the restaurants already working with Doordash do not have their own websites that allow for ordering and transactions.
Through DoorDash Storefront, restaurants will also get the data from orders that come through their own websites --- valuable customer information for marketing that would otherwise go to the third-party delivery platform.
CORONAVIRUS BOOSTS FOOD DELIVERY SALES IN SUBURBS
Storefront is in testing and will go live July 1, but restaurants can sign up now.
Next year, standard fees for the service will kick in, including for set-up, monthly software charges, credit card processing and delivery. Payne declined to say exactly how much the service would cost.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON FOX BUSINESS