TAMPA, Fla. — For many restaurants, food delivery apps have been a lifeline to survive this pandemic. But, for King of the Coop, the price of admission is getting too high.
Joe Dodd, the owner of King of the Coop in Seminole Heights, said the pandemic changed every aspect of how he runs the business. After taking a hard look at their numbers from January, he realized that the company was doing better following lockdown orders, but the amount of money they were taking in didn’t add up.
“We’ve taken a look at our numbers and seen that Uber Eats is around 40% of our business, and 30% of that 40% in sales that we do they take that,” Dodd said. “As a customer, you are paying Uber. You don’t pay the restaurant, so Uber pays us so automatically they take out their portion. Since January, we’ve paid $50,000 in fees to Uber.”
Dodd launched the King of the Coop at 6607 N. Florida Avenue in April of 2019. Since the pandemic hit, they’ve scaled back their menu and are working to be more resilient as COVID-19 cases surge.
“Everything is made from scratch. Everything is made in house,” Dodd said. “We’ve just stuck with doing our tender boxes, our sandwiches and our fish and our sides. You have to deal with the times and make happen whatever you can make happen and go for the gusto.”
Dodd said Uber Eats does give his restaurant more eyeballs. As people scroll through the app, hungry looking for food, many come across his restaurant and place an order.
“It’s definitely not free marketing cause it’s $50,000, not free,” Dodd said. “It’s almost that you are out in front of a lot of people on the Uber Eats app, so there is that positive point of it.”
Dodd is now using a local company Deliverlogic to set up a new delivery service. Dodd plans to hire 4-6 local delivery drivers to start.
“They set up our delivery platform for us, we will hire our own delivery drivers, and we feel that this is a great move not only financially but how we want our product to be represented,” Dodd said. “Say that $50,000 was an expense with our own delivery system we know that’s going to help people within this community, right, the people we hire to drive we know where that money is going and we know that that money is being put to good use.”
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska reached out to Uber Eats for comment on their fee scale and services they are offering to restaurants.
Communications Manager Sarah Abboud said, “82% of restaurant operators say Uber Eats has been crucial to business during COVID-19 and that 75% of operators said that they would have had to close their business if not for Uber Eats.”
Uber Eats also just launched a series of restaurant-focused product developments.
Abboud also said "Uber Eats is waiving all restaurant fees on any Uber Eats pickup orders through the end of 2020 in the U.S. & Canada. We have also improved the global Eats pickup map experience, making it easier for consumers to find where pickup is available near them. And restaurants have the option to use their own courier to fulfill deliveries. This option allows restaurants to use their own delivery people to fulfill orders placed through the Uber Eats app at a lower marketplace fee.”
