It’s mind-blowing that in a time of crisis such as the COVID19 pandemic that food app aggregators don’t even bother to review their current business model or consider better ways to work with businesses that keep them in business. These food app aggregators haven’t reached out and asked F&B partners – "how can we help", "what can we do better", "let's meet and discuss together what our long game could be". These food app aggregators have proven to be selfish and greedy – when this becomes part of any relationship, the other half will walk away.

I want to thank Samantha @FoodDiva and the team @FoodSheikh. They have been vehement with PR and I'm thankful for their support and opinions. FoodDiva created this hashtag #UAERestaurantsUnite keeping the spirit of ordering direct and supporting local.

It’s clear that the food app aggregators don’t want to listen and if they have been listening it’s way too late for them to do anything now. Their model is no longer sustainable and I’m calling on all restaurants who are running any of the following: Deliveroo, UberEats, CareemNow, Zomato, Talabat and Carriage in the UAE to turn them off. It's a bold ask but when we all do it together as one, it makes a strong statement. #UAERestaurantsUnite #MakeThemListen

Turn off the food app aggregators April 14, 15 & 16

﻿Lets #MakeThemListen

The food app marketplace

The restaurants that are located here in the United Arab Emirates have some belief in the food app aggregators, otherwise, they would of never have signed up. The aggregators, in the beginning, had very good intentions but things changed when the folks in the ivory tower forgot who got them where they are today. The aggregator bosses haven’t been as affected by the COVID19 pandemic as harsh as the F&B outlets. The restaurants that are hanging on by a thread and are still dishing out 25-35% on every order will soon be an afterthought. No longer in business, it’s the harsh truth.

The brand experience

I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it. The food app aggregators don’t own the full brand experience. The restaurant owns 100% of the experience. The customer experience starts at the heart of the restaurant and the heart of the food. It’s about the people that wake up every single day and prep the food, set up the operations and run the business. Most of the businesses I’m aware of are run by people who have families and/or partners and this pandemic has become survival mode for most owners. I know that if a customer calls the food app aggregator to complain about anything, for example, the food came lukewarm, or the taste was not to their satisfaction or they forgot the ketchup they will refund the customer before speaking to the business. They refund the customer and still take the commission – guess who loses – the restaurant – the restaurant doesn't get money for the order and still pay's a commission.

The new mafia

The food app aggregators are operating like a mafia. What do I mean exactly? – The mafia would use extortion schemes to tax business owners – their message would be how they would protect to make sure the business keeps making money from criminals where they were the criminals. This is exactly what the food app aggregators are doing with more elegance. Their sales pitch is – "we will save you money, promote your business, reduce your driver overhead and make you more money…. it will cost you 30% of every order". When the restaurant tries to negotiate the commission – the response from the food app aggregator is, “if you are exclusive with us we can see what we can do, but can’t promise you” or “if you're not exclusive it's going to be tough for me to convince my bosses to give you a better deal, most likely your commission will be 35%”. They also use psychological scare tactics. They start sharing your competitors' numbers anonymously. You as an owner start thinking – ‘what am I doing wrong’. The owners start to think they are potentially putting their business in harm's way. They sign up to avoid the inevitable.

In the fine print of some of the food app aggregators' contracts it stipulates – if the restaurant runs a promotion on other aggregators or in-store they will automatically run the same promo at their discretion – so if a restaurant runs an in-store promotion of 30% off, the food app aggregators will run it without the restaurant's approval. Once you get your monthly invoice you get deducted this from your revenue. Their business model has to change.

Screenshot from the contract:

The new model

The model has to make sense for the country they are operating in. The model must be mutually beneficial for the customer, restaurant and the food app aggregator. Ensuring the customer still has the convenience of ordering from their favourite restaurants with ease and respectable offers. The restaurants aren’t forced to give a large percentage of their revenue to the food app aggregators and always be on discount and the aggregators still make enough money to be profitable and operate. The food app aggregators can connect with me and I’d be more than happy to share my recommendation and work with the aggregators to ensure they have everyone's interest at heart.

This is something that the food app aggregators have to take seriously or they will end up creating an F&B giant and become the new BlockBuster.

I came up with as an example of how a food app aggregator can set up a more beneficial model where everyone benefits. Reach out and I'd be happy to share.

Where is the love?

Any of these food app aggregators had a perfect opportunity during this pandemic and improve brand love with their F&B partners and with customers. If they were clever and had the right marketers working for the right cause they would come out of this on the right side. It's a simple and temporary remedy. [updated - 15 April 2020]

1. LAST-MILE COMMISSION: Reduction and cap of 15% of the total sale price which also includes the payment gateway fee.

2. MARKET PLACE COMMISSION: Reduction and cap of 5% which includes the payment gateway fee.

3. LOGISTICS: exclude the term in contracts regarding that restaurant owners must use the food app delivery logistics and include in the contract the ability for restaurants to choose to use personal delivery bike drivers and/or the food app delivery logistics.

4. DISCOUNTS:

Improved account management.

Reduce the frequency of discounts provided by the food app companies.

Transparency – provide a marketing plan to restaurant owners covering 6 months in advance, thus allowing restaurants to be better prepared.

The food app company to provide a revenue/profit justification report for each discount being proposed.

Discounts must include KPIs that the food companies will be held accountable for. KPIs agreed on with the account manager (e.g total completed orders, # of sessions to the brand page, clicks to the restaurant page, PPC etc.)

To date, there have been multiple emails and requests to the food app aggregators with ZERO replies.

My ask to all restaurants – I know this is a bold ask turn off the food app aggregators.

#MakeThemListen - April 14, 15 & 16

Previous LinkedIn article - Food delivery apps or services – how good are they for small businesses in Dubai? Published on November 12, 2019