Uber Eats decided to relax its collection of commissions to restaurants and thus continue in the struggles to make a profit from orderly food delivery through digital applications, a business that will reach $ 467 billion by 2025, according to a forecast by Morgan Stanley.
While the sanitary confinement boosted e-commerce like never before, especially home food orders, also raised questions about the fees that apps charge restaurants for using their platform.
The national survey of the current situation of restaurant sector showed that around seven out of 10 members of the National Chamber of the Restaurant and Seasoned Food Industry (Canirac) is not satisfied with the service offered by digital platforms, and they consider that an acceptable commission would be between 10 and 15 percent on the order value and not 30 percent on average, as is currently the case.
The restaurateurs argue that the commission, added to the withholdings of VAT and ISR which have been started since June 1, evaporates business profits. For their part, the applications argue that the charge is proportional to the benefit, especially for small and medium-sized businesses in terms of exposure.
Affected by low consumption, restaurants and applications are being reconfigured to make their income the least damaged.
In interview with MILLENNIUM, José García Pimentel, CEO of Uber Eats, the leading application in the market, said that the platform is promoting new modalities to decrease the charge for using the service.
“We are giving restaurants the opportunity to choose other methods to be able to sell their food through the platform. The first is the use of your own staff to make deliveries; In this modality the maximum commission that we will be charging will be 15 percent. We think it can be a very good trigger for growth and profitability, “he explained.
This scheme already works in the country with brands like Domino’s Pizza.
“The product is ready and the results have been good because the restaurants (that will use this scheme) know the areas in which they are located very well and can have an impact on the community,” he said.
Uber Eats charges a commission of up to 30 percent to the restaurant partners, an amount that according to the manager is used to generate demand for orders; payment of commissions to banks; eventual compensation to users, such as refunds when the order does not arrive or goes wrong; as well as the operation and maintenance of the application.
Although the commission may be less, it all depends on the particular characteristics of each business.
“We evaluate the conditions of the restaurants and one of the factors we look at the most is the brand and how much brand power does the restaurant have that wants to join the platform; another has to do with the number of points of sale it has ”, he explained.
According to García Pimentel, 70 percent of the restaurants affiliated with the platform are small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), with a local sphere of influence, and most of those businesses are those that usually pay up to 30 percent commission, because the promotional work that is done is greater.
“In Uber Eats the commission we charge is capped at 30 percent. No restaurant in Mexico is charged more than that percentage; It is important to clarify it because there is a different perception. There is no recent temporary reduction, it is still the same number for more than two and a half years“Said the general director of the platform.
About the withholdings of VAT and ISR who started doing the platform since last June 1, in addition to the commission charge, Pimentel said that they have been in strict compliance with what the fiscal form dictates and that in the short term the members themselves will notice the advantages.
“Restaurants and other players on the platform will begin to experience the benefits associated with this, such as simplifying certain procedures and even being able to access certain credits associated with this payment of taxes“, said.
Market researcher figures Nielsen reveal that Uber Eats, Rappi and Sin Delantal are the delivery platforms that digital consumers prefer the most, and about 47 percent consume the same or more through these applications since confinement.
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