Food delivery: what are the rates for traders who want to offer home deliveries?
The numbers speak for themselves: in 2019, the Food Delivery segment, the home delivery of food products, had an impressive increase of almost 57% compared to 2018, and the data appears to be on the rise.
This translates into a market of 566 million euros that is developing exclusively online, that is, through the use of the most common apps that include home delivery of food from dozens of restaurants and chains.
Fast Food, Asian, Gourmet or Pizzeria, it doesn’t matter: the home delivery market today exceeds that of supermarket products. A scenario unthinkable just a few years ago.
But what does it mean to use a restaurant food delivery app to your home?
Realities like Glovoo, Deliveroo, Uber Eats or Just Eat today represent services used by millions of users, thanks to which it is possible to easily request, pay and receive at home practically any cuisine among the favorites.
The system, generally similar, is very simple: you connect to the application, after appropriate registration, you select your favorite restaurant or pizzeria (you can choose different search filters, based on price, type of cuisine or user opinions, the application will automatically filter only the results reachable within the delivery terms), you choose your menu and pay.
After that you just have to wait.
This, according to the numbers, seems to have become the choice of choice for many Italian users for their zero-mile “dinners out,” and the trend shows no signs of stopping.
On the operator side, a restaurant – to join the project and become part of the consortium list of the various applications – must make a request and, obviously, recognize an economic compensation to the Food Delivery company that manages the platform. It is therefore not easy to understand if and how convenient it is, for a restaurateur, to affiliate with this type of solution to offer the home delivery service.
However, there are some general data that can be taken into account.
Let’s start with an important difference: Food Delivery services are not all the same. Some offer a “complete package” that includes technology, web interface and above all dedicated couriers (Glovoo, Deliveroo), others exclude the delivery service (Just Eat). In short, the latter make the entire software and hardware platform available but the restaurateur will have to use their own staff to physically carry out the delivery.
This aspect clearly varies the percentage retained by the service, which stands at around 15% for companies without a courier and goes up to 19/25% for companies that also provide couriers.
The variable in this last case consists in turn of a wide range (six percentage points) depending on the agreement reached.
It is not uncommon for this fee to vary depending on a series of factors, such as the company’s turnover but also the inclusion of exclusivity. In the first instance, in fact, if a restaurant is approaching the world of Food Delivery for the first time, the company contacted will tend to offer an exclusive service (i.e. contractually agreeing with the restaurateur that the latter will not use any competitor for home delivery). This will result in a lower rate.
In addition, it must be taken into account that the VAT percentage of 22% will be added to the “fee” price, a “bizarre” practice however universally shared by every carrier. Although the VAT amount is in fact deductible, it will still affect the gross amount of the receipt.
Doing the math, a service like Just Eat, assuming a share of around 15%, will cost the restaurateur around €1.83 for an order of €10.
To these costs must be added the variable costs such as activation costs (generally around €150) and possibly a deposit (similar figures), not to mention any monthly costs deriving from the use of some payment methods rather than others.
In essence, it is not easy for a restaurant or pizzeria owner to evaluate how convenient it is to join one of the most accredited home delivery services. Without a doubt, businesses that in themselves boast good market success reap the greatest benefits, especially in large cities (where some restaurant groups are starting to organize themselves with “common kitchens” that allow them to form consortia and amortize costs).
It’s a different story for restaurateurs in small towns, who are often forced to raise prices to stay within their profit margins. A decision that, in many cases, does not seem to weigh heavily on the eyes of the citizen, by virtue of the convenience of the service obtained in exchange.
