Uber Eats and Mr D Food are the two biggest food delivery services in South Africa. Both platforms partner with restaurants and cafes to facilitate the delivery of meals and drinks to patrons in a specific geographical area. This article will compare both services to help you determine which company offers the best package of services for your establishment.
Partnership Overview
This section will look into how each food delivery service works with its restaurant partners. We will see how each company approaches the food ordering and delivery process, and how a restaurant owner can join their platform.
Mr D Foods
Below is an overview of what working with Mr D Foods looks like for restaurants and independent food outlets:
- List your restaurant on the Mr D Food app by completing the application form via the restaurant partner portal
- Gain access to an Android-based device and a backend app that lets you collect and deliver customer orders
- Pay the monthly subscription fee, which is separate from the commission fee charged on each order
- Mr D Food will handle the internet connection for the device so you won’t have to worry about WiFi
- Work with the company to capture your whole menu or just your best sellers
- Enjoy exposure to a larger customer base who may not have discovered your food outlet without the app
- Patrons can pay for their food and drinks online by card, instant ETF, or eBucks
- Mr D Food will communicate orders for food and drinks to your restaurant via the backend app
- Package the order and hand it off to the company’s delivery driver to take care of the rest
- Customers can track the meal en route from their apps
- Get your payout twice a week minus the commission fee on each order
- Leverage the in-app marketing tools to promote your business on the app
Uber Eats
The Uber Eats process is similar, but there are a few differences in the scope of additional services and tools users can harness.
- List your restaurant on the Uber Eats platform by completing the application form available on the Uber Eats Merchant Program website
- Remember to choose the right “Business Type” on the application form since many people fail to take the fact that the platform is used by other businesses like convenience stores and pharmacies into consideration when registering
- Obtain the Uber Eats tablet and access to the Uber Eats Manager app if your application is accepted by Uber
- You can choose to use your own Android or iOS device and download only the Uber Eats Manager app
- Try the app for free for 30 days, then select a subscription plan
- Use the Uber Eats Menu Maker to design your menu catalog before uploading it to the platform
- Use the Access Management features to specify roles and limit the access of your staff to critical features on the platform
- Gain access to the audience on South Africa’s second-largest food delivery platform
- Uber One members buying from your restaurant will be entitled to exclusive perks like $0 delivery fees, discounts, and more
- Receive order notifications via the manager app and hand off the package to the Uber Eats delivery staff
- Customers can track their orders via the Uber Eats app
- Monitor customer feedback using the Customer Engagement features on the platform
- Track your earnings in real-time and get paid in 2-3 business days if you opted for the daily disbursement option
- Use the many in-app marketing tools and programs to push your food outlet to the top of relevant restaurant search results
Customer Satisfaction
The best food delivery service company is one that works well for both food outlets and patrons. The company must give restaurants the tools they need to succeed, while also exceeding the expectations of the customers using the platform to order their meals.
We will use four key factors to compare both food delivery companies.
Geographical Coverage
There are over 8000 eateries listed on the Mr D Food app, and the company controls 30% of the food delivery industry in South Africa. The delivery service is available in all nine provinces in the country with more than 7000 drivers registered to deliver food and drink packages for the company.
Uber Eats also has national coverage, and the company controls 25% of the South African food delivery industry. Uber has the advantage of being a popular taxi service with many drivers in its stable, and the company’s market share is expected to keep growing.
Customers won’t have any issues getting their meals and drinks delivered if they opt for either company.
Delivery Prices
Mr D food charges a flat fee for each order regardless of the food price or distance traveled, while Uber Eats charges a variable delivery fee that is subject to the distance traveled.
So, which is cheaper for your customers? My BroadBand organized a comparison between Uber Eats and My D Food to see which is more expensive. They ordered five of the same items from the same restaurant on the two apps to be delivered to the same address. They discovered that the cost of the Mr D Food order was R131.88 compared to R127.93 for the Uber Eats order.
What was deduced from that experiment is that depending on their location, Mr D Food’s flat rate model makes it more expensive for customers. Patrons that are considerably far from the restaurant’s location may save money using Mr D because the rate is the same regardless of where you are ordering from, while those using Uber Eats may pay more because the rate is adjusted for the distance traveled.
On the other hand, customers using Mr D who are closer to the restaurant’s location may overpay because of the flat rate, while those using Uber Eats will pay the fair rate since the fee is calculated based on the distance traveled.
So, a restaurant where the majority of its customers are ordering from outside its immediate local area may want to opt for Mr D Foods to help them save money. In contrast, food outlets where the majority of customers are ordering from their immediate local area may choose Uber Eats to help buyers save money.
Branch Availability
Both food delivery services list all the popular local and national restaurant brands on their platform. Still, there are instances where some branches are not supported on one platform but are available on the other platform.
For example, depending on where in Johannesburg a customer is trying to order chicken from Mochachos, it is possible for Uber Eats to only offer the branches at Bryanston and Rivonia Village as options for delivery. In contrast, Mr. D Food may offer the Bryanston and Pineslopes branches as options for delivery.
This forces customers to switch between apps till they find the platform that offers delivery from a branch close to their location. One way restaurant owners with multiple food outlets can help customers is to list each branch separately on the delivery platform that focuses on serving customers in that location.
So, based on our example, your Rivonia branch will be listed on Uber Eats, while your branch in Fourways will be listed on Mr D Food.
Payment Options
Patrons buying from your restaurant using the Mr D Foods platform can pay with their credit card, instant ETF, eBucks, WiCode, or cash. However, there is a minimum order value based on the location of the customer.
Uber Eats lets customers pay with their cards, Paypal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, gift cards, Uber Cash, and cash. There is no Minimum order value with Uber Eats, although restaurants can set their distance preferences to ensure meals are not being delivered cold to customers at faraway locations.
Both food delivery companies offer extensive payment options, but the minimum order value wrinkle with Mr D Food is something restaurant owners must take into consideration. You might want to opt for Uber Eats if you have lots of out-of-area customers ordering meals priced below the required threshold.
Wrapping Up
The South African food delivery market will only keep growing, and there are many other new entrants making waves in the sector. If the package of services offered by Uber Eats and Mr D Foods isn’t good enough for the peculiar needs of your restaurant, you can check out those other delivery companies.
One other major issue you must pay attention to is your POS system. Both food delivery services let you integrate your backend delivery app with your POS system, and there is no better POS system for restaurant owners in South Africa than Slant POS.
We know you have spent so much money already setting up your establishment and, now, with the online delivery issue, paying for the backend tablet. So, our POS system is completely cloud-based. You can install it on any iOS or Android device to start processing payments and running every aspect of your business from the palm of your hand.
Also, unlike many other POS systems, ours is purpose-built for restaurants, with custom portals for each user depending on your food outlet type. Using a POS system that is designed for your outlet type gives you access to the best features that are optimized for the operational requirements of your business. Visit our homepage now to try the Slant POS for free.