Food delivery apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash have made ordering and getting restaurant food more convenient for people. Here, we will examine the relationship between the delivery companies and restaurants (you) that produce the food. The goal is to help you decide which of the two companies best meets the needs of your business.
Platforms and Resources
A food delivery app provides a platform people can use to search for food locally. You can reach those potential customers by listing the meals and drinks offered by your restaurant or cafe on that platform.
Suppose a potential customer chooses to order food from your establishment. In that case, the food delivery service will connect you with independent drivers, bike riders, and walkers available to help deliver the meal to the customer.
The entire food ordering and delivery process is managed from a backend platform under the control of the restaurant owner. The purpose of this section is to show you what you can do with the backend platforms of both Uber Eats and DoorDash.
The Uber Eats Manager App
Uber’s platform has many features that can help improve every aspect of restaurant operations, including order processing, delivery, payment logistics, and customer relationship management.
- Live menu: use the Uber Eat platform’s Menu Maker to conceive and design your menu catalog. It lets you add photos, prices, descriptions, and more. You can create different menus if you have multiple locations and update them anytime.
- Order management: the platform gives you a centralized hub for processing incoming customer orders and tracking their delivery. You can contact customers whose orders weren’t fulfilled from your dashboard and resolve refund disputes.
- Analytics: stay on top of your business by monitoring key data points like online rates, average order size, order accuracy, popular times, net sales, and more.
- Access management: the platform lets you specify roles for members of your staff who are permitted to use the platform to limit their access to critical features like Payments, Tax, Settings, etc.
- Customer feedback: use the platform to view and respond directly to customer ratings and reviews. Customer engagement is crucial if you want them to keep coming back. Uber has given users the tools they need to reward happy customers and resolve the complaints of unhappy buyers.
- Payments: the namesake tab on the platform lets you track your earnings in real-time. There are tools to help automate the accounting and reconciliation process.
DoorDash for Merchants
The DoorDash platform has all the features you would expect from a food delivery service app and more. We will cover the main online ordering features in this section before later exploring the other amazing opportunities on offer, like partnering with big restaurant brands and obtaining financing directly from your app.
- Menu: DoorDash separates the Menu feature into different categories, including appetizers, entrees, desserts, beverages, and others. You can add and edit items on your menu and track the performance of your meals to spot opportunities to boost sales.
- Orders: monitor active customer orders from all your sales channels in real-time and track the delivery process. You can also view data on historical orders.
- Customer feedback: DoorDash lets you view customer reviews under the Insights tab and analyze their prevailing sentiments about your restaurant. Restaurant owners can see what customers think about the quality of their food and the reliability of the information on their online menu.
- Operations Quality: get an overview of the quality of customer experience in your restaurant. You will see data on wait times, order accuracy, cancellations, etc.
- Access Management: DoorDash lets you designate roles for your staff. A user can be a Business Admin, Store Manager, or Store Operator.
- Financials: get information on revenues from online orders and estimated payouts for a specified period. You can also generate monthly financial statements from the platform.
- Merchant Support: contact customer support staff directly from your dashboard whenever you need to get your questions answered.
Services and Delivery Fees
The delivery fee is a percentage of earnings taken from all meals and drinks sold via a food delivery company’s platform.
The percentage varies depending on the pricing plan you choose. It’s higher if you get extra services and perks in addition to the basic online order processing and courier delivery functionality you expect from a food delivery service.
For example, a Basic plan with a 15% fee is cheaper than a Plus plan with a 25% fee. Still, it doesn’t come with perks like extra exposure to potential new customers and access to exclusive clubs of customers who tend to spend and order more than other potential buyers.
To better understand what you can get from higher-tier pricing plans, we recommend trying out the full version of the delivery company’s platform during the free trial period.
Uber Eats Services and Fees
The company offers three pricing plans plus a Self-delivery plan for restaurants using their own delivery staff. All new users are entitled to a 30-day free trial period with 0% commissions.
Lite Plan
[15% fee (delivery orders) and 6% fee (pickups)]
It’s the company’s cheapest plan and most suitable for businesses looking to reach a customer base already familiar with their brand.
Customers who already know you in your local area will be able to order meals from your restaurant via the Uber Eats app instead of visiting your physical location.
Plus Plan
[25% fee (delivery orders) and 6% fee (pickups)]
This plan is for restaurants and cafes seeking exposure to new customers on the Uber Eats app. The plan includes features that will help highlight your store in customer searches.
Uber One member customers ordering from your establishment will get benefits like discounts, $0 delivery fees, and more.
Premium Plan
[30% fee (delivery orders) and 6% fee (pickups)]
It’s Uber’s most expensive plan, and it’s best for businesses that want to be promoted aggressively on the platform. Greater exposure to a much larger pool of potential customers ensures your restaurant will be discovered more on the platform, and your sales will grow.
You get Uber One benefits in addition to other perks like Uber matching your ad spending up to $100 per month. Also, during the first six months, you won’t be charged any fees in any month; your restaurant didn’t get a minimum of 20 orders.
Self-delivery Plan
[15% fee (self-delivery orders) and 6% fee (pickups)]
This subscription plan is for businesses with a tried and true delivery method who want to control the dropoff experience. And if it’s a further-away delivery, you can still rely on Uber’s network of food delivery couriers.
Uber will show your business in relevant customer searches on the Uber Eats app, inform you of the order, and you will drop off the meal or drinks with your own delivery staff.
In addition to the fees included in the four pricing plans, the company will deduct a one-time $500 charge for every new location you open on the app from your payouts in weekly installments.
The money covers the cost of account set-up, professional photography, and account support. A $200 damage fee will be imposed if you damage (outside normal wear and tear) or fail to return the Uber Eats tablet you will be given if you sign up.
Uber also offers a Uber Direct white-label delivery service for businesses who want to use the delivery company’s courier services while receiving online orders on their own app or website.
You will only pay per delivery; pricing can be as low as $6.99 per drop-off. The Uber Direct platform can be integrated with your POS or Order Management System (OMS), and there is an API kit if that’s needed.
DoorDash Services and Fees
DoorDash also offers three main pricing plans plus a self-delivery option. One significant difference is that its free trial period is 60 days.
Basic Plan
[15% (delivery orders) and 6% (pickup orders)]
The company will charge 0% delivery fees for the first seven days before the 15% fee begins. It’s a great plan for businesses that want to save costs and are only targeting customers nearby.
Customers in your local area will be able to find you on the DoorDash Marketplace, but you won’t be able to reach customers further away.
Plus Plan
[25% (delivery orders) and 6% (pickup orders)]
It’s a plan designed to help restaurants reach more customers outside the immediate local areas, and DoorDash will charge 0% delivery fees for the first 30 days.
Your DashPass member customers will be entitled to $0 delivery fees and reduced service fees on all DashPass orders over $12.
Premier Plan
[30% (delivery orders) and 6% (pickup orders)]
The company also offers 0% delivery charges for the first 30 days with this plan. It is an excellent option for businesses that want to stand out in customer searches on the DoorDash Marketplace.
Greater visibility plus access to DashPass subscribers should help maximize sales. DoorDash offers a growth guarantee to refund your commission costs if you don’t get at least 20 orders that month.
Self-delivery Plan
[Lower commission fees]
There is no pricing information on the company’s website about its Flexible Fulfillment plan, but DoorDash claims that the fees are lower than what other DoorDash Marketplace customers are paying.
The Dasher network can be used if delivery volumes are beyond the restaurant’s capacity or the customer is outside the establishment’s delivery zone.
The following perks are included in all four DoorDash plans:
- Storefront: a free online ordering system that can customize your website, social media profiles, and Google My Business pages to receive online orders from customers.
- DoorDash Financing: eligible restaurant owners can obtain funding (typically $5,000 to $15,000 or more) to use as they see fit. You can use it to pay employees or purchase new equipment, and the repayment will be deducted automatically from your payouts.
- Merchant Support: there is 24/7 phone and chat support. You can also email the company or visit the online Help Center to get your answers.
Dash Drive is the company’s white-label on-demand delivery offering. Customers will order directly from your app, phone, or website and pay a $6.99-$10.99 flat delivery fee to have their meals dropped off by Door Dash’s delivery staff.
The Dash Drive platform is available as an option on popular OMS systems, and if that’s not the case, you can integrate it into your platform using the company’s API.
Getting Customers
Many other nearby restaurants will compete with your establishment to grab the same customers’ attention in your local area. The only way to stand out is if your food delivery service offers marketing tools you can use to promote your business on the delivery app.
Here are the marketing tools offered by both food delivery companies.
Uber Eats
Restaurants using the Uber Eats service can grab customers’ attention using both of the following mediums:
Uber Eats Listings
The food delivery service gives restaurant owners the tools to run promotional campaigns that can help entice customers to choose their store over competitors.
You can set a budget and track the performance of your ads. The Insights section shows data that can be used to optimize your ads.
Promotions
Marketing tools built into the Uber Eats backend platform let you create special deals that will be featured in the Deals section and appear in customer feeds. You can offer the deals like “Buy one, get one free” and free delivery for orders over a certain dollar amount (usually $25).
Any restaurant owner with access to the Uber Eats Manager app can create the same deals, so you must ensure you have a top-notch menu, positive customer reviews, and well-designed pages on all your sales channels.
Uber Top Eats
Eligible restaurants will get a Top Eats badge which can lead to a massive increase in sales because potential new customers can be confident that the food delivery service has vetted your restaurant.
Your restaurant must have been registered on the platform for at least 90 days to qualify, and you must have outstanding ratings and low missed order rates.
DoorDash
Here are tools you can use to boost online restaurant sales on DoorDash.
Sponsored Listings
You can pay to set up a restaurant ad that will be featured on the DoorDash homepage and at the top of relevant customer search results.
The idea is to promote your store so you can get discovered by potential customers. The company won’t charge you for clicks or impressions; you only pay when the advert leads to an active customer order.
Promotions
The marketing section of the DoorDash for Merchants platform gives restaurant owners the tools to offer special deals and free items to customers.
For example, you can offer meals with a 0% delivery fee, and your deal will be featured in the Offers section of the DoorDash Marketplace.
Brand Licensing
The idea is to let well-known restaurant brands use your kitchen and staff to prepare their menu items. The popular restaurant will get access to your infrastructure, and you will get an ironclad revenue stream.
This virtual restaurant model is common among people who don’t want to build a new restaurant brand from the ground up and would rather sell the menu and reputation of an existing establishment. The good thing is that DoorDash will help you select the restaurant that will be a perfect fit for your store.
DoorDash Most Loved
The “Most Loved” badge will be added to the store page of any restaurant that exceeds monthly performance goals, has the same menu prices in-store & on the Marketplace, and has obtained lifetime ratings of 4.5+.
The company also releases periodic All-Star publications of the most loved restaurants in a geographical area. Getting on such a list can be a major marketing boon for your restaurant.
Which One is Better Between DoorDash and Uber Eats?
Both food delivery service companies offer similar delivery fees and order management tools. Little separates them except for the business financing and brand licensing services DoorDash offers.
If you are only interested in a platform that does order processing and delivery really well, you can go for either platform, but if you want something extra, we recommend DoorDash.
Also, both companies let you integrate your POS system with their platform, and there is no better POS system on the market for independent restaurant owners operating on a tight budget than Slant POS.
It’s completely cloud-based and lets you run your establishment from any existing device. You also get a range of features for managing your inventory and monitoring the performance of your business. Visit our homepage now to try it for free.
