Restaurants forced to hike prices on third party delivery services

If you are a regular user of fast-food delivery services such as Uber Eats and Menulog, you may have noticed you are paying up to $10 more for a dish than the listed restaurant price.

The price hike is all due to the commission charged to the restaurant, which can be as high as 30% per order.

Add high commissions to delivery and service fees and the restaurants need to recoup costs, putting consumers well out of pocket.

For instance, a national Greek chain of restaurants charges $22 for a Spartan Bowl in store, but $10 more on Uber Eats and Menulog apps.

Even fast-food chains including KFC and McDonald’s have increased their delivery-app prices.

A six pack of nuggets at Maccas will cost you $1.55 more. Given how many Golden Arches there are around Australia, you could probably walk to a store and save your money.

Zeus Street Greek chief marketing officer Ramon Castillo told The Age, “(The price difference is) 100 per cent in place to offset the fees charged by third-party delivery companies.

“The ability for our franchisees to absorb these fees in addition to our other operational costs is simply not sustainable.”

An Uber Eats spokesperson clarified the costs with 7NEWS.com.au.

“Restaurants choose to partner with Uber Eats in different ways and we’re proud to provide this flexibility and control to thousands of Australian small businesses nationwide,” the spokesperson said.

Essentially, restaurants can choose which items they place on the app and what the cost will be.

Jonathan Jackson - 1-6-23