Food Delivery Apps...What's The Deal and Who Gets What?

[Pattaya Spotter]

I think this is a general topic so I will ask it here...if it fits better somewhere else I ask a mod to move it.. So with the earlier pandemic lockdowns and now generally laziness, I've become somewhat addicted to food delivery apps. I'm now using a total of 4 of them...Grab Eats, Hungry Now, Food Panda, and Food Moover. The last is not a pure delivery app, as I understand them, as restaurants listed on FM do their own deliveries. Between the four, I find I can order food from just about any restaurant in Pattaya, where I live, from places I used to frequent in person and new ones I discovered through the apps. The apps make ordering food so easy...and CHEAP.

 

Therein lies my question..how is the money divided up between the restos, drivers, and the app companies. I'm curious because with their plethora of daily specials and voucher discounts, having food delivered is cheaper (sometimes as much as 50% less) then getting in my car and eating out. I then think of the service staff, who are out the tip money I would normally leave them. (They seem to draw the really short stick in all this.) Maybe someone in the restaurant industry can provide info on the revenue split and thoughts in general on these apps. Also, do people generally tip the drivers...I do because during this time, front line service workers are certainly earning it.

 

As an example, here is my receipt on a recent food order. On this day, there was a B100 voucher from anyplace on minimum orders of B200 or more. So my B275 pasta was B175. Who can resist prices like this and why would I ever go in person to this, or anyplace else, where I cannot get the same prices?

 

 

My questions: 1) How can the resto make any money selling me a B275 meal for B175? 2) Is the resto being paid B275 by the app company and the app company absorbing the B100 discount? 3) Where does the driver fit it...what's their share of the 175 (or 275 if no discount)? 4) Is this a sustainable business model for app cos. and restaurants long term, i.e., after the pandemic? 5) Will I ever go out to dine again?? The app company even throws in a small bottle of water gratis...maybe 20 baht at a restaurant. On the above order, I gave the driver B200 and let him keep the change. I usually tip B20-40 depending on the resto's distance from my house. 

 

My pasta was delicious by the way...

 

 

[CharlieH]

No offence intended but I hope that tasted better than it looks, as it looks awful.

Get a much nicer dish for 99bt at Pizza Company. I would suggest thats grossly overpriced at 275b.

 

As for who gets what, dont know, but they all will have a "%" for sure.

 

 

[Natai Beach]

24 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

No offence intended but I hope that tasted better than it looks, as it looks awful.

Get a much nicer dish for 99bt at Pizza Company. I would suggest thats grossly overpriced at 275b.

 

As for who gets what, dont know, but they all will have a "%" for sure.

 

 

 

 

No offense Sir but the sugary pizzas at the Pizza Company are the worst pizza I have ever come across. Like eating a cake. 
 

That being said, a pizza is a bit like a bj, even an ordinary one is better than nothing. 
 

The food delivery staff get paid per delivery but also have a bonus system for doing a higher number of deliveries per month, and they also keep all the tips, and they can choose the hours they work. 
 

The delivery side is all explained on this website. 
 

https://rider.foodpanda.co.th
 

And the restaurants side here. 
 

https://www.restaurant.foodpanda.co.th/s/?language=th&countryIsoCode=TH

[Pattaya Spotter]

51 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

No offence intended but I hope that tasted better than it looks, as it looks awful.

Get a much nicer dish for 99bt at Pizza Company. I would suggest thats grossly overpriced at 275b.

 

As for who gets what, dont know, but they all will have a "%" for sure.

 

 

Maybe if I had plated it so nice like you it would have looked tastier to you. Another benefit of these apps I left out is that for lazy sods like me, I can just eat the food straight out of the delivery containers. (Or maybe it's me saving the planet by not using wash water and phosphate laden soap to clean the dishes.)

[Pattaya Spotter]

54 minutes ago, Natai Beach said:

The food delivery staff get paid per delivery but also have a bonus system for doing a higher number of deliveries per month, and they also keep all the tips, and they can choose the hours they work. 
 

The delivery side is all explained on this website. 
 

https://rider.foodpanda.co.th
 

And the restaurants side here. 
 

https://www.restaurant.foodpanda.co.th/s/?language=th&countryIsoCode=TH

Not really much info on Panda's site...the benefit they list first for restaurateurs is more revenue. But in my case, as I'm sure for many others, it's just substitute revenue, often at a lower price per item than if I dined in. There is some incremental revenue increase, however, in that I have ordered from some new places I probably wouldn't have discovered without the apps. Another seeming drawback is at least Panda pays out delivery proceeds monthly, so the resto has to wait at least 30 days to get paid, whereas if I dine in, they're paid immediately. Some benefits. 

 

 

As for drivers, yes there is some bonus payments for meeting delivery quotas and recruiting other drivers. I was curious what they are paid per delivery and how busy they are (daily earnings). Another "benefit," if you can believe it, is you get to drive all around your city and get to know all its interesting places and haunts that are unknown to all your no -driving friends...and then you get to be the in the know hipster and tell your friends all about these places. 

 

 

[Susco]

2 minutes ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Another "benefit," if you can believe it, is you get to drive all around your city and get to know all its interesting places and haunts that are unknown to all your no -driving friends...and then you get to be the in the know hipster and tell your friends all about these places. 

 

Maybe they charge the riders for a sight seeing tour

[Susco]

I also often wonder how those apps make money, but then they launch an IPO on the US stock market, and the next day they are worth 20 Billion dollar.

[Pattaya Spotter]

4 minutes ago, Susco said:

I also often wonder how those apps make money, but then they launch an IPO on the US stock market, and the next day they are worth 20 Billion dollar.

But only if they're unprofitable and losing billions of dollars.

[CharlieH]

50 minutes ago, Natai Beach said:

 

 

No offense Sir but the sugary pizzas at the Pizza Company are the worst pizza I have ever come across. Like eating a cake. 
 

That being said, a pizza is a bit like a bj, even an ordinary one is better than nothing. 
 

The food delivery staff get paid per delivery but also have a bonus system for doing a higher number of deliveries per month, and they also keep all the tips, and they can choose the hours they work. 
 

The delivery side is all explained on this website. 
 

https://rider.foodpanda.co.th
 

And the restaurants side here. 
 

https://www.restaurant.foodpanda.co.th/s/?language=th&countryIsoCode=TH

Wouldnt know never eat the Pizza, and I never mentioned it either .