A local business shared the pros and cons of the Uber Eats service after two weeks of rollout in two towns in the Yarra Valley.
Uber Eats is an online food ordering and delivery platform.
Healesville and Yarra Glen were named among the 15 new towns added on the Uber Eats map.
The company tries to expand its service to the broader cities, towns and communities across Australia, aiming to boost local economies, strengthen communities and make everyday convenience more accessible no matter where Australians live.
An Uber spokesperson said through the conversations in the community, they’ve seen strong enthusiasm from local restaurants and retailers eager to expand their reach, as well as from residents interested in flexible earning opportunities.
“Online food delivery is creating new opportunities and adding value for small businesses, workers and consumers in connected communities,” they said.
“Our recent Restaurant Pulse Check report shows that the vast majority (96 per cent) of restaurants surveyed who use online food delivery boosted their revenue over the past 12 months.
“Our services in the Yarra Glen and Healesville are live from (Thursday 3 July), with many local favourites now available to order from at the tap of a button.”
Uber Eats aims to support the local economy by creating flexible job opportunities, such as delivery driver roles, helping restaurants reach broader communities and offering convenience and choice to consumers.
Despite Uber Eats’ aim of supporting the local economy, a Healesville-based restaurant is concerned about the impact, while it is still happy to give it a try.
Monroe’s Burgers and Beers has been operating since 2016, located on the main street of Healesville.
The co-owner of the restaurant, Paul Stephens, said he’s worried about Uber Eats’ commission structure.
“From our perspective as an established business, we do our own delivery, and we built that without the complexities of dealing with a third-party delivery partner like Uber Eats,” he said.
“Their standard business model of taking a 33 per cent commission of sales is probably something that’s not really sustainable for hospitality in general and small businesses. I’m pretty sure all the restaurants that are on the platform locally have been given introductory promotions and offers that are quite a lot better than what they would typically roll out when they’re doing expansion in urban areas.
“The offers that they have provided to the local businesses in the area are significantly more competitive than their standard 33 per cent, but ultimately, they’ve made it clear that they’re just introductory offers, and it’s going to be the same in the long term.”
According to Mr Stephens’ claim, the local businesses experienced difficulty finding a delivery driver for the orders they received through Uber Eats.
“So in those cases, the customer actually ended up coming and picking it up even though they paid a delivery fee and we’ve made a delivery commission,” Mr Stephens said.
“That’s been something I’ve heard replicated a little bit through some of the local businesses.”
Despite the concerns, Monroe’s Burgers and Beers was happy to give it a shot to find out what works out and what the challenges are.
Mr Stephens said one of the positive opportunities that Uber Eats offers to local businesses is allowing them to deliver to areas that they can’t currently serve.
“For example, we can’t justify sending one of our drivers out to Yarra Glen or Woori Yallock because then they have to do a whole return trip to Healesville and we would lose a driver for far too long,” he said.
“Whereas if an Uber Eats driver could pick up food from us, deliver it to a customer in Yarra Glen, and then pick up another food from Yarra Glen and deliver that to a customer in Healesville, I think that is something that would be popular with consumers because when you’re a little bit isolated out here, you definitely get pretty excited about being able to get food that’s a bit different to the same restaurants regularly dining from.
“The added context around this is that the delivery to other areas like Yarra Glen has been mentioned as a possibility by Uber Eats, but is not yet actually available, so any benefits are purely hypothetical at this point.”
Regardless of all pros and cons surrounding the Uber Eats service, Mr Stephens is encouraging community members to support local restaurants by ordering directly from them, not through the third party.
“Any of the restaurants that I’ve looked at, including ourselves, (it’s cheaper to order directly on their website). It’s passed on to customers in the form of higher pricing,” he said.
“If you want to order directly on our website or call us at the store, the price per item in our case is between 10 and 15 per cent less than what you would pay if you’re ordering on Uber Eats.
“So the main message from us to our customers and people in general is support your favourite local businesses by ordering directly from them and save money. It helps all small businesses because money stays in the local economy rather than going to big multinational corporations.”
Star Mail contacted two more local businesses.
