You can also spread the message to your friends and family. That Grubhub, uber eats, etc are not the best way to support a local business, and that they conduct these deceptive tactics.

I’ve had friends in the past week state “I’m supporting local tonight” and then continue on to state they ordered via uber eats.

They’re upset to know, but thankful to be informed, that ordering via uber eats doesn’t actually support local in the way they believe they are.

The whole fake websites / fake phone numbers just adds to the bad taste, supporting local does not align with supporting deceptive middle men.

> “If a customer calls to place a coffee order, we’re paying a $6.42 fee — for a coffee.”

This is based on the contract the restaurant has with grubhub, uber eats, etc - if the terms are not favorable why not cancel the agreement ?

Seems they want others to fix their self-inflicted damage

Restaurants want this service, they just want it at a fair price.

The argument isn’t so much “grubhub charges a fee” more that “grubhub uses its monopoly position in a local market to further monopolize distribution channels and thus charge monopoly prices“

what's a fair price?

> This is wrong ! Plain and simple. $6.42 is probably more than the cost of the coffee.

While I think they shouldn't be charging nearly that much, that's a misleading way to look at it.

The charge is based on the average. When you step back and look at the entire month, it's going to be some negotiated percent of the total. For some orders it will be way under, and for some it will be way over, but it will balance out.

When you order just a coffee it drags down the average. Then, example numbers, the fee next month might be 3 cents lower across 200 orders. This saves $6, making the net fee $0.42

That $6.42 is what the restaurant is paying to GrubHub due to their flat per-order fee, not what the customer is paying for the coffee. It's not like the restaurant is charging $10 for coffee and losing sixty-four percent of that; it's normal coffee at normal coffee prices at the restaurant's end. They're out of pocket every time it happens.

Don't tip. They should have set their price at the cost they can afford to sell the item at.