www.montereycountynow.com MARCH 6-12, 2025 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY 19 sandwich shop franchise in Seaside. Delivery—often to workers in need of a quick lunch—makes up 40 percent of her business. According to the 2024 Uber Eats Merchant Impact Report, a survey of small and medium-sized businesses partnered with the service, 81 percent credit the service for improving their bottom line and expanding market presence. The BJ’s Restaurant chain took advantage of the option to create Slo Roast, a delivery-only brand. At first reluctant to join the fray, Ashley Wolff of JeJu Kitchen in Carmel recently added DoorDash. “What I’ve come to realize is that we have customers who wouldn’t otherwise come to Carmel and deal with parking,” she explains. But the pros are balanced by a list of cons, some of greater concern to restaurateurs than others. The most visible of these are pricing and scams. Restaurant owners are sensitive to costs. Keeping a wary eye on expenses is a key to success. Although the formula varies depending upon the type of establishment, in general a full-service operation aims to keep food, labor and other costs—rent, utilities and so on—around 30 percent each, leaving a profit of 10 percent. When the California minimum wage stepped up to $16.50 an hour in 2025, when the price of eggs shoots up by more than 90 percent in one year, they are faced with some unpleasant options. Do they cut quality or service? That’s unthinkable for a fine-dining location. Raise prices? There is only so much customers will pay for a plate of pasta. Which leaves profit margin on the cutting board. DoorDash and Uber Eats account for 90 percent of the mobile app delivery market, with the former carving out a massive 67-percent share, according to the delivery software provider Deliverect. And in structure they operate much the same, applying fees to both customers and restaurants. “They want to take 30 percent off the top,” says Michael Foley, who owns Heirloom Pizza in Monterey and Salinas’ Live@Heirloom. “How much money do you think I make on pizza?” Both companies offer tiered costs for restaurants, ranging between 15 and 30 percent per order through their apps for delivery, with a lower rate for take-away orders (a flat 6 percent at Uber Eats). At 15 percent, restaurants get in the third-party delivery game— but only just. Increasing the agreement to 20, 25 or 30 percent brings perks. For example, committing to 25 percent with Uber Eats puts a restaurant on a dynamic visibility platform, making it easier to find based upon order patterns, customer approval and other factors. At 30 percent the restaurant is more likely found toward the top of the page. And at both levels, delivery fees are waived for certain customers, making the restaurant more budget-friendly to some diners. “Our merchant pricing plans are designed to meet merchants where they are,” explains Uber Eats spokesman Arab. “No two businesses are alike, and our partnership options reflect that.” To entice JeJu Kitchen, DoorDash offered Wolff the service free for two months, allowing her to gauge its value. And while she says joining the app has been a good decision, delivery is not the primary function of the restaurant. “When we’re busy, I do have to toggle it off or add to the wait time,” she says. “The people seated in the restaurant are the priority.” To compensate for the additional cost, restaurant owners can either increase their menu prices across the board or tack on a premium for third-party delivery orders. Visit Elli’s Great American Restaurant in Salinas and you will find a print menu listing carne asada fries at $15.99 and skirt steak from $31.99. Venture on the DoorDash website and the same dishes run $19.19 and $38.39, respectively—a 20-percent markup. Foley decided to take a hit when joining Uber Eats. Despite paying out 15 percent per delivery order, he increased third-party pricing by just 8 percent. “That mitigates a bit of the loss,” he says. “I want to have a delivery option.” Thus far customers have been willing to bear the cost, which includes delivery fees from the third-party service and tips, in addition to higher A DoorDash driver uses the app to confirm pickup of an order. Below, details provided by the app allow drivers to check that everything is correct.
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