Exclusive: Restaurant industry leaders express little surprise over Menulog’s decision to cease operations in Australia, as a growing number of eateries are opting to abandon food delivery apps altogether.
While UberEats maintains a dominant presence in the Australian market, boasting 4.18 million users in 2024, numerous restaurants are now choosing to distance themselves from these platforms.
Chris Ratnaike, owner of Barry’s Burgers in Adelaide, shared that he discontinued using Menulog several years ago following a wave of negative reviews related to late or missed deliveries.
“I’m not shocked it eventually shut down,” Ratnaike revealed to nine.com.au.
“We decided to stop using it because we received several unfavorable reviews,” he explained.
“There were instances when orders were placed, but no drivers were available to accept them,” Ratnaike noted.
“But I don’t think it is a good thing that it’s not going to be here because then it just gives Uber more market share.”
Ratnaike stopped using the likes of UberEats and DoorDash last month, too, after eight years and introduced his own delivery system instead.
Barry’s Burgers has its own online app, which is then delivered to customers via a DoorDash driver.
He said Uber’s 30 per cent cut was simply not sustainable.
“When people are using these delivery apps, say something costs $30 on there, but it’s $20 in store… you’re paying $6 on delivery and a $4 service fee,” he continued.
“You could pay 50 per cent extra, but the business is not getting that.
“We don’t want to rip people off.
“We hate doing price increases, but we hate not being able to pay our bills.”
Martin Prenga, who runs Italian restaurant Dolce Napoli in Balmain, also isn’t a fan of the delivery giants.
He got rid of the apps after realising they were “pointless”.
“I got tired of them,” Prenga explained to 9news.com.au.
“It’s literally no profit whatsoever.”
Prenga offers his customers 10 per cent off for pick-up orders and hasn’t seen any downturn in business since stopping deliveries.
He expects other delivery apps with a similar model to Menulog may also struggle to keep afloat in Australia.
“They will have only two choices: either pull out of Australia or drop the rate,” he added.
“The rate needs to drop. The 30 per cent is mental.”
The owners of Melbourne institution Marios Cafe have never used delivery apps.
Co-founder Mario Maccarone told 9news.com.au it just “doesn’t work” for his restaurant.
“I think it would impact on customer experience,” he said.
Maccarone said he thinks Menulog’s closure is a “bit of a sign”.
“And I know at least one other business who has been disillusioned with the apps too,” he added.
9news.com.au has reached out to Menulog and UberEats for comment.
