Please take a moment to watch this video
You have your share of risk. You took mortgage, bet your future and your family’s future on this business, take loan to buy food and serve. That is enough. You do not have to offset their risk. When GrubHub and such startups decide to run a business they have their share of risks. The primary risk is customer acquisition and retention. It is their risk and theirs alone. You amply compensate them in the form of commission on sales generated. It is up to them to make a net profit from that by doing whatever it takes to acquire and retain their end customers. You do not have to carry that risk for them. And you should get paid right away and not let them keep the cash for 30 days.
But all that advertising and email marketing are about their site, apps and service to acquire and retain email addresses of end consumers. Not to advertise your business. It is their cost of doing business. Their risk. Their costs are just that, theirs. Not yours. You pay for the value you get from the incremental sales. You are done. Demand to get paid when you sell food. So by all means give a real hard look at these services. For your restaurant these services most likely help generate profitable sales if the commission is just 15-17% and you do not have to pay anything else. They do create value but don’t let them pass on their risks to you.
*Do not give customers any deals when they order from Grubhub
*Do not use any of the marketing material they send. They just wanted to promote their brand, not your
*Do not put their ordering link on your website! I know it is cheap, but for god sake it is YOUR brand you are trying to build and now you are handing them your customer information
*You can be smart getting repeat customers to order directly from your websites is possible if we make the effort. If you don’t do this, margins will continue to get squeezed and our businesses will suffer.
