A Chicago food truck owner has gone viral after sharing a statement from a delivery service and revealing that the service has been taking the majority of one restaurant’s earnings through numerous fees.
According to Business Insider , Giuseppe Badalamenti, owner of the Chicago Pizza Boss food truck, is urging people to forgo using delivery apps like Grubhub which he insists don’t actually help support the businesses the way customers think they do.
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On April 29, Badalamenti took to Facebook to post a shocking Grubhub earnings statement from March for a restaurant he’s consulting for.
“Stop believing you are supporting your community by ordering from a 3rd party delivery company,” he captioned the post .
In the photo, we can see the unidentified restaurant made just over $1,000 in sales. But after Grubhub’s fees and commissions were deducted, the business was left with just $376.54.
Incredibly, the invoice shows that Grubhub took about 70% of the restaurant’s monthly earnings.
The service appears to charge a 20% commission for marketing on any orders customers placed through their app, as well as a 10% delivery commission, and even more deductions for processing fees and promotions.
“Out of almost $1,100 of orders, your restaurant you are trying to support receives not even $400,” Badalamenti wrote online. “It is almost enough to pay for the food.”
Understandably, the now-viral post has left online users feeling outraged.
On Twitter, Guardian reporter Susie Cagle shared Badalamenti’s invoice photo which has since received over 21,000 likes and has nearly 10,000 retweets.
“These apps are nothing but parasites,” one user wrote, while another added, “If you actually want to support local businesses, do NOT use Grubhub.”
However, some people pointed out that restaurants who offered their own delivery service would still have to pay these fees as well.
“IDK,” this person wrote. “The restaurant is outsourcing their online ordering, cc processing, sales tax administration, advertising/promotions, delivery & refunds to a third party, all these things cost money.”
Grubhub has since spoken up to defend itself against the intense backlash it’s facing.
“Restaurant owners select the services they want and only pay a commission to Grubhub when we help generate sales,” a spokesperson for the service told Insider . “Grubhub is happy to work with restaurant partners to help them manage costs and grow their business.”
The spokesperson went on to say a recent conducted by Grubub found that restaurant owners choose to use the service keep an average of 75% of sales made through the app.
In a comment on his original Facebook post, Badalamenti accused Grubhub of what he referred to as “predatory” behavior.
“The small guys don’t have negotiating power and the leverage the big guys do but do not want to be forgotten about,” he wrote . “These companies make your customers their customers. It is predatory to a degree. They suggest other foods and other restaurants.”
