Restaurants use secret messages to fight back against UberEats

FIRST on the RUMOUR FILE

It appears struggling restaurants are fighting back against hefty surcharges imposed by food delivery giants.

The 3AW Breakfast Rumour File was this morning told of a Melbourne eatery that’s using hidden messages to pull customers off the digital platforms without attracting their wrath.

The listener ordered their lunch via UberEats, just as they had for many months previously.

But this time the delivery came with a tip.

“Please call us for delivery,” was written on the foil packaging, which had been tightly wrapped inside layers of packaging.

Making it even more clear that this message was not intended to be seen by UberEats is the fact that the restaurant in question recently used its social media accounts to spruik UberEats – and other delivery services – as a way to order from them, and its website does not clearly specify that it does its own deliveries.

3AW Breakfast knows which was restaurant was involved but has chosen to protect its identity.

The food delivery giants are under fire for keeping their hefty surcharges of around 30 per cent per order while most of the restaurant industry is on its knees due to social distancing guidelines imposed by government.

Nine Radio host Ben Fordham has started a petition calling for the surcharges to be halved, and it’s attracted nearly 50,000 signatures.