WEBVTT - US Restaurant Delivery Is In Need of a Makeover

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Chopping It Up. I'm your host, Mike Halon,

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<v Speaker 1>the senior Restaurant and Food Service analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

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<v Speaker 1>Our research and that of bi's five hundred analysts around

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<v Speaker 1>the globe can be found exclusively on the Bloomberg terminal. Today,

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<v Speaker 1>we're joined by Meredith Sandlin. Meredith is a CEO of

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<v Speaker 1>Empowered Delivery, a board director, an advisory board member, podcast hosts,

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<v Speaker 1>and author of the Delivering the Digital Restaurant books. So

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not gonna lie, Meredith. Going through your LinkedIn profile

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<v Speaker 1>really had me questioning my work ethic.

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<v Speaker 2>It's quite a few things. But I'm lucky to have

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of great people around me.

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<v Speaker 1>That's awesome, all right. I was going to ask, are

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<v Speaker 1>you one of those people that just doesn't need to sleep?

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<v Speaker 1>And do you have any time management hacks you can

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<v Speaker 1>share with me?

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<v Speaker 2>M time management hacks, I would say, definitely have a

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<v Speaker 2>really supportive husband, so look into that. And then I

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<v Speaker 2>am a batch processor and I think that is key,

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<v Speaker 2>which what I mean by that is like I read

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<v Speaker 2>my mail once a month, I read my email once

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<v Speaker 2>a day. I do not let my phone tell me

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<v Speaker 2>what it wants me to do. Ever, like, I've never

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<v Speaker 2>looked at a notification in my life.

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<v Speaker 1>That's good, that's great. Yeah, phones can be very distracting.

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<v Speaker 1>Emails can be very distracting. We also have some messaging

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<v Speaker 1>on the Boomberg, so yeah, we're constantly getting pinged. I

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<v Speaker 1>think that's a smart way to do it.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a lot. It makes it very hard to focus

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<v Speaker 2>on one thing for an extended period of time, and

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<v Speaker 2>your brain needs that in order to get all the

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<v Speaker 2>way through an idea.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, good stuff. So you started at Young Brands,

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<v Speaker 1>obviously a phenomenal brand and company.

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<v Speaker 2>What was your role there, Yeah, that's how I got

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<v Speaker 2>into restaurants. Previously, I'd been in private equity, and I

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<v Speaker 2>went to Taco Bell in a role in finance and

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<v Speaker 2>went there primarily because I got the opportunity to work

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<v Speaker 2>with Greg Creed and Melissa Laura. Greg was then the

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<v Speaker 2>CEO of Taco Bell, subsequently the CEO of Yam. Melissa

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<v Speaker 2>was the CFO. She sits on the boards of Canagra

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<v Speaker 2>and Nvidia.

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<v Speaker 1>Cool. Yeah, I got to overlap a little bit with

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<v Speaker 1>Greg covering the company. Obviously a legend in the restaurant space.

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<v Speaker 2>Absolutely amazing person.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, and then you made the jump to a startup

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<v Speaker 1>at Kitchen United. What are your thoughts about the future

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<v Speaker 1>of ghost kitchens. You know, their struggles over the last

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<v Speaker 1>couple of years have been widely publicized. What do you think.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there's been some spectacular failures I think in the

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<v Speaker 2>delivery only space, both on the ghost kitchen side as

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<v Speaker 2>well as on the virtual brands side, and we tend

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<v Speaker 2>to focus on those failures because they have been so big.

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<v Speaker 2>But I hosted a panel recently at a conference of

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<v Speaker 2>folks doing virtual brands and delivery kitchens, and it was amazing.

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<v Speaker 2>The room was filled with people who are just quietly

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<v Speaker 2>doing this and doing it correctly and making it happen

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<v Speaker 2>and building businesses. And I think we've learned a lot

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<v Speaker 2>from the spectacular failures. I would say many of them

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<v Speaker 2>were just overfunded, funded sooner than they had the business

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<v Speaker 2>idea proven. And that's what made the spectacular failures, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>that's what made the failure so big. But folks who

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<v Speaker 2>are just building businesses that actually work and doing it

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<v Speaker 2>the way that you would build a restaurant, where they

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<v Speaker 2>build one and master it, and then a second, and

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<v Speaker 2>then master that and then four and master that there's

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<v Speaker 2>a lot of people out there making it happen.

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<v Speaker 1>What a novel thought, building your second and building your

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<v Speaker 1>hundredth store, making sure you have the unit economics for

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<v Speaker 1>your second, third, and fourth store in line, and working

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<v Speaker 1>before you build your hundredth store. It's such a novel

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<v Speaker 1>novel idea.

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<v Speaker 2>It's certainly hard, and it's a different it's a different

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<v Speaker 2>kind of business in the sense that you must be

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<v Speaker 2>good at digital marketing, both in terms of customer acquisition,

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<v Speaker 2>but then also in terms of all the remarketing, and

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<v Speaker 2>you must understand the e commerce economics and how e

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<v Speaker 2>commerce marketing math works, and you must be able to

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<v Speaker 2>measure all of those things. So that is certainly different,

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<v Speaker 2>but a lot of things are the same. You still

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<v Speaker 2>have to be a great restaurant offering great food that

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<v Speaker 2>connects with the guests in a genuine way and keeps

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<v Speaker 2>them coming back because you're offering a great experience.

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<v Speaker 1>Cool. So what attracted you to Empower Delivery?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, So I've known the founder of Cluster Truck, which

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<v Speaker 2>is the company that Empowered Deliveries spun out of, for

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<v Speaker 2>many years. I met him actually on another panel. He's

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<v Speaker 2>a really remarkable human being, incredibly generative, always coming up

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<v Speaker 2>with ideas and just ideas that no one else would

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<v Speaker 2>ever have. Very very smart man named Chris Baggett. He

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<v Speaker 2>was one of the co founders of a company called

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<v Speaker 2>Exact Target, which was sold to Salesforce for two and

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<v Speaker 2>a half billion dollars. Subsequently found a Compendium, sold that

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<v Speaker 2>to Oracle, and then, as you do, became a farmer

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<v Speaker 2>after a couple of billion dollars of exits. I think

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<v Speaker 2>that's what everyone does. And when he was a farmer,

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<v Speaker 2>he found himself with too much Hamburger on his hands,

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<v Speaker 2>and so he bought some restaurants. And as you do,

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<v Speaker 2>when truly you're a software guy with a lot of

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<v Speaker 2>ideas and you buy some restaurants, what you do is

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<v Speaker 2>you start making software. So he hired his CTO from Compendium,

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<v Speaker 2>and the two of them together founded Cluster Truck, and

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<v Speaker 2>Cluster Truck, for those people who don't know, it is

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<v Speaker 2>the largest and most profitable delivery kitchen in the US.

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<v Speaker 2>So when I say there's a bunch of people out

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<v Speaker 2>there just quietly doing the work, this is a great example.

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<v Speaker 2>They've made a delivery kitchen. The downtown Indianapolis location does

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<v Speaker 2>eight hundred two thousand transactions a day, first party ordering,

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<v Speaker 2>first party delivery, absolutely incredible, and in power delivery. I

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<v Speaker 2>was talking to Chris about what I should do with

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<v Speaker 2>my life after writing the book and taking him through

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<v Speaker 2>some job options that I had, and he said, Meredith,

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<v Speaker 2>if you're going to go get a job, job, you

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<v Speaker 2>should come work here and we'll spin out the company.

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<v Speaker 2>And I said, oh, that's very funny. I'm going to

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<v Speaker 2>go back to a big company. I think that's where

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<v Speaker 2>I belong. And he said, well, just come see it.

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<v Speaker 2>Come see it. So I flew to Indianapolis and I

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<v Speaker 2>walked into this kitchen that was doing eight hundred two

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<v Speaker 2>thousand orders a day, and as a restaurant person, once

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<v Speaker 2>you see it, you cannot unsee it. It's just so

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<v Speaker 2>different from everything else. And it was obvious to me

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<v Speaker 2>that that is how restaurants should run, not just delivery kitchens,

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<v Speaker 2>but frankly all restaurants. And what I mean by that

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<v Speaker 2>and how it's different is truly it's like a smart

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<v Speaker 2>brain is running the kitchen, and then because of that

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<v Speaker 2>smart brain coordinating all the activity, all of the features

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<v Speaker 2>that you might want in a modern digitally native restaurant

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<v Speaker 2>radiate out from that brain, whereas in the rest of

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<v Speaker 2>the restaurant industry it's individual, siloed pieces of software trying

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<v Speaker 2>to go after different opportunities and solve different problems, and

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<v Speaker 2>then the poor restaurant is stuck on the back end

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<v Speaker 2>trying to stitch it all together, which is very, very challenging.

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<v Speaker 1>Interesting, So can you talk a little bit more about

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<v Speaker 1>that delivery kitchen doing eight hundred to a thousand transactions

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<v Speaker 1>a day? So how many brands?

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, they go to market all as Cluster Truck. That's

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<v Speaker 2>really the main brand, and that's what they do all

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<v Speaker 2>of their market getting to consumers. As they do have

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<v Speaker 2>sub brands sort of underneath to help navigate the menu,

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<v Speaker 2>but really Cluster Truck is the main brand. Cluster Truck

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<v Speaker 2>is the only one that they list I think on DoorDash,

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<v Speaker 2>and if you were to ask a consumer about any

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<v Speaker 2>of the sub brands, they wouldn't recognize them, but they

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<v Speaker 2>would recognize Cluster Truck. But it is a very complex

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<v Speaker 2>and extended menu. So there are items as different on

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<v Speaker 2>the menu as pizza, hamburgers, salads, Thai food, fried rice.

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<v Speaker 2>I mean, just like this incredible range pasta of different

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<v Speaker 2>menu items, and part of their secret sauce is how

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<v Speaker 2>they execute so many different items without having just complete

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<v Speaker 2>chaos and a ton of waste in the back of

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<v Speaker 2>the house.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, it sounds. It sounds like a mission serving

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<v Speaker 1>an extended menu with a lot of different cuisines, for sure.

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<v Speaker 1>So Empower was spun out out of Cluster Truck.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right. So they, in order to make all of

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<v Speaker 2>this magic happen at the delivery kitchen, have really amazing

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<v Speaker 2>software that Dan mcbadden our CTO and his team built

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<v Speaker 2>custom for Cholester Truck. And so the idea was, let's

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<v Speaker 2>spin it out into a separate company and offer it

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<v Speaker 2>to other restaurants. Now a word of caution, because I

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<v Speaker 2>think everyone who's built their own software has this idea, Oh,

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<v Speaker 2>we'll just spin it out and sell it to other people,

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<v Speaker 2>no matter what industry they're in. It sounds so easy.

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<v Speaker 2>It is not easy. So we've spent quite a bit

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<v Speaker 2>of time rebuilding aspects of the software to make it

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<v Speaker 2>multi tenant and configurable and really usable by someone else.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, you can imagine how different it is if

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<v Speaker 2>you're a restaurant with your own engineers working for you,

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<v Speaker 2>and they live you know they work right outside of

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<v Speaker 2>right upstairs from the restaurant. You can probably make it

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<v Speaker 2>so that only engineers can use it, right, But if

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<v Speaker 2>you're go to be selling it to other people, you

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<v Speaker 2>have to make it so that a restaurant person can

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<v Speaker 2>use it.

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<v Speaker 1>Okay, So I guess who is Empower's target customer.

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<v Speaker 2>Anyone who does a substantial number of deliveries a day

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<v Speaker 2>out of a single location will benefit from the empowered

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<v Speaker 2>delivery approach. So I think it is becoming clear that

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<v Speaker 2>delivery the way it is currently constructed in the US

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<v Speaker 2>is not really working for anyone as a consumer. It's

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<v Speaker 2>extremely expensive, it's unreliable, might be slow, might be fast,

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<v Speaker 2>might be high quality, might be low quality, might be cold.

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<v Speaker 2>When you get it, you might be missing items. If

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<v Speaker 2>something's wrong, it can't be fixed. So not a great

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<v Speaker 2>consumer experience. And then from a driver perspective, you know,

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<v Speaker 2>there's articles all the time about the drivers being grumpy

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<v Speaker 2>about the situation and feeling that they're not being compensated

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<v Speaker 2>well enough, and consumers aren't tipping. Of course, consumers aren't

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<v Speaker 2>tipping because they perceive the fees to be so high

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<v Speaker 2>already that they don't have room left for the tip,

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<v Speaker 2>and then it's not really working for the restaurants either. Right,

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<v Speaker 2>the restaurants are losing so much in commission that they

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<v Speaker 2>have jacked the prices to make up for that, which

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<v Speaker 2>again is a terrible consumer experience, but even more than that,

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<v Speaker 2>it's an incredibly disjointed operational experience for the restaurant. And

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<v Speaker 2>what they've essentially done is seated control of their kitchen

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<v Speaker 2>to an outside party. Right, so that marketplace that's sending

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<v Speaker 2>in orders, or multiple marketplaces that are sending in orders,

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<v Speaker 2>are now sending them into the kitchen without knowing what's

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<v Speaker 2>going on in the kitchen. And then on the back end,

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<v Speaker 2>the driver's showing up. Maybe the item's done, maybe it's not.

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<v Speaker 2>So if the driver shows up and the item's not done,

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<v Speaker 2>they're waiting. If the food is done and the driver

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<v Speaker 2>hasn't shut up, the food is waiting. Both of those

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<v Speaker 2>things are a bad experience for either the guest or

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<v Speaker 2>the driver.

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<v Speaker 1>But we were told consumers knew it was a worse

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<v Speaker 1>experience and they were just going to accept it. Is

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<v Speaker 1>that part of the issue is that, you know, restaurants

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<v Speaker 1>were like, we'll just do it, and you know, people

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<v Speaker 1>accepted it during the pandemic in times that they had

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<v Speaker 1>to or when they were afraid to go to restaurants.

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<v Speaker 1>And now that things have changed, you know that that's

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<v Speaker 1>turning them off? Is that? What's is it a combination?

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<v Speaker 1>I guess it's a combination of that in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>why the sales mix of a delivery into yeah drop right, yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>Look, the convenience is real and consumers love that. And

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<v Speaker 2>I do think for a long time, pandemic or no,

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<v Speaker 2>I do think for a long time, consumers were willing

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<v Speaker 2>to put up with a variable experience because the convenience

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<v Speaker 2>was so valuable to them. But now that the prices

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<v Speaker 2>are really starting to go up, I think you're starting

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<v Speaker 2>to see consumers push back on that. You know, if

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<v Speaker 2>I'm going to pay that much more, I expect it

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<v Speaker 2>to be a good experience. And I don't know if

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<v Speaker 2>you follow Lisa W. Miller and Associates, and they put

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<v Speaker 2>out a recent blog post. Lisa is a consumer insights

0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.679
<v Speaker 2>person and she does the same survey month after month,

0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:08.680
<v Speaker 2>year every year, and so she has longitudinal data about

0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.120
<v Speaker 2>how consumers are feeling about things going on in the

0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:16.080
<v Speaker 2>restaurant industry. And she put out some data on delivery

0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:21.400
<v Speaker 2>specifically recently, and a couple of things very interesting about it.

0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:25.200
<v Speaker 2>The percent of people who reported ordering delivery from a

0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.200
<v Speaker 2>full service restaurant in the last three months was down

0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:31.440
<v Speaker 2>ten points versus its peak in September of twenty three.

0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:36.720
<v Speaker 2>And yeah, that's a huge stop, right, And she has

0:13:36.760 --> 0:13:41.720
<v Speaker 2>a thesis that what consumers choose to do is things

0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.200
<v Speaker 2>that are joyful, and what they choose not to do

0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.199
<v Speaker 2>is things that are not joyful. And so she says, well,

0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:51.439
<v Speaker 2>what's changed is that delivery is now not joyful. We're

0:13:51.440 --> 0:13:53.720
<v Speaker 2>seeing a study increase and the people who say delivery

0:13:53.760 --> 0:13:58.000
<v Speaker 2>isn't worth it. That's up seven points versus a year ago.

0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:02.079
<v Speaker 2>Eighty percent of people who've ordered delivery at some point

0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.760
<v Speaker 2>have had an issue with that delivery. They cite slow

0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:11.360
<v Speaker 2>delivery times. Thirty seven percent of people say delivery fees

0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.840
<v Speaker 2>have gone up too much, and that's fees specifically, not

0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.280
<v Speaker 2>just the underlying food cost. Twenty three percent said their

0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:21.520
<v Speaker 2>order was not accurate, twenty four percent said food quality

0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:25.400
<v Speaker 2>was worse than expected, eighteen percent food said food was

0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:28.480
<v Speaker 2>not the right temperature. I mean, those are pretty astounding numbers, right,

0:14:28.560 --> 0:14:31.520
<v Speaker 2>and I think when the price was similar to what

0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.680
<v Speaker 2>was in in store pricing, but you've got that convenience.

0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:38.560
<v Speaker 2>Consumers were willing to say, well, it's not quite as good,

0:14:39.000 --> 0:14:42.080
<v Speaker 2>but it's pretty good for delivery. But once those prices

0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:45.480
<v Speaker 2>really start to go way, way, way up and the

0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.200
<v Speaker 2>experience doesn't get any better, consumers start to question what

0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:52.680
<v Speaker 2>they're doing. And we've already seen order volume actually go

0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:59.200
<v Speaker 2>negative in the UK for delivery both Jordash and Uber.

0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.080
<v Speaker 2>It's very hard to te tell what's happening with their

0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:06.440
<v Speaker 2>order volume because they conflate it with other countries, other verticals.

0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.840
<v Speaker 2>There's a lot going on in their financials, so it's

0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:12.640
<v Speaker 2>really hard to read between the lines. It would appear

0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:16.400
<v Speaker 2>their order volume in restaurant US specifically is still growing,

0:15:16.440 --> 0:15:19.920
<v Speaker 2>but that growth rate is falling. I'm very curious after

0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:24.240
<v Speaker 2>seeing Lisa's data come out if next quarter we actually

0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:25.920
<v Speaker 2>start to see a decline in orders.

0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:30.560
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, i'd imagine, you know, to your point, it's more expensive,

0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:35.280
<v Speaker 1>and you know you mentioned potentially the same experience. I'd

0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:37.960
<v Speaker 1>imagine the experience is probably worse now that dining room

0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:38.760
<v Speaker 1>traffic is back.

0:15:39.400 --> 0:15:42.320
<v Speaker 2>I think that's probably true. Yeah, it's gotten more expensive

0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:47.520
<v Speaker 2>and worse, and the other thing that's happening is that

0:15:47.960 --> 0:15:51.640
<v Speaker 2>the platforms themselves are making the experience worse on purpose.

0:15:51.720 --> 0:15:56.600
<v Speaker 2>And I think everyone can identify, especially New Yorkers where

0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.320
<v Speaker 2>you're at, can identify with the rise of Uber. And

0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:01.160
<v Speaker 2>when it first came out, you got a black car

0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:03.800
<v Speaker 2>and it was amazing, and it came right away and

0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.800
<v Speaker 2>it was like magical, right. And then over time they

0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:10.200
<v Speaker 2>introduced all these new tiers of service, and all of

0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:13.200
<v Speaker 2>a sudden, what you used to expect to be this

0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:17.280
<v Speaker 2>is the experience became something that you got massively upcharged for.

0:16:17.680 --> 0:16:19.640
<v Speaker 2>And now if you want your car to show up

0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:21.760
<v Speaker 2>on time, if you want it to be a decent car,

0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:24.080
<v Speaker 2>it's going to cost you twice as much as it

0:16:24.160 --> 0:16:26.560
<v Speaker 2>used to, right. And the same thing is starting to

0:16:26.560 --> 0:16:29.800
<v Speaker 2>happen on the delivery platforms. In order for them to

0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:34.520
<v Speaker 2>make their network economics work, they have to start batching orders, right,

0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:38.280
<v Speaker 2>So they're putting two three orders in a car on

0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:41.200
<v Speaker 2>its way out to be delivered. And what that means

0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.400
<v Speaker 2>as a consumer is that you might get the second order,

0:16:43.480 --> 0:16:46.160
<v Speaker 2>it might take longer, your food might be cold by

0:16:46.200 --> 0:16:48.320
<v Speaker 2>the time that you get it. It's very frustrating, you know,

0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.160
<v Speaker 2>if you're sitting there on your phone watching the driver

0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:54.760
<v Speaker 2>drive somewhere else. You can't figure out why, and you

0:16:54.800 --> 0:16:58.520
<v Speaker 2>miss the quote time, like everything is just not as good. Well,

0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.960
<v Speaker 2>have you noticed that you can now pay a two

0:17:01.000 --> 0:17:03.000
<v Speaker 2>ninety nine fee to be the first person?

0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.680
<v Speaker 1>I have not. I'm kind of old school. I stick

0:17:06.760 --> 0:17:09.840
<v Speaker 1>with my you know, I'll use the apps for sure.

0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.440
<v Speaker 1>Postmates or ber Eats is pretty popular by me in

0:17:13.480 --> 0:17:17.040
<v Speaker 1>the New Jersey suburbs. So now I haven't noticed that,

0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:18.760
<v Speaker 1>But I am kind of old school. I do have

0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.920
<v Speaker 1>my favorite Chinese place and a couple of Italian places

0:17:21.920 --> 0:17:24.800
<v Speaker 1>that are close by that have always done delivery really really,

0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:28.320
<v Speaker 1>really well. And you know, I kind of won't sacrifice

0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.879
<v Speaker 1>my quality as much as I think other people for convenience.

0:17:30.920 --> 0:17:32.960
<v Speaker 1>To be honest, that's.

0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:35.520
<v Speaker 2>A classic New Yorker statement. I think, I mean, New

0:17:35.600 --> 0:17:38.080
<v Speaker 2>York kind of invented delivery, right, the rest of us

0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:38.760
<v Speaker 2>were just copying.

0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.760
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, yeah, so I have not noticed it, but yeah,

0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:45.240
<v Speaker 1>just another fee, that's it sounds exhausting. I'm sure a

0:17:45.280 --> 0:17:46.960
<v Speaker 1>lot of customers are fed up.

0:17:47.400 --> 0:17:50.560
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, pushing back on that. So so you have to

0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:54.639
<v Speaker 2>ask yourself, like this disjointed system that results in a

0:17:54.720 --> 0:17:59.160
<v Speaker 2>terrible and expensive experience, but consumers want it. That sounds

0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.720
<v Speaker 2>like a situation for disruption, right, There's something consumers want.

0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.840
<v Speaker 2>Current system is terrible at giving it to them. What

0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:08.359
<v Speaker 2>if you could give it to them in a way

0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.879
<v Speaker 2>that wasn't terrible. What if you could give it to

0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:13.160
<v Speaker 2>them in a way that was cost effective and efficient

0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:15.800
<v Speaker 2>and reliable. Oh my gosh, they would love it? Right,

0:18:17.000 --> 0:18:19.960
<v Speaker 2>And that's what empowered delivery does. And that's why you

0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:23.040
<v Speaker 2>see Cluster truck doing eight hundred and two thousand deliveries

0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:27.000
<v Speaker 2>a day because the experience is so magical. As a consumer,

0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:29.720
<v Speaker 2>you can't believe. Oh my gosh, it came on time,

0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.120
<v Speaker 2>it's still hot, everyone was nice. It was so cheap.

0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:36.040
<v Speaker 2>They didn't charge me a delivery fee, they didn't charge

0:18:36.080 --> 0:18:38.199
<v Speaker 2>me a service fee, they didn't charge me a menual.

0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:42.080
<v Speaker 2>How were they doing this? This is like pizza delivery

0:18:42.200 --> 0:18:43.679
<v Speaker 2>in the eighties. It's incredible.

0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.600
<v Speaker 1>Okay, So I mean part of it. How are they

0:18:47.640 --> 0:18:52.160
<v Speaker 1>doing it right? How are you saving the customer money,

0:18:52.320 --> 0:18:57.399
<v Speaker 1>saving the restaurant money, helping the drivers make more deliveries

0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.960
<v Speaker 1>and more money as a part of it. You know,

0:19:01.000 --> 0:19:04.359
<v Speaker 1>I know you've mentioned that like central brain part of

0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:07.439
<v Speaker 1>the restaurant and how that everything builds off of that.

0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:09.480
<v Speaker 1>But if you could talk a little bit more about

0:19:09.560 --> 0:19:11.359
<v Speaker 1>how the process works.

0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:16.800
<v Speaker 2>Absolutely, it's about coordination of resources and when you have

0:19:17.480 --> 0:19:20.360
<v Speaker 2>a lot of different pieces of software and a lot

0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.760
<v Speaker 2>of different frankly companies and entities involved. Right, drivers don't

0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:28.119
<v Speaker 2>actually work for the restaurant or for the platform. The

0:19:28.160 --> 0:19:31.680
<v Speaker 2>platform is a totally different company from the restaurant. Everyone's

0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.760
<v Speaker 2>running on different software. Everyone's trying their best to make

0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:41.000
<v Speaker 2>it work together, talk together. But that disjointed system inherently

0:19:41.040 --> 0:19:44.359
<v Speaker 2>creates slack in the system right there, And slack is waste.

0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:50.119
<v Speaker 2>Waste is cost, and that waste, that cost is what

0:19:50.520 --> 0:19:53.399
<v Speaker 2>causes the experience to be bad and more expensive because

0:19:53.440 --> 0:19:55.879
<v Speaker 2>now everyone has to get their piece of margin, everyone

0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.040
<v Speaker 2>has to cover their cost, everyone has to pay for

0:19:58.080 --> 0:20:00.560
<v Speaker 2>that waste in the system. If you you can get

0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.679
<v Speaker 2>rid of that, then everything gets better. And that's what

0:20:04.720 --> 0:20:08.680
<v Speaker 2>you love about your local Chinese and Italian places, right

0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:12.840
<v Speaker 2>I bet you. They have their own drivers, and having

0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:16.000
<v Speaker 2>your own drivers allows you to control that whole experience,

0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:18.560
<v Speaker 2>both in terms of how you're conveying your brand to

0:20:18.600 --> 0:20:22.120
<v Speaker 2>the consumer, but also in terms of linking together what's

0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:24.199
<v Speaker 2>going on in the kitchen with what's going on with

0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.520
<v Speaker 2>the driver, Right, Why make the food till I know

0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.920
<v Speaker 2>where the driver is and the empower delivery system does

0:20:29.960 --> 0:20:33.679
<v Speaker 2>that for everyone? Does it at scale? Now you have

0:20:33.720 --> 0:20:36.360
<v Speaker 2>to be doing a lot of deliveries, probably not eight

0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:38.639
<v Speaker 2>hundred a day for it to make sense, but you

0:20:38.680 --> 0:20:40.480
<v Speaker 2>need to be doing probably one hundred a day for

0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:42.080
<v Speaker 2>it to make sense. If you're doing five or ten

0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:44.800
<v Speaker 2>out the back door, the software is not the right

0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:48.520
<v Speaker 2>software for you. But if you are doing one hundred

0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:52.560
<v Speaker 2>deliveries a day or more, then being able to coordinate

0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:56.000
<v Speaker 2>that activity of where the driver is with what's going

0:20:56.040 --> 0:20:58.720
<v Speaker 2>on in the kitchen, and then being able to tell

0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.200
<v Speaker 2>the consumer about it, give them a real time quote

0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:05.480
<v Speaker 2>time that they can trust that is accurate every single time.

0:21:05.520 --> 0:21:09.520
<v Speaker 2>Because you control the whole process, it just makes the

0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:11.959
<v Speaker 2>whole experience better, takes the slack out of the system,

0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:14.919
<v Speaker 2>removes all that cost, and makes it so that the

0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.560
<v Speaker 2>consumer doesn't have to pay as much, the restaurant makes

0:21:17.560 --> 0:21:20.480
<v Speaker 2>more money, and the driver can actually make more money too.

0:21:20.840 --> 0:21:23.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that part makes a lot of sense. I guess

0:21:23.960 --> 0:21:26.080
<v Speaker 1>there'd be a couple of questions. I would have that

0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:29.600
<v Speaker 1>some things that I think might be difficult at the moment.

0:21:29.720 --> 0:21:34.439
<v Speaker 1>So number one, is finding drivers difficult for some of

0:21:34.440 --> 0:21:37.360
<v Speaker 1>these restaurants, and what tools are they using to try

0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:39.040
<v Speaker 1>to attract drivers.

0:21:39.480 --> 0:21:44.359
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, maybe let's back up and say, just reiterated

0:21:44.400 --> 0:21:47.000
<v Speaker 2>exactly what you said. This is a tool that requires

0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.640
<v Speaker 2>you to have your own drivers. So just like your

0:21:49.680 --> 0:21:53.639
<v Speaker 2>favorite restaurants in New Jersey, this is a tool that

0:21:53.680 --> 0:21:56.680
<v Speaker 2>requires restaurants to have their own drivers. Now, I think

0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.400
<v Speaker 2>the W two driver model is fundamentally broken. I think

0:22:00.480 --> 0:22:03.840
<v Speaker 2>we see that with you know, the largest pizza hut

0:22:03.840 --> 0:22:08.280
<v Speaker 2>franchises in California laying off their drivers. I think we

0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:11.640
<v Speaker 2>see that with someone like Papa John's using surge capacity

0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:15.520
<v Speaker 2>from the third parties when they're unable to get enough drivers.

0:22:16.680 --> 0:22:19.880
<v Speaker 2>I think drivers just don't want to work W two anymore.

0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:22.960
<v Speaker 2>They've been shown a better way. And as much as

0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.320
<v Speaker 2>some drivers you know complain, oh I'm not getting tips,

0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:27.520
<v Speaker 2>I'm not making a lot of money driving, there's also

0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:29.280
<v Speaker 2>a lot of people who love doing it. And they

0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:32.280
<v Speaker 2>love doing it because it's flexible, they can do it

0:22:32.320 --> 0:22:35.480
<v Speaker 2>when they want or need to. They love doing it

0:22:36.160 --> 0:22:39.679
<v Speaker 2>because they are not you know, sort of beholding to

0:22:39.720 --> 0:22:42.360
<v Speaker 2>a specific company where they have to wear a uniform

0:22:42.440 --> 0:22:44.800
<v Speaker 2>and show up on a certain day at a certain time. Right.

0:22:45.760 --> 0:22:49.000
<v Speaker 2>Ten ninety nine Contract driving is just a better way

0:22:49.000 --> 0:22:52.399
<v Speaker 2>to do that job. And so what this software does

0:22:52.560 --> 0:22:55.040
<v Speaker 2>is make it possible for any restaurant to have its

0:22:55.119 --> 0:22:58.040
<v Speaker 2>own ten ninety nine gig fleet of workers, So a

0:22:58.160 --> 0:23:02.879
<v Speaker 2>dedicated on demand fleet. Everything that's easy about door, dashnuber

0:23:02.880 --> 0:23:05.400
<v Speaker 2>and someone just showing up and taking an order, that's

0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:09.320
<v Speaker 2>the same. Everything that's hard about that where it's disjointed

0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:13.200
<v Speaker 2>and you don't know where they're coming or going, that's different. Right.

0:23:14.080 --> 0:23:17.200
<v Speaker 2>So then now to your question, how do you get

0:23:17.200 --> 0:23:20.600
<v Speaker 2>these drivers? How do you find it? Well, first, again,

0:23:20.640 --> 0:23:22.560
<v Speaker 2>you have to start with the assumption that people actually

0:23:22.600 --> 0:23:25.720
<v Speaker 2>want to work this way. And I think because we

0:23:25.840 --> 0:23:29.440
<v Speaker 2>hear the noisy, bad cases of you know, I didn't

0:23:29.480 --> 0:23:32.439
<v Speaker 2>get a tip or I waited a long time. Because

0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:35.119
<v Speaker 2>we hear those, we tend to think, oh, driving is terrible.

0:23:35.640 --> 0:23:37.760
<v Speaker 2>But when you actually talk to the drivers and ask

0:23:37.800 --> 0:23:39.520
<v Speaker 2>them what they think. And I don't know if you do.

0:23:39.640 --> 0:23:41.280
<v Speaker 2>I do this because I work in the industry. Every

0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:43.000
<v Speaker 2>time I get in an uber or lyft, I ask

0:23:43.560 --> 0:23:46.320
<v Speaker 2>my driver about their experience, why they do it, what

0:23:46.400 --> 0:23:50.439
<v Speaker 2>their story is. It's very interesting and I call it

0:23:50.480 --> 0:23:54.080
<v Speaker 2>the gig ATM. A lot of people do it like, oh,

0:23:54.119 --> 0:23:55.640
<v Speaker 2>I need a few extra rects to buy a gift

0:23:55.680 --> 0:23:58.479
<v Speaker 2>for my kid, or oh I'm saving up for a vacation,

0:23:58.680 --> 0:24:00.560
<v Speaker 2>or oh, I'm trying to pay off my student debt,

0:24:00.680 --> 0:24:04.120
<v Speaker 2>or oh this week, I just ran a bit short

0:24:04.119 --> 0:24:06.000
<v Speaker 2>of money, so I'm driving a few extra hours. Right.

0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:08.760
<v Speaker 2>It's literally it's so easy just to get in your car,

0:24:08.840 --> 0:24:11.399
<v Speaker 2>go do something, or on your bike, go do something,

0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:15.280
<v Speaker 2>make a bit of extra cash, and move on. People

0:24:15.400 --> 0:24:18.120
<v Speaker 2>want to work this way, So start with that assumption

0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:22.000
<v Speaker 2>and then go out and say, hey, I have a

0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:26.040
<v Speaker 2>better gig for you. This one's better. You're not going

0:24:26.080 --> 0:24:28.159
<v Speaker 2>to be driving all over the place wondering where your

0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:32.120
<v Speaker 2>next job is coming from. You're going to get when

0:24:32.160 --> 0:24:36.720
<v Speaker 2>you're engaged, a regular set of jobs and pretty regular pay.

0:24:37.800 --> 0:24:40.720
<v Speaker 2>That's pretty reliable and you know what it is, and

0:24:40.800 --> 0:24:45.439
<v Speaker 2>our system protects you. So the way the system is optimized,

0:24:45.440 --> 0:24:48.240
<v Speaker 2>it is optimized for that driver to make sure that

0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:50.720
<v Speaker 2>anyone who's in the system is going to get enough

0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:52.520
<v Speaker 2>jobs per hour. It's not going to let the driver

0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:57.359
<v Speaker 2>pool get diluted, which happens in the Uber DoorDash lift systems. Right,

0:24:57.840 --> 0:25:00.359
<v Speaker 2>they let way too many drivers in and then the

0:25:00.440 --> 0:25:04.840
<v Speaker 2>average driver can't make money because everyone chooses to drive

0:25:04.880 --> 0:25:07.520
<v Speaker 2>at the same time. Right. The system won't let that happen.

0:25:07.640 --> 0:25:10.200
<v Speaker 2>It only lets the right emberve drivers in because it's

0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:14.840
<v Speaker 2>dynamically matching ordered demand with drivers supply.

0:25:15.280 --> 0:25:18.080
<v Speaker 1>It's interesting and it's really interesting that the gig economy

0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:21.600
<v Speaker 1>seems to have really broken the W two model. Right,

0:25:21.680 --> 0:25:25.080
<v Speaker 1>people you know kind of want to work on demand.

0:25:25.760 --> 0:25:26.960
<v Speaker 1>How often can they get paid?

0:25:27.600 --> 0:25:31.719
<v Speaker 2>We currently paid drivers out daily. There's a little bit

0:25:31.760 --> 0:25:35.760
<v Speaker 2>of a leg on just money getting transferred, but there's

0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:38.399
<v Speaker 2>also just like undoor Rusher Uber a daily pay option

0:25:38.560 --> 0:25:39.840
<v Speaker 2>where they can pull the money down there.

0:25:39.920 --> 0:25:42.680
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's cool. And I've heard of you know, some

0:25:42.840 --> 0:25:44.840
<v Speaker 1>companies working on hourly payment.

0:25:45.320 --> 0:25:49.040
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, right, And just that alone is huge. And when

0:25:49.040 --> 0:25:50.840
<v Speaker 2>you think about it, like how did we end up

0:25:50.880 --> 0:25:53.560
<v Speaker 2>in this place? Like how did we design our economy

0:25:53.640 --> 0:25:56.280
<v Speaker 2>so that you have to work for two entire weeks

0:25:56.880 --> 0:25:59.320
<v Speaker 2>before you get a paycheck? That is so crazy?

0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:02.920
<v Speaker 1>Like what it probably was first created when interest rates

0:26:02.920 --> 0:26:05.720
<v Speaker 1>are really really high, so that the employers can carry

0:26:05.720 --> 0:26:07.199
<v Speaker 1>the float.

0:26:06.800 --> 0:26:08.960
<v Speaker 2>Made money on the float. I don't know. It seems

0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:11.480
<v Speaker 2>nuts right now now that you can get paid daily,

0:26:11.560 --> 0:26:13.639
<v Speaker 2>Like who would wait two weeks to get paid and

0:26:13.680 --> 0:26:15.399
<v Speaker 2>what did they do for those two weeks? How did

0:26:15.400 --> 0:26:15.800
<v Speaker 2>they eat?

0:26:15.880 --> 0:26:18.879
<v Speaker 1>I don't know for sure, And so all right. The

0:26:18.920 --> 0:26:22.560
<v Speaker 1>other question I would have would be about for driver insurance.

0:26:22.840 --> 0:26:26.960
<v Speaker 1>You know, I've heard of some restaurants, especially smaller mom

0:26:27.000 --> 0:26:29.760
<v Speaker 1>and pop shops, maybe having an issue in terms of

0:26:29.960 --> 0:26:34.280
<v Speaker 1>acquiring driver insurance. I'd assume that would depend on the

0:26:34.320 --> 0:26:37.760
<v Speaker 1>state in the region. But is that an issues sometimes

0:26:37.520 --> 0:26:38.520
<v Speaker 1>for customers?

0:26:39.040 --> 0:26:41.320
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, insurance is a state by state thing. For sure.

0:26:41.359 --> 0:26:45.160
<v Speaker 2>It's called hired non owned auto insurance or each and away.

0:26:45.920 --> 0:26:48.840
<v Speaker 2>It's the same insurance that a pizza place would carry

0:26:49.400 --> 0:26:53.919
<v Speaker 2>that has their own drivers. And I have heard in

0:26:54.000 --> 0:26:56.400
<v Speaker 2>some places it can be more or less difficult to get,

0:26:56.440 --> 0:26:58.439
<v Speaker 2>but we have not seen any of our customers have

0:26:58.520 --> 0:26:59.120
<v Speaker 2>trouble yet.

0:26:59.240 --> 0:27:01.800
<v Speaker 1>Okay, good, all right. And we spoke about delivery mix

0:27:01.840 --> 0:27:04.200
<v Speaker 1>and how it's falling. You know where do you think

0:27:04.800 --> 0:27:06.840
<v Speaker 1>and obviously it's going to be dynamic, it's going to

0:27:06.840 --> 0:27:10.160
<v Speaker 1>be changing, but you know where do you think the

0:27:10.200 --> 0:27:13.280
<v Speaker 1>delivery can ultimately shake out as a percentage of total

0:27:13.359 --> 0:27:17.800
<v Speaker 1>US restaurant sales in the intermedia. In the longer term, well.

0:27:17.760 --> 0:27:20.680
<v Speaker 2>The intermedia maybe in the short term, I think it's

0:27:20.680 --> 0:27:24.280
<v Speaker 2>actually going to go down, right. I think consumers are

0:27:25.280 --> 0:27:27.560
<v Speaker 2>getting to a place where, as we said, it's not

0:27:27.680 --> 0:27:30.840
<v Speaker 2>worth it delivery specifically, but generally, prices have gone up

0:27:30.840 --> 0:27:33.560
<v Speaker 2>so much on so many things. They have to save somewhere,

0:27:34.400 --> 0:27:37.000
<v Speaker 2>and that's probably one of the easiest places to save

0:27:37.160 --> 0:27:40.360
<v Speaker 2>is to go procure their own food rather than having

0:27:40.440 --> 0:27:42.399
<v Speaker 2>someone bring it to them. So I think in the

0:27:42.400 --> 0:27:44.960
<v Speaker 2>short term it will go down. I think in the

0:27:45.160 --> 0:27:48.600
<v Speaker 2>intermediate term it'll kind of settle out to a pretty

0:27:48.800 --> 0:27:52.680
<v Speaker 2>stable place wherever that is. But then in the long term,

0:27:52.840 --> 0:27:56.440
<v Speaker 2>I think innovations like empower delivery and what we're talking

0:27:56.480 --> 0:28:00.680
<v Speaker 2>about that allow delivery to be higher quality and cheaper

0:28:01.200 --> 0:28:05.440
<v Speaker 2>will cause delivery to actually go up to a new high.

0:28:05.720 --> 0:28:08.320
<v Speaker 2>And I think, you know, we look in countries that

0:28:08.359 --> 0:28:11.320
<v Speaker 2>have really low labor costs, and delivery can be as

0:28:11.400 --> 0:28:15.480
<v Speaker 2>much as seventy percent of restaurant sales. Right. Kitchens are smaller,

0:28:16.640 --> 0:28:20.560
<v Speaker 2>people eat out more often. Restaurants don't have a front

0:28:20.560 --> 0:28:23.439
<v Speaker 2>of house. They might have a very significant ghost kitchen

0:28:24.119 --> 0:28:27.840
<v Speaker 2>or delivery kitchen build out. They're kind of skipping ahead

0:28:27.920 --> 0:28:31.119
<v Speaker 2>directly to the next generation, if you will, right, skipping

0:28:31.200 --> 0:28:34.960
<v Speaker 2>the landline. In the US, we have an install base

0:28:35.000 --> 0:28:37.080
<v Speaker 2>of six hundred thousand restaurants that are built the way

0:28:37.119 --> 0:28:38.560
<v Speaker 2>they're built, and we're not going to throw them all

0:28:38.560 --> 0:28:42.680
<v Speaker 2>away and start over, right, So it is more likely

0:28:42.720 --> 0:28:45.040
<v Speaker 2>in the US will never get to that like seventy

0:28:45.080 --> 0:28:48.240
<v Speaker 2>percent of sales, but I wouldn't be surprised if we

0:28:48.240 --> 0:28:50.240
<v Speaker 2>don't get to fifty percent of restaurant.

0:28:49.960 --> 0:28:55.280
<v Speaker 1>Sales, Okay, cool. I enjoyed that in your books, kind

0:28:55.280 --> 0:28:59.040
<v Speaker 1>of the case studies talking about the different dynamics of

0:28:59.440 --> 0:29:02.959
<v Speaker 1>different in national markets and their percentages of delivery and

0:29:02.960 --> 0:29:05.440
<v Speaker 1>what kind of factored into some of those things. I

0:29:05.480 --> 0:29:07.800
<v Speaker 1>think the examples in India with some of those like

0:29:07.880 --> 0:29:11.520
<v Speaker 1>food runners in Indi India was were like super super

0:29:11.560 --> 0:29:12.280
<v Speaker 1>interesting to me.

0:29:12.680 --> 0:29:15.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, isn't that amazing? Amazing They've been doing that for

0:29:15.560 --> 0:29:18.360
<v Speaker 2>a very long time. They've got it totally dialed in,

0:29:18.400 --> 0:29:20.880
<v Speaker 2>and they've been doing it without software. They have like

0:29:20.960 --> 0:29:25.080
<v Speaker 2>some weird like mental software. I think, very able to

0:29:25.120 --> 0:29:25.400
<v Speaker 2>do it.

0:29:25.560 --> 0:29:28.720
<v Speaker 1>Very impressive for sure. All Right, And what do you

0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:31.280
<v Speaker 1>think about Amazon taking a bigger stake in Grubhub and

0:29:31.320 --> 0:29:34.080
<v Speaker 1>the recent edition of Grubhub Plus to Prime.

0:29:35.600 --> 0:29:38.320
<v Speaker 2>I think it's pretty exciting. I agree with the way

0:29:38.400 --> 0:29:42.800
<v Speaker 2>Kristin Holly said, are we watching the world's slowest acquisition.

0:29:44.000 --> 0:29:46.080
<v Speaker 2>I think it'll be very interesting to see if they

0:29:46.200 --> 0:29:49.840
<v Speaker 2>end up owning it. I think it's huge for grub

0:29:49.920 --> 0:29:55.160
<v Speaker 2>ab access to all of those customers. I think Amazon's

0:29:55.200 --> 0:29:56.960
<v Speaker 2>been trying to get into this space for a very

0:29:56.960 --> 0:29:59.640
<v Speaker 2>long time. It's hard to be the everything store and

0:29:59.680 --> 0:30:02.960
<v Speaker 2>not restaurant food, right, It's such a big part of

0:30:03.000 --> 0:30:09.080
<v Speaker 2>our economy. I've tried it. I thought it was pretty good.

0:30:09.280 --> 0:30:11.600
<v Speaker 2>What I didn't love about it is that all the

0:30:11.640 --> 0:30:17.640
<v Speaker 2>advertising said free grub Hub Plus, and certainly there was

0:30:17.680 --> 0:30:22.320
<v Speaker 2>no delivery fee, but there was still a service fee,

0:30:22.560 --> 0:30:27.000
<v Speaker 2>so that's not totally free. And then even weirder, the

0:30:27.040 --> 0:30:31.040
<v Speaker 2>service fee changed in between the cart and the checkout page,

0:30:31.400 --> 0:30:33.360
<v Speaker 2>so it went from like three dollars and sixty cents

0:30:33.440 --> 0:30:35.680
<v Speaker 2>service fee, and then once I got to the checkout

0:30:35.720 --> 0:30:38.760
<v Speaker 2>page it said something like other fees, they had changed

0:30:38.760 --> 0:30:41.160
<v Speaker 2>the name and I went to five sixty. Oh wow,

0:30:41.240 --> 0:30:44.600
<v Speaker 2>I thought that was very odd, very odd. Didn't seem

0:30:44.720 --> 0:30:49.080
<v Speaker 2>like an Amazon like experience. I'm not sure if Amazon

0:30:49.160 --> 0:30:52.479
<v Speaker 2>knows that grub Hub's doing that. Yeah, so Amazon, if

0:30:52.480 --> 0:30:54.760
<v Speaker 2>you're listening, I want to look into that.

0:30:55.440 --> 0:30:58.320
<v Speaker 1>I mean, transports so important when I when you're dealing

0:30:58.360 --> 0:31:03.040
<v Speaker 1>with customers. You know, That's why the discussions about dynamic

0:31:03.080 --> 0:31:07.160
<v Speaker 1>pricing so many heated discussions. I guess about about it, right,

0:31:07.200 --> 0:31:09.920
<v Speaker 1>because transparency is so important and I think factors into

0:31:09.960 --> 0:31:12.440
<v Speaker 1>your decision making when you're going to go out for lunch, right.

0:31:12.960 --> 0:31:15.680
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, absolutely. And I think the thing about the service

0:31:15.720 --> 0:31:19.840
<v Speaker 2>fees is that when you're comparing options online, you don't

0:31:19.880 --> 0:31:22.400
<v Speaker 2>see the service fees. So you're comparing, Oh, this one

0:31:22.480 --> 0:31:25.000
<v Speaker 2>has free delivery, this one has reduced price delivery, this

0:31:25.040 --> 0:31:28.000
<v Speaker 2>one has full price delivery. You're making your choice based

0:31:28.040 --> 0:31:29.800
<v Speaker 2>on what you can see, and then you get to

0:31:29.840 --> 0:31:33.120
<v Speaker 2>the end and there's a fee that you weren't aware of.

0:31:33.280 --> 0:31:35.120
<v Speaker 2>That I think is what is so annoying about it.

0:31:35.240 --> 0:31:39.960
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, not a great customer experience, but very cool. Meredith,

0:31:40.000 --> 0:31:43.920
<v Speaker 1>this is a very interesting conversation. Where can our listeners

0:31:43.920 --> 0:31:46.480
<v Speaker 1>go to find out more about empower delivery?

0:31:47.560 --> 0:31:52.280
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, we would love to have folks visit Empower dot Delivery.

0:31:53.200 --> 0:31:56.160
<v Speaker 2>On that website, you can take a video tour of

0:31:56.200 --> 0:32:00.280
<v Speaker 2>how the software works. You can schedule a demo, reach

0:32:00.320 --> 0:32:04.640
<v Speaker 2>out to us, speak with us directly. We would absolutely

0:32:04.680 --> 0:32:08.240
<v Speaker 2>love to share the software with anyone again who's doing

0:32:08.320 --> 0:32:10.960
<v Speaker 2>lots and lots of deliveries every day and who is

0:32:11.120 --> 0:32:16.880
<v Speaker 2>just fed up with having other people's drivers and orders

0:32:17.000 --> 0:32:17.920
<v Speaker 2>messing up their kitchen.

0:32:18.320 --> 0:32:20.160
<v Speaker 1>I love it, and I love it that it's an

0:32:20.240 --> 0:32:24.800
<v Speaker 1>option for a better option for even independent restaurants. Anybody

0:32:24.800 --> 0:32:29.320
<v Speaker 1>that's helping out the smaller mama pops out there, you

0:32:29.360 --> 0:32:33.560
<v Speaker 1>know I support and appreciate, So thanks again for doing this.

0:32:34.440 --> 0:32:36.640
<v Speaker 1>You're great. A big thanks to the audience for tuning

0:32:36.640 --> 0:32:38.960
<v Speaker 1>in as well. If you liked the episode, please share

0:32:38.960 --> 0:32:41.240
<v Speaker 1>it with your friends and colleagues. Check back soon for

0:32:41.280 --> 0:32:44.920
<v Speaker 1>a conversation with Christine Barone, CEO of Dutch Pros