By Ed Avis
Mexican restaurant owners are divided almost evenly on their feelings about third-party delivery services, according to an el Restaurante reader survey conducted in October. Forty-three percent of respondents said they are “reasonably satisfied” with their service and 10 percent said they are “totally satisfied.” However, 23 percent are “somewhat dissatisfied” and an equal number are “very unhappy.”
Vince Deuschel, director of operations for JTP Restaurants, the parent of Mad Dog & Beans Mexican Cantina in New York City, is among those who is “somewhat dissatisfied.”
“Delivery platforms seem to be universally bad,” he says. “They often refer to themselves as our partners; they are anything but. The credits they issue their customes are never run past us. We have found them so focused on giving their customers what they want that restaurateurs are never consulted about the legitimacy of customer claims. We lose much revenue that way.”
The most-used delivery service among survey respondents is DoorDash, which carries orders for 44 percent of them. UberEats is next with 32 percent, followed by GrubHub with 26 percent.
The third-party services are not universally beloved, but delivery is an essential tool for Mexican restaurants. A question in a September survey conducted by restaurant technology provider Popmenu asked what cuisine consumers always order out rather than cook at home. The number one response? Mexican.