Deliveroo has made preparations to ask riders to run reconnaissance on the restaurants from which they collect orders, by taking phone snaps of in-store menus.
The aggregator app has updated its courier agreement terms to state that riders may be asked to provide “the capture (using a smartphone camera) of a requested image, such as a restaurant menu, while attending a partner location”.
Riders would be paid a fee for taking the pictures, as long as they were of “minimum human readable quality” the new terms state.
It is understood Deliveroo has consulted with the GMB union on the terms of service update, and that riders would be free to accept or reject the menu-capture ‘assignment’. “There are no plans to ask riders to photograph menus,” a Deliveroo spokesperson told The Grocer.
The update comes as Deliveroo raises the pressure on restaurants, supermarkets and convenience stores to minimise the mark-up on products available on the app versus in-store prices.
Last week, Deliveroo reminded restaurants that “while we plan to reward restaurants that provide good value for money, we will unfortunately also need to take action with those that don’t” as part of its Value Programme, launched in November last year.
The programme was launched in response, Deliveroo said, to consumers being “particularly sensitive to menu items that are more expensive on Deliveroo than in the restaurant”.
Deliveroo CEO Will Shu told The Grocer at the time of the programme’s launch that “we think this is the policy which aligns the restaurants’ interests with our interests and the consumer’s interest, and the consumer’s interest is foremost”.
Each month, Deliveroo gives restaurants a ‘value score’ based in part on the percentage difference between the sum of the prices of the top 20 menu items sold by an outlet on the platform and the same sum of those items sold at the outlet’s physical site, be it for dine-in, collection or their own delivery service, “whichever is the lower”.
Restaurants with a poor value score miss out on in-app promotions like ‘value tags’, more prominent placement and Deliveroo-funded marketing. Sites deemed ‘requiring action’ by Deliveroo are issued a warning, before getting “bottom rank everywhere” and the “risk of suspension” according to the programme’s policy.
Those suspended due to high price mark-ups, are told to reduce the mark-up “to less than 35%” – with photographic proof – to be considered for reactivation.
It is understood Deliveroo determines a restaurant’s in-store prices through a mix of online and in-store monitoring. However, Rodeo – a platform that enables riders to track earnings across multiple apps – figures the company has blindspots in this monitoring. “To measure this, Deliveroo of course needs to know what the menu prices are for dine-in or direct ordering customers,” it said. “This seems to be where rider photo uploads come in.”
While Deliveroo is pushing restaurants to provide its users with better value, outlets face punishing commission on orders made on the app of up to 35%.
“It’s a low margin industry, the higher prices [on Deliveroo] covers the commission,” explained restaurant business consultant Damian Wawrzyniak. “If you have to drop the price on the apps, you lose the margin, it’s crazy. And if you put up prices in your restaurant then you’ll lose those customers.
“If [Deliveroo’s] going to play this game, obviously there will be restaurants that lose out. But if restaurants play this smart – ‘order directly and we’ll give you a discount’ and be cheeky and clever with leaflets in bags about alternative options – then customers will follow the price and quality,” he added.
The Value Programme’s application to supermarkets and convenience stores was being considered, Deliveroo said upon its launch. Which? research last year found a typical basket of groceries ordered via Deliveroo could cost up to 28% more than a supermarket’s own website. Previous Which? research found ordering takeaways via apps could cost up to a fifth more than ordering directly from restaurants.
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