Food Delivery App vs. Food Discovery App

We’ve all heard of a food delivery app such as Uber Eats, Door Dash, and Grubhub. They were super convenient during Covid19 and now we are seeing food pickup apps and food discovery apps.

Let’s start by taking a look at the pros and cons of food delivery apps. The biggest factor is the hefty fees. The variation among the data was dramatic for both DoorDash (a low of 9.03% and a high of 51.08%) and Grubhub (10.29% to 44.95%). Can you imagine paying 51% more? Even though the higher charges are outliers from the average 22%, it does happen from time to time. What exactly are you paying for?

Convenience? Admittedly, we are willing to pay a premium for immediate access to exactly what we are craving. On the other hand, there are routinely cold food, wrong orders, jacked-up fees, and the chance that the driver may have sampled your food. Who could resist the smell? NPR tells us a study by U.S. Foods found that almost 30% of food delivery drivers admitted to tasting the food they were delivering. So if you really think about it, the convenience comes with a lot of sacrifices: less food, more cost, and the worst part you’re not even fully supporting the businesses you love.

At some point, the scale is going to tip and the price of convenience may not be worth all the cons.

Since the pandemic, a new delivery concept has emerged, a local pickup spot in neighborhoods. Local chefs are delivering meals to specified neighborhoods on Festi: a platform that allows you to post activities or meals to share with the community.

Festi is not a delivery app but it allows the provider to seamlessly arrange a delivery time and location for everyone who ordered. Festi handles everything from payment, notifications, and delivery details with just a few clicks. The address is automatically disclosed to only people who paid. Festi is free to use. The fees are nominal with the 3% standard credit card processing for the host/provider and 7% for the guest. That’s it. There is no subscription or hidden fees.

Sure it is not as convenient as ordering whatever you want, whenever you want. But it’s time to take a deeper look at how much is the convenience really costing us, not just in dollars. Not to mention the inefficiencies of extra gas just for one delivery.

With a little bit of hassle of picking up down the street (or not too far), you get your food directly from the provider (without the delivery guys stealing a fry or two) and you’re payment is going directly to the business you love.

More importantly, this alternative could allow you to discover your next favorite food or chef. Sometimes just seeing friendly faces at pickup and getting an extra walk during the day may not be such a bad inconvenience. We need to step back and think, do we really want to live a life where Amazon and Uber Eats prioritizes convenience over experiencing life outside our homes. Explore other alternatives. Life is always better with more options. An app to help you discover things around you from food to anything else is a start.