An article was posted today on the ABC News website out of ABC Southern Queensland by David Chen and Ellie Grounds with the headline…
Toowoomba restauranteur urges consumers to ditch “food delivery services” and support struggling restaurants and businesses…
The article points out that some businesses in southern Queensland have reported losses as high as 90% due to the recent lockdown.
Consequently, restaurants are urging locals to order meals locally, directly from local restaurants, as opposed to using food delivery platforms that take a “huge percentage” from the restaurant owner.
Daniel Farquhar, a Toowoomba restauranteur has said that while the region avoided the lockdown itself, local businesses have been brought to their knees due to the Queensland government placing restrictions on Brisbane resident’s movements and travel.
Daniel has been making a point of going around and chatting to other businesses and restaurants in the local area to find out how they fared during and now after the recent Brisbane lockdown.
He described the business owners demeanour as “very emotional” with some “barely hanging on”. “You can see it in their eyes,” he said.
He then went on to say:
“Some of them were down 30% some of them were down a lot more. There’s one who’s down 80 or 90%.” And that “businesses were relying on locals to keep them afloat”.
The main message from Daniel the restauranteur is:
The best thing locals can do is to support their local restaurants and cafes and avoid the big delivery service apps.
He is also suggesting locals return to face to face trade, which is fine while there’s no lockdown but as we’re all learning there are definitely no guarantees of that in the foreseeable future.
Daniel’s call to action for lovers of restaurant and cafe food…
Daniel’s specific call-to-action to locals in the ABC article was:
“Do not use the meal delivery services because they take such a huge percentage of that fee that you pay.”
The challenge…
The problem and challenge for restaurants and cafes are that consumers are getting hooked in by the food delivery platforms as they roll out huge advertising campaigns Nationwide, and especially during lockdowns.
Meanwhile, the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce has said that the lockdown has hit the tourism and hospitality sectors the hardest.
Todd Ruhl, chief executive of the Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce is quoted as saying “…there’s been an enormous impact… there was a 50% loss in some areas last week.”
Although the government has offered a 70 million dollar support package to affected businesses which include payroll tax referrals, the waiving of liquor licensing fees and covid-19 cleaning rebates, some believe that these types of measures are ultimately unsustainable and will only increase government rather than increase small businesses cafe’s and restaurant’s bottom lines.
A real solution…
Here at SEO Noosa, we believe we have a real solution.
The call to action is twofold. One to restaurants, cafes and business owners, and one to consumers which I’ll outline at the end of this post.
A way for restaurants, cafes and small business owners to flourish, independent of government handouts and the big food delivery platforms…
…freeing them (i.e. restaurant, cafe owners) from the need for, or addiction to government handouts which more often only invite more government requirements, meddling and paperwork…
…into a scenario whereby business owners are able to tap into and call directly on their own local customer base (through SEO) to procure their own takeaway orders, directly.
What this does is completely eliminate the hefty charges imposed on restaurants and cafes by the big food delivery platforms.
It also helps make cafes and restaurants to be profitable in the current climate of lockdowns, as opposed to having a need to lean on government assistance just to merely exist.
A win for lovers of restaurant food in lockdown…
In the above scenario, restaurant food lovers get to enjoy a simple online ordering system (that the restaurant or cafe own, not the big food delivery platforms).
In doing so they’re 100% supporting the restaurant or cafe owner as they order their takeaway directly from that restaurant or cafe.
This is as opposed to burdening the restaurant owner with the hefty and relentless fees the big food delivery platforms constantly extract from their revenue.
Now for our calls to action.
To restaurant and cafe owners…
Please take a look at our Takeaway Dominator© solution for restaurants and cafes who are wanting to avoid the struggles of using the big food delivery platforms.
To lovers of restaurant food who are being restricted to takeaway…
Before you subconsciously follow the perfectly timed ad campaigns urging you to open that app…
…why not search “best seafood (example) takeaway (location)” and hit the restaurant owners website directly to order your takeaway, that’s if they have their own online ordering system set up.
And if they don’t, and you know you and many others love their food, why not direct them to this post or to Takeaway Dominator©.