‘It’s not what it was cracked up to be’: Chapel Street restaurants shun delivery apps in a bid to save ailing strip

Chapel Street restaurants are shunning delivery apps in a bid to save the once bustling strip.

The Chapel Street Precinct Association is pushing for restaurateurs to ditch the apps to revitalise the slumping street.

Delivery apps take a large chunk of profits from restaurants, making it very difficult for them to turn a profit.

Wes Lambert, CEO of the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association, said delivery apps don’t increase business for restaurants, either.

“The delivery services just replace meals,” he told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell.

“The restaurant pays 30 to 40 per cent of the cost of the retail price of that menu to Uber Eats.

“In most cases that’s the entire profit margin of that meal.”

Mr Lambert urged consumers to think carefully about their dining choices.

“It’s very important that diners realise that when they make the decision not to frequent the restaurants around them, it will eventually have a very difficult effect, a challenging effect, on those businesses that were designed for bums on seats,” he said.

“If delivery became 100 per cent of dining then you wouldn’t have any store fronts, you’d just have dark kitchens that were just kitchens to deliver food.”

Mr Lambert said many restaurants were sucked in to the delivery app hype before realising apps would not deliver the profit boost they had anticipated.

“In many cases restaurateurs saw the glitz and glamour of the increased revenue.

“They’re telling us every day it’s not what it was cracked up to be.”

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