06/03/2026
REAL TALK! Crazy how many people don't really understand the economic reality of NY state. 3rd party delivery has taken over the food delivery business whether you like it or not. Especially for the late night pizza business! If a majority of my orders are already coming through Doordash, how on earth does anyone think it would be profitable to staff my own drivers at $16+ per hour (after payroll insurance, taxes, fees, and check processing, the actual cost is closer to $20/hr) to deliver a handful of orders each night? Face it, higher staffing costs combined with the emergence of 3rd party delivery has killed the market for locally staffed food delivery drivers. It's cheaper and far less headache for restaurants to deliver with apps/3rd party than to staff their own drivers. The app is literally doing everything for me! Advertising and soliciting the customers, automating the payment process, digitally sending me the orders, and providing the delivery service. For the limited menu late night service I do (with a large majority of the orders already being generated through the app), why would I pay to staff phone/counter people, cooks, and delivery drivers when apps/online ordering can do all that for me and I can just cook all the food myself? Does anyone really think that if I ran my late night business as a fully staffed service that I would make a level of profit that would be worth the investment of my time?
