Index – Economics – How Restaurants Pay to Order Online

Even before Covid, the popularity of online ordering continued to grow, but it was really the restrictions introduced due to the epidemic that ushered in the “golden age” of home delivery. The biggest players have significant growthexperienced But restaurants were at a crossroads due to closures if they didn’t want to permanently lower the blinds.

They must choose between the following alternatives:

• They are temporarily closed: This decision involves a number of risks. They don’t know how long they can’t open, what will happen to employees, and how many of them will be available when they reopen after a possible downsizing.
• They switch to take away mode: Shoppers can pick up the food locally. This is better than nothing, but compared to restaurants where delivery is possible, they may be significantly outperforming the competition.
• Delivered by own courier: In this case, ordering methods are key. Placing orders over the phone is less up-to-date, difficult to track, and payment is also more cumbersome than at an online clinic. Of course, the restaurant itself can develop a custom website, but its development and marketing costs can be very high, few players can afford it, and its traffic is low. And the courier doesn’t just have to pay if the restaurant delivery is popular.
• They join an online food ordering platform: Joining them can significantly increase traffic, as these pages are visited by a relatively large number of users. Most service providers provide not only online ordering, but also courier service. They usually work for a commission, so they must pay in proportion to the occupation. There can be big differences between individual service providers, and there are also cases where delivery has to be paid for separately, which is usually at the customer’s expense.

Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all solution, and the host has to decide which option to choose based on their billing, location, and financial situation.

These sites provide not only an ordering interface, but also a messaging service for their contracting partners. They work with restaurants through individual or uniform agreements, mainly based on a commission system. It is worth noting that there are also sites that take a different approach and provide a much cheaper ordering interface for restaurants where there are many restaurants available, but the messaging service is provided by the contracting partners themselves. That is all Éhenhalok.hu, and a new actor in this segment, the Enniakarok.huwe should also mention, but these will be discussed later, let’s look at the big shot first.

The market leader

A NetWaiter It has existed since 1999, making it the oldest player in Hungary and currently the most popular player on the market. The originally Hungarian company has now merged with the international giant Delivery Hero based in Germany, which is present in more than 40 countries. At first, it only served as an ordering interface, but starting in 2018 it also launched its own messaging service. NetPincér GO called. We can order from the website and the app in more than 800 Hungarian settlements, and the number of partners exceeds 2,500.

The company has been in a monopoly position for a long time, the highest turnover is still generated by NetPincér, so restaurants have relatively little room to negotiate with them. On the basis of individual contracts, its online ordering interfaces are available to restaurants at an average of 17-23 percent in Budapest, 15-20 percent in the field, and the NetPincér GO service is available for the 25th. 30 percent in Budapest and 20 to 20 percent. 25 percent in the field for post-order actions., According to the restaurants interviewed.

Where Wolt, where not Wolt …

A Wolt also a multinational company. The Finnish startup started in 2014, appeared in Hungary in 2018, first in Budapest. Since then, we have been able to order through several major rural cities such as Pécs, Szeged, Debrecen, Miskolc, Győr and Budaörs.

In each case, they work with their own couriers, for which they charge a fixed shipping fee, which is charged in practice. Its basic rate is HUF 499, which increases proportionally over a distance of one and a half kilometers, and is more favorable in some areas. However, since the beginning of February, they are delivered everywhere for a uniform basic fee of HUF 249 per kilometer. The contract with Wolt is more favorable in terms of the rate paid by restaurants than in the case of NetPincér, in exchange for a commission of around 15 percent, it offers a similar service to NetPincér GO, but with access to the website and applications and the number of partners, the amount is also less.

Taxi Driver’s Pizza Driver

Among the most popular service providers, both in terms of appearance and popularity, in the Hungarian market a Screw The third. Founded in 2013 in Estonia as Taxify, the company is now present in more than 200 cities in 40 countries around the world, and not only by taxi, but also by operating the network of electric scooters and Bolt Food also known as home food delivery. The latter has been present in Hungary since April 2020.

Initially, Bolt Food services were only available in certain districts of Budapest, but today they are also delivered to many other settlements around the capital. They also have a shipping fee, which is charged to the buyer, whose basic amount is 500 HUF for the first two kilometers, and then increases by 100 HUF for every five hundred meters. They make their order space and courier service available to their hiring partners for a commission of around 30 percent, in addition to charging a € 100 connection fee, but this does not have to be paid upon login.

In addition to international players, there are also Hungarian companies on the market that offer an online ordering interface for restaurants. Access to these sites works for a lower but lower commission, especially in settlements with their own courier and not yet conquered by the aforementioned trio.

the Éhenhalok.hu It was launched in 2016 and is wholly national owned. Defend yourself against foreign giants on your own website. We can ask them not only from a browser, but also through an application. It has been growing steadily since its inception, but this development has started to slow down with the emergence of new foreign players. Today, in addition to the capital and the surrounding settlements, it also has several rural partners.

Their commission system is more favorable than that of the giant companies, but Éhenhalok.hu only offers an interface for orders and related services in exchange for an average commission of 10-15 percent. There may also be a variable amount of shipping costs, but this is determined by restaurants that work with their own couriers.

During the first wave of the coronavirus epidemic, another Hungarian player also appeared, with the aim of creating an ordering surface that could be easily used by restaurants under favorable conditions. the EnniAkarok.hu In many districts of Budapest and other settlements in Pest county, it provides an appearance to the restaurants that contract with them in exchange for the lowest commission currently available on the market.

We started in April of last year when restaurants had to close due to provisions made due to the coronavirus epidemic. At that time, at the request of some of our friends from the restaurant, we developed a website with basic features that allowed them to receive orders because they did not want to hire market leading suppliers due to high commissions. We were originally a software development company, that’s why we moved so fast with the project and created a complete platform. The system stabilized in November, so we started to focus on sales and since then Budapest restaurants and the agglomeration have been adding continuously.

The head of the company told the Index about the start.

Has the restaurant savior arrived?

the Éhenhalok.hu cast EnniAkarok.hu they can be a solution mainly for companies that do not want, or cannot, hire one of the three giants, or want to hire their own couriers for various reasons. the EnniAkarok.hu will make their online interface available to users in exchange for a 6 percent commission, but in the current situation, they are gearing up for a big launch. Since the website itself was launched by the coronavirus epidemic, they want to provide additional help to restaurants. The company announced that

until the mandatory closure of restaurants and one month later, but no later than June 1, thus helping entrepreneurs who have difficulty reaching consumers in the current situation.

What awakens hospitality after Covid?

Without a doubt, the biggest losers from the pandemic are economically those who work in hospitality and tourism. Home delivery to restaurants can, in many cases, at least guarantee survival, but many restaurants have also been able to expand during the epidemic thanks to couriers. A key role in this process is played by online interfaces like the ones above, which have made the food ordering process in the recent past simpler, easier and more natural. Delivery can play an important role not only in surviving the epidemic, but also in keeping restaurants in the public consciousness, so it will be worth seeing how the popularity of different restaurants changes after restrictions are lifted.

(Cover Image: Index Photographer: Csomor Ádám)