'Bad reviews': Restaurant owners who ditched Menulog years ago say the writing was on the wall

Exclusive: Restaurant bosses say they aren't surprised Menulog didn't survive after the service ceased operations in Australia, as more owners decide to ditch food delivery apps altogether.

Australian-founded but now Dutch-owned Menulog will wrap up business by November 26, ending a two-decade-long market share in the booming delivery app industry.

While UberEats continues to have a chokehold on the local restaurants – with 4.18 million Australian users in 2024 – plenty of businesses have now turned their backs on the apps.

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Do you have a story? Contact reporter April Glover at april.glover@nine.com.au

The owner of Adelaide's Barry's Burgers Chris Ratnaike said he stopped using Menulog a few years ago after a surge of bad reviews due to missed or late deliveries.

"I'm not surprised it did shut down," Ratnaike told nine.com.au.

"We stopped using it because we got a few bad reviews.

"There would be times you'd have an order but no driver would accept it.

"But I don't think it is a good thing that it's not going to be here because then it just gives Uber more market share."

Ratnaike stopped using the likes of UberEats and DoorDash last month, too, after eight years and introduced his own delivery system instead.

Barry's Burgers has its own online app, which is then delivered to customers via a DoorDash driver.

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He said Uber's 30 per cent cut was simply not sustainable.

"When people are using these delivery apps, say something costs $30 on there, but it's $20 in store... you're paying $6 on delivery and a $4 service fee," he continued.

"You could pay 50 per cent extra, but the business is not getting that.

"We don't want to rip people off.

"We hate doing price increases, but we hate not being able to pay our bills."

Uber takes a 30 per cent cut from restaurants who use the company's app and drivers, 16 per cent for self-delivery and six per cent for restaurants who only offer pick-up.

Martin Prenga, who runs Italian restaurant Dolce Napoli in Balmain, also isn't a fan of the delivery giants.

He got rid of the apps after realising they were "pointless".

"I got tired of them," Prenga explained to 9news.com.au.

"It's literally no profit whatsoever."

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Prenga offers his customers 10 per cent off for pick-up orders and hasn't seen any downturn in business since stopping deliveries.

He expects other delivery apps with a similar model to Menulog may also struggle to keep afloat in Australia.

"They will have only two choices: either pull out of Australia or drop the rate," he added.

"The rate needs to drop. The 30 per cent is mental."

The owners of Melbourne institution Marios Cafe have never used delivery apps.

Co-founder Mario Maccarone told 9news.com.au it just "doesn't work" for his restaurant.

"I think it would impact on customer experience," he said.

Maccarone said he thinks Menulog's closure is a "bit of a sign".

"And I know at least one other business who has been disillusioned with the apps too," he added.

9news.com.au has reached out to Menulog and UberEats for comment.

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