So I worked for a local business where I’d frequently order food for my team, or a bunch of us (at least 6 people) would decide to order from a certain restaurant…
At first, we were using Doordash. I noticed the prices were inflated on some of the app menus, versus the actual in-house restaurant prices, but figured, “yeah, that’s just a cost of doing business.”
I also noticed, that maybe 2 out of 3 times, we were getting the same dasher: “Jen.”
One day, I asked Jen, “Hey, you deliver here at least 3-4 times per week, that I know of… Can I ask if you’d be interested in a sort of proposition? I’ll either order ahead from the restaurant, or text you our order, and you go pick it up for us… it would save us $30-40 in inflated prices and fees, and in turn, we would pay you $30 per delivery?”
It basically worked out where she would get at least double the money, and we still saved because we didn’t go thru the app. I suppose this would only work where both parties trusted eachother enough to do it, but it saved me from having to explain directions to new people unfamiliar with the building location, and what entrance to use, etc. At first, I chose locations where I could pay over the phone, so she could just pick it up, and then I’d pay her $30 when it was delivered. After we a while, we trusted her enough to Venmo her the total + her “tip.”
It grew to where I had other shifts/departments ordering from Jen, and she was making at least $300, under the table, from just us, per week.