São Paulo – Over 100 small and mid-sized food and beverage businesses in Dubai, UAE got together to launch their own delivery app. The app should be ready to go in three months’ time, Gulf News reported, in a bid to take on existing apps by exonerating customers from servicing fees.
According to Gulf News, the decision came after talks between the outlets and the existing delivery applications led nowhere. Servicing can make up as much as 35% of an order. After discounts and other costs, not much is left for food and beverage businesses, which argue that these high rates are only justified when restaurants and cafés are working at full capacity.
It is believed in the food and beverage industry that business will not be back to pre-Covid-19 levels before Q1 2021, in the best of cases. “Most restaurants and cafés will not have sufficient income to cover monthly expenses to reopen,” Gulf News quoted a group of business owners as saying.
There are over 11,000 F&B trade licenses issued in Dubai, Gulf News reports, with more than 200,000 people employed in the industry. KPMG reported a 30% to 80% drop in sales by F&B informa as a result of the pandemic. “Operators expected food delivery to compensate to some extent,” according to Gulf News.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
