[mikeg8]

A restaurant is a brand and a brand gets to determine the pricing of their products. Pricing is one of the ways customers relate to the brand's identity. Having a 3rd party, which may still add value to both the brand and end-user, interject and abstract from the brand's determined prices is unethical, period. These delivery services should really be increasing their delivery fees to cover their costs, but they know customers will not go for a higher line item fee, so they choose to obscure it through price inflation that is not obvious to the customer. Now the customer may think the price of an item is always higher, so they may avoid the location in a future dine-in experience. This is harmful.

[chrisseaton]

> A restaurant is a brand and a brand gets to determine the pricing of their products.

But that’s just not true. Branded products vary in price on different retailers. A can of Coca-Cola can be wildly different prices in different places. Are you not used to this as a consumer?

> Having a 3rd party, which may still add value to both the brand and end-user, interject and abstract from the brand's determined prices is unethical, period.

I don’t understand - have you never bean to a supermarket or a department store before? They sell other brands in their store. Do you not realise they’re also marked up?

[mikeg8]

I am very aware of how wholesale and retail pricing works - but that is a very different distribution channel, and customers enter supermarkets and department stores well aware of this. Restaurant pricing is based on (with maybe some outlying exceptions) a direct-to-consumer distribution model - something you seem be be having an impossible time understanding. I'm fine with delivery companies marking up the prices - as long as they are transparent about it - which they are not. it's deceitful to the customer experience, and I think you are intentionally playing dumb here.

[chrisseaton]

> I think you are intentionally playing dumb here

I think everyone else is playing dumb!

They're telling me they're shocked that a business would mark up a product they buy from someone else to re-sell? And I think it's a bit off they're calling it 'unethical'. It's no different to what other companies do all the time and people consider it acceptable and the only distinction is the label of delivery/retailer?

The restaurants do it themselves! They resell wine with their own markup plus charge a service fee!

Also, this is a luxury product we're talking about - restaurant food delivered to you home. Why are people so aghast that they're having to pay a marked-up premium for it?