Licence to Snap - Riders tasked with capturing restaurant menus

Riders to play a key role in capturing menu data for Deliveroo.

Riders for the food delivery platform Deliveroo will soon be tasked with taking pictures of restaurant menus from merchants on the platform.

According to an update to the rider service agreement, riders may be asked to “capture (using a smartphone camera) of a requested image, such as a restaurant menu, while attending a partner location”. Riders would also be compensated for completing this task. 

Additional income possibilities were first hinted at on 2nd August, when the GMB informed riders of upcoming changes to the supplier agreement that would “allow for new earning opportunities”.

The Issue

The reason Deliveroo is asking riders to photograph restaurant menus is to address the rising prices of menu items on the platform's app and website, which are often higher than the prices at the restaurants themselves.

Why are restaurants raising their prices? This is due to the commissions charged by Deliveroo and other aggregators like Just Eat and Uber Eats, which can be as high as 30% of the order value. Restaurants, already operating on thin margins, are facing increased fixed costs like rent and energy, along with rising variable costs. As food prices climb, and with a cost-of-living crisis making takeaways more of a luxury than a daily convenience, restaurants are under financial pressure.

To offset the commissions they must pay to aggregators, merchants often increase their prices on these platforms, passing the fees on to consumers. Below are examples of larger merchants who have noticeably marked up their prices on delivery platforms compared to their in-store pricing.


Nando’s and KFC’s in-store prices VS prices on delivery aggregators Deliveroo and Uber Eats

The Value Program

Each month, Deliveroo assigns merchants a performance score of 'Great,' 'Good,' 'Okay,' 'Improve,' or 'Action' based on specific criteria from the previous month.

One of the main criteria they use is Price Mark-Up.

“The % difference between what you charge on Deliveroo vs your restaurant pricing (where available). How is this calculated? It is the percentage difference between the sum of the prices of the top 20 menu items (by GMV) sold from your site and the sum of the prices of those menu items sold from your physical site.”

It's believed that the photos riders take of menus will be used to determine the price difference between what merchants charge in their restaurants and on Deliveroo - particularly for restaurants where accessing in-store prices may be more difficult than in the examples mentioned above.

Road Ahead

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how the updated service agreement is received by both restaurants and riders. With the relationship between the two not always being ideal, will this additional paid task put riders in awkward situations? Taking pictures of menus in large chains like Wagamama or Nando's might be straightforward, but when it comes to small, family run restaurants or cafés, these interactions could create unnecessary pressure on riders, potentially leading to uncomfortable situations for everyone involved.

Next
Next

The Gig Economy - An Entrepreneur's Launchpad?