Restaurants scrambled to find creative solutions for serving customers when the coronavirus shutdown was announced. While many are offering takeout, several restaurants decided to provide a delivery option as well. A few places are doing their own deliveries. Others are using third-party delivery apps.

Local restaurants that offer delivery are saving customers from third-party apps’ delivery fees and higher menu prices. Using a restaurant’s delivery option means the restaurant can make more money and pass along the savings.

Third-party delivery services — Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Bend Take Out — were in place well before the shutdown. Over the past year, many restaurants took advantage of the opportunity to supplement their dine-in business by partnering with a delivery app. Some popular restaurants found that they were too busy to add to-go orders and rejected delivery. Other restaurants rejected the delivery apps because of the high commission fees.

Restaurants operate on a thin profit margin for food. Participating restaurants may raise the prices on food that is delivered through the app to offset the 30%, or higher, commissions. The same menu item is often a few dollars less when ordered at the restaurant.

Grubhub states its 35% commission fees are justified because restaurants are getting a higher volume of sales. During the shutdown, the company has offered little relief to restaurants, according to several Central Oregon restaurant owners. Grubhub did offer to delay commission fees, but they will be required to pay the fees at a future date.

Jackalope co-owner Kathy Garling encourages customers to call the restaurant for direct delivery rather than use Grubhub. Unhappy with the high commissions, Garling called her insurance company and discovered that during this national emergency, she could add a driver for a small fee. Using the restaurant’s own driver had the added benefit of ensuring that the high-quality ingredients would taste their best with a faster, direct delivery.

Joolz restaurant owner Juli Stonelake Hamden also expressed concern about how food will arrive from third-party deliveries. While Joolz still doesn’t offer delivery, Hamden said the restaurant does not want to use a delivery app to avoid “cost, set up and more hands touching the bag.” She continued, “This way (curbside pickup), we control temp and timing. It was hard to set it up, to begin with, but now it goes right into our point of sale system.”

Wild Rose did use Postmates for a short time but quickly learned that its menu is too complicated for online ordering. Customers must call the restaurant to order. Co-owner Rosie Itti Westlund explained that Wild Rose’s food is “too different” from typical Thai food. It’s often important to describe the options to customers over the phone. “Customers can’t substitute or eliminate ingredients, as many dishes and sauces are pre-made. Some entrees are braised or stewed for a long time.”

Aside from menu complexity, Westlund said she did not feel that the middleman delivery apps were good for restaurants. “Third-party delivery services, take gratuity that they don’t give to restaurants, and they charge an obscene commission. Delivery can get canceled before they are picked up with no protections to the restaurant owner.” These big company apps “need to be better at supporting small business restaurants.”

Wild Rose is keeping relatively busy with the current number of takeout orders. While it can do delivery for those most at risk, it could take a long time. Where pickup can be ready in 15 minutes, a delivery can take over an hour. For those who want delivery, there is a $50 minimum and an 18% gratuity added to the order that goes to the driver. Delivery is available after 4 p.m. within the city limits.

Boneyard Pub charges a 20% gratuity, paid to the driver, for all pub deliveries within the city limits.

A few restaurants offer local neighborhood deliveries. Marcello’s Cucina Italiana in Sunriver provides delivery within 10 minutes of the restaurant. Pflücke Bavarian Grillhaus and Biergarten delivers in NorthWest Crossing. Niblick and Greene’s, the restaurant at Eagle Crest, delivers to those in the Eagle Crest area. Washington Dining and Cocktails offers limited delivery.

Of the third-party delivery services, DoorDash has been the most accommodating to small restaurants during the shutdown. On April 10, the company issued a press release that it will be reducing commission fees for local restaurant partners by 50%. “This estimated $100M injection from DoorDash is dedicated to helping merchants respond to the acute financial threats they are facing right now,” the release stated.

The delivery app company is also offering zero commission fees for 30 days to independent restaurants that are new partners. Pickup orders made through the app will also have zero commission. The waived commission fees will not need to be paid in the future.