I spoke with a local restaurant owner when she started hosting Uber Eats. Apparently, Uber takes a cut, but they're not permitted to mark up prices to accommodate that. So it's great for volume, but terrible for margins, especially when the restaurant industry is not exactly known for high margins in the first place.

The Uber Eats site is very vague about all this:

"How much does it cost?

We collect a service fee, which is calculated as a percentage of your sales on Uber Eats. Have more questions? Fill out the interest form and a Uber Eats team member will be happy to answer them for you."

https://about.ubereats.com/en/restaurants/faq/

It's not really about the cut they take, but more about the fact that they take over the sales channel, and from there take a bigger cut and eventually drive your margins to zero.

It seems that the middle-man adds value. But, as the middle-man becomes the portal, it can control the customer. With this control, it can control prices. And as such, the restaurant-owner pays, and loses margins.

It is hugely unfair, as the restaurant-owners get caught in a winner-takes-all situation for the middle-men, and are forced into a race-to-the-bottom.

I think it serves well as a prototypical example of what's wrong with the digital economy. This is something everybody should be thinking about. Some people are already reporting about it though: [1]. Quoting:

> Our focus here is the “uberisation” of the economy by which we mean the destructuration of the value chain by new intermediaries which, through the use of digital technologies (mainly apps, smartphones and online payment systems), capture part of the value at the detriment of traditional operators. Not only taxi companies, hotels, restaurants, retailers, but also insurers, banks, travelling services (beyond the reservation services) , operators in the agri-food chain, etc. are likely to be challenged, with many more sectors thereafter.

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/newsroom/image/docum...

You lose the ability to differentiate your product or offerings and become a commodity supplier to the actual distributor. If the customer comes to your restaurant or calls you to order tacos, it's because they want your tacos (or they read your Yelp reviews and thought you were worth taking a chance on). If they order tacos on UberEats, they just want tacos, and anyone's tacos will serve.

Yes, and also now you're dependent on the middle-man. And they will dictate your margin.

1) Another middle-man takes another cut

2) Your food becomes a faceless commodity

> I'm missing something here, what am I missing?

The ability to pass a Voigt-Kampf test, apparently.