BOULDER, Colo. — Sit at a table at Curry n Kebob and you would never want to leave. The Boulder restaurant has a million dollar view of the Front Range right outside its front door. The problem is, not many have seen it lately.
"Lot of times, evenings, are mostly delivery so it takes a toll," Anu Singh the restaurant's accountant said as she answered what businesses looked like lately.
Every day Singh watches more delivery orders come in, and sees much of the restaurant's profit walk out.
"We are paying almost 30% in delivery services which is a big chunk of any restaurants profits," Singh explained. "Curry n Kebob is down about 52% in income so it's tremendous, and when you have that 52% hit and then 30% hit, it's a big loss."
When the pandemic forced restaurants to shutter indoor dining, delivery apps took most of their business and charged an already struggling industry double digit fees.
"I thought, 'wow that really stings,' you know? I feel their pain," Curry n Kebob regular John Lazas said. He took those feelings to Facebook and wrote a post encouraging people to order pick-up rather than delivery.
"I’m not a restaurant owner myself but I could imagine if my profits were being diminished by 30% each time I sold an insurance policy, that’s what I do for work, that could really hurt," Lazas explained.
The news of the post got back to Curry n Kebob, and they were beyond grateful.
"Hats of to you John," Singh said with a smile.
While Singh said she knows this kind gesture won't solve all of their problem, she hopes it sheds light on the delivery issue restaurants face.
The city of Boulder does have a partnership with a delivery app called Nosh that caps its delivery fees. Singh told 9NEWS the problem is that most customers use apps like Grubhub and Postmates, but they were looking into it.
9NEWS did reach out to both Grubhub and Postmates on Thursday afternoon but has not heard back yet.
Grubhub has previously said they were willing to work with their restaurant partners to help them manage costs.
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