How delivery platforms are reshaping quick service
restaurants, and what leaders must do now
DoorDash and Uber Eats now control 85 percent of U.S. online
food delivery. At many QSR chains, third-party orders represent 20
to 30 percent of sales, a share that keeps growing even as traffic
softens and steep discounting compresses profitability. That
dependence extracts a toll: commissions squeeze margin while
customer data flows to the platform rather than the restaurant.
Aggregators have become too big to ignore, too costly to embrace
fully, and too entrenched to negotiate on equal terms.
Retail faced this moment a decade ago. When Borders outsourced
its online bookstore to Amazon in 2001, the decision seemed
logical. E-commerce was a fraction of total revenue. By 2015,
Borders was gone, and Amazon was on the agenda of every retail
board meeting. The math had become punishing: walking away from the
platform meant losing access to a growing share of demand
