“It’s misrepresenting my business to the public,” Fuquay said. That led to confused and upset customers, negative reviews, and a general frustration that tech giants are gaining from his business and leaving him with little to show for it. Not only were they still charging his customers fees they were using old menus, promising customers meals he hadn’t made in years, like duck breast in mole sauce. Fuquay didn’t work with them in any official way they simply put his restaurant on the site, and picked up orders and delivered them. Instead, Fuquay reached out directly to customers, put flyers in people’s takeout orders asking them not to use the apps, and retrained service staff so they could do delivery work. But once the city locked down, Fuquay did what few restaurateurs were willing to do: He cut ties with the apps. The experience there is a big part of the draw, so his staff would only send out a few orders a day, tops, and he didn’t mind partnering with companies like Seamless, he said, despite the 30 percent they’d charge in fees.

Photo: Amir Hamja/Bloomberg via Getty Imagesīefore the pandemic, Michael Fuquay’s restaurant, the Jackson Heights diner the Queensboro, hardly used delivery apps.

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