DoorDash is reducing commissions for local restaurant partners by 50 percent in an effort to help businesses survive the COVID-19 crisis. The food delivery service says the program will benefit over 150,000 restaurants in the US, Canada, and Australia on both DoorDash and Caviar, the rival delivery app it purchased from Square last year. In particular, the program is for restaurants with five or fewer locations.
DoorDash will start applying the reduced commission fees on April 13th and will continue charging the reduced prices through the end of May. In its announcement, the company wrote that the program is an “injection of up to $100 million” and is in addition to the previous COVID-19 response programs it announced in mid-March.
As the company explained to The Verge, it won’t exactly be giving out money — it simply expects the value of reduced commissions to reach that amount. And, in case the value of reduced commissions go beyond $100 million before May ends, it will still continue charging eligible restaurants 50 percent off.
Restaurants typically pay companies like DoorDash pretty hefty commission fees for orders made through their app. By slashing those fees by 50 percent, businesses can serve and make money from the increasing number of customers getting delivery due to COVID-19.
