The second fight
Delivery, paid fairly
The first problem is the commission eating away at you. The second one, everyone sees and no one fixes: the rider paid a pittance. We're taking that one on too — and here's how, with no grey areas.
⚓ Delivery is a channel to come — not active yet. What follows describes how we want to build it (intent and goals), not a service available today.
The problem no one wants to look at
In the gig economy, the rider is a variable to squeeze: precarious status, no protection, earnings that keep eroding. Everyone knows it. But nothing moves, because it's the tech giants who impose their vision — and it suits their books, not people.
We made the opposite choice: pay our riders better than anyone, here in Tours — with a clear ambition, in time: to hire them as employees, with a real contract and real protections. Not out of charity: because a fair service starts with people treated right. The only real question is how to fund it without squeezing anyone — neither your margin nor the customer. Here's the answer.
The insight: delivering often costs you less than serving in the dining room
People keep saying “delivery is expensive for the resto”. Look closer. A cover in the dining room means staff to welcome, serve and clear, a table tied up for an hour. A delivered order, none of that: no table service to pay for.
In other words, a good part of the service cost you spend in the dining room, you don't spend on delivery. That's often where the money is to pay the person who brings the meal decently — without taking anything more off your plate.
Who pays for the ride — and how your margin is protected
The rule is simple and you control it end to end:
- You set your floor margin. The minimum you're willing to make on a delivered order. It's your threshold, decided by you.
- Your share is capped by that threshold. It sits between your usual margin and your floor — funded by the service cost delivery saves you. We never go below your minimum.
- The customer pays the difference, displayed clearly at the moment of ordering. No prices quietly inflated, no hidden fees.
Illustrative example — a €30 delivered order
- The ride, paid decently (our choice) €7 fair
- Your share (from the service savings) 3 €
- The customer tops up 4 €
- You've set a floor (e.g. 50% margin). Since delivering saves you the dining-room service cost, you can put in €3 without ever going below your threshold. The customer sees €4 for delivery, clearly displayed.
The result: the rider is paid decently, your margin stays above your floor, and the customer pays the real cost — not a price inflated to feed a platform.
On the big platforms, the customer often pays as much or more… but the rider gets less, and the difference disappears in commission.
Amounts given as an example to illustrate the principle (the ride pay is our commitment, not an imposed rate). Actual thresholds are set with each restaurateur.
What about my takeaway and at-the-table orders?
No cost of this kind: no rider, so nothing to share. On click and collect and ordering at the table, it's €0 for you, full stop. The delivery share only applies to orders actually delivered — and only if you offer delivery.
Not to be confused with commission: we never take a percentage on your dishes. You keep 100% of the price of what you sell. Delivery is a real service — paying the person who brings it — whose cost is shared and capped, not a tollbooth on your revenue. See also: how we fund the platform.
A question about this model? Write to us at miam@captain.food — we answer in plain words. And if you run a resto or a food truck in Tours, join the free restaurateurs.