Chris Lucas, the Greek Australian restaurateur behind Melbourne’s high-end hospitality group Lucas Restaurants has pulled his restaurants off Uber Eats and DoorDash as Deliveroo suddenly exited the Australian market.
The owner of multi-awarded Chin Chin and Kong announced his decision on social media on Friday saying that “Nothing is more important than our people”.
“Our crew who come to work every day, and our guests that dine with us every day. We are saddened to hear about Deliveroo’s withdrawal from Australia, adding pressure to both the workers and restaurants that relied on their services.”
Lucas Restaurants ceased all relationships with third-party delivery apps and are bringing ordering for takeaway offerings at Baby Pizza and Hawker Hall in house.
“This means we can give our crew more shifts and more hours, and we can better control the experience you have at home when you order with us. For those wanting to get their Baby or Hawker Hall fix, you can give us a call or jump on our website.”
“Food ordered direct and picked up fresh. Just like it used to be,” Lucas concluded.
Speaking to several media he reiterated his decision to return to a more personalised and old-fashioned type of relationship with his customers that will ensure proper presentation, reasonable wait time and high quality.
“At the end of the day we’re about extraordinary experiential dining concepts, not sticking food on the back of a bike,” he said adding that he was not comfortable with third party apps. The occasional dissatisfaction from customers and the lack of control were issues that made him question the arrangement during Melbourne’s lockdown which led to pulling out Chin-Chin and Kong off delivery apps. Convinced he made the right decision he is now protecting the customer experience by removing his more mainstream and fast-paced eateries from external platforms also.