A new policy was introduced this month by the Ministry of Commerce stipulating that restaurants can no longer have a minimum order amount for delivery. They’ve also added that delivery charges can also not exceed 250fils if the delivery location is within the restaurants area and 500fils if outside it.
I know from a friend of mine who has a business that they’re not too happy about the change but from a consumer point of view this seems like good news. Talabat has already started contacting all the restaurants letting them know of this change but a lot still have a “Minimum Order Amount” in place. According to Talabat “it will take a considerable amount of time for the remaining restaurants to adhere to this new regulation.”
I rarely order delivery so not sure how bad the charges are or the minimum order amounts but I’m assuming they must have been ridiculous for them to create this new policy. I tried to find an English (or Arabic) source for this news but I couldn’t so if you find one let me know so I can link to it.
30 replies on “No More Minimum Order Amount for Delivery”
I remember once ordering from a confectionery that charged me a ridiculous 2 KD for a 6-7 KD order. Most places are just .5 KD at the moment though.
Well maybe don’t be so lazy and get in your car and drive there. Or even better. Walk, you might just burn off some much needed calories.
-_-
Yo if you ain’t got nothing good or nice to say..
Don’t be lazy and… add more to the increasingly terrible traffic situation?
I just checked the Talabat app, minimum charges are still posted . Caramel cake shop has a 5 Kwd delivery charge , so I either pick it up myself or no cake !
yeah i mentioned in the post that they said it will take time to get all the restaurants to comply.
I think this is a ridiculous policy to put into place. I would understand putting a price cap on some essentials such as rice, flour, cooking oil, etc, but since when is restaurant delivery an essential? If you don’t want to pay the restaurant’s charges, then you can go the store in person and pick it up!
Setting a minimum order amount and delivery charge is a calculated decision from the restaurant. It takes into account fuel price, time to make a delivery to relatively far area vs. how many deliveries they can make if they limit their delivery radius, how many delivery cars they have, and so on. This policy undermines this effort entirely.
If anything, I suspect we’ll see the restaurants increasing the prices of their goods to compensate for the delivery limit, because, as I said, delivery is still a cost for the restaurant.
But then you could apply the same way of thinking to restaurant service charges. Remember when restaurants where enforcing a service charge? You could have said if you don’t want to pay the service charge just don’t go to the restaurant but the fact that the MOC stepped in and said this shit isn’t allowed anymore was a win to the consumers again.
On face value it seems like it’s a win for the consumers, I agree. But ultimately, the business is providing a service, and it can charge “extra” for the service, whether it does so explicitly in the form of a “service charge” or “delivery charge”, or implicitly accounting for it by including it in the price of the particular goods they’re providing. At least with the service charge it’s a percentage that depends on the number of people eating at a table, and how much the party is being served (read: amount of food), instead of slapping on an arbitrary value. Same goes for delivery charge/min. delivery amount. It takes into account different factors and its not fair to cap it at a unified value for all.
I do agree with your statement “if you don’t want to pay the service fee just don’t go to the restaurant”. Dining out and ordering in are not necessities that need to be regulated. Your life will not be severely damaged if you do not partake in these things. That’s why I think they shouldn’t be regulated, but developed by themselves due to the nature of the market and industry.
In a perfectly competitive market, which I believe is the case for the restaurant market in Kuwait, competition will force prices down to their natural levels. I do not believe putting such a policy in place is necessary, nor do I think it’s fair for the business owners.
You would think thats how it works but in Kuwait it doesn’t seem to work like that. It’s not one place that had a service charge or one place that had a high delivery charge. When everybody is doing it then it becomes the norm which was the case here. I think thats why the MOC had to step in and regulate it.
You are one hundred thousand percent correct.
If you run a food business or know of someone who does that is adversely affected by this law, please get in touch as I am compiling a list of businesses and hoping to create a class action grievance claim against the MOC.
Best Regards,
Ahmad Jafar (Co-Founder at Al Nata)
I’ve seen this posted on Twitter from the official “الجمعيه العامه لحماية المستهلك” account, check it out: @Mstahlekq8
If I am paying delivery charges then don’t put minimum charge. Unless delivery is free after the minimum charge.
That is exactly what we do! Free delivery but minimum charge.
That’s the model that makes the most sense in our opinion.
Three things are going to happen because of this new law.
1) Some restaurants are going to stop their delivery service
2) New restaurants are not even going to consider delivery
3) Next time you see delivery times expect to see 2-3hrs
No delivery service = lower demand/sales since many customers (like me) don’t feel like driving all the way to restaurant to pick up a meal, which means LOWER revenues.
Suck it up business people. Play by the book or risk reducing your revenues 😀
Actually, we risk going out of business.
I don’t think the average kuwaiti understands how many food business models are predicated on delivery service.
They’re not asking us to play by the book. They’re effectively shutting down entire businesses with this new law.
Restaurants will now think “meals” instead of individual portions. A meal including a main dish, side and dessert = minimum order amount.
Nope. In arabic it doesn’t state meals. It says meals or a sandwiches or snacks.
Here’s the official statement:
https://twitter.com/Customskw/status/719198877518340096
I suspect that the big merchant families are happy with this while the small business owners are not. As already said in other comments; small restaurants will have to stop delivering to farther areas to save costs (fuel, drivers down time, accidents’ probability) while the big restaurant chains are not bound by the same delivery constraints (more drivers, a branch in almost all areas, a single driver can be used for 2 or more chains [Americana: hardee’s/KFC/Friday’s, etc.]). This will lead to less competition to the big and established chains while the smaller start-ups will suffer the consequences. so this is either a huge blow dealt by the big merchants, masterfully, to all small restaurants, which collectively have taken a huge market share from them and this is the retribution the big merchants planned for them. or that the heads in the ministry are just plain stupid and prefers to let small businesses suffer and limit the options for the consumers.
As a small business owner who is about to begin delivery, I would like to say that having a limit by the government on minimum orders for delivery services really should not hurt small businesses. To use the cost of petrol as an excuse for having high minimum order rates is laughable. When the price of petrol is less than water how can you justify. If the place is to far then just dont deliver there. I believe that the businesses that will be hurt will be companies like Talabat who might lose clients due to the service fees that they charge them. If not what I forsee is an increase in prices. In the long run it might as well be a loss for the consumer. That is sad because in the long run all businesses both large and small depend on the consumer.
Hello!
We already begun delivery and can tell you that our costs are not our own.
Meaning, if you really want reasonable turn around times for deliveries to all locations in Kuwait you will most likely need 3-4 cars/vehicles or use a third party.
Unfortunately, we do not have 3-4 vehicles so we use a third party, which the cheapest so far is 2.500 KD per trip.
I don’t know if you’ve already started delivery, but it’s going to hurt you too.
If you believe this law is a bad idea, please get in touch at [email protected]
We’d like to create a group to file a claim against this Law’s adverse effects.
Best Regards,
Ahmad Jafar
Unfortunately, that is exactly what this law will do.
Continue to prop up big businesses.
I personally believe that this was their aim with the law. I also personally believe that the big businesses somehow lobbied for this and got it done.
God help us small businesses.
They’ll probably come up with two delivery speed tiers, for example:
Above 7KD = “Express Delivery”
Below 7KD = “Regular Delivery” which will take 3 hours
I’m thinking of ordering a 250 fils shawarma from a restaurant 3 kms away. Wondering if it’ll work.
Now is a great time for someone to cater to restaurants with a delivery solution. Kinda like uber, but for restaurants. A single company handling the delivery needs of everyone else.
there’s one launching next month!
There are actually 4-6 different companies that do the deliveries with their own staff and cars.
They are all overpriced.
No one is entering the market with reasonable rates, and no one will.
I doubt you can find people to do this Uber style with real products from all the different restaurants here….not sure how that would happen from a regulatory perspective but here’s to believing. Could help us out if the rates make sense.
But again, I doubt we’ll see anyone charging less than 2 KD for a trip.
And that alone is too much.
But let’s hope this new one Mark is talking about are reasonable.