"Not UberEats" website helps support local restaurants in Toronto

There’s a new way to support your favourite local restaurants.

A Toronto-based software developer has launched a carefully curated website called Not UberEats, which lists restaurants in the city that offer their own delivery services.

Apps like Uber Eats and SkipTheDishes can charge restaurants up to 30% for each order, said Randy Singh, the man behind the site. With delivery fees and service charges, customers often spend more, too.

Tired of seeing local eateries forced to close due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Singh decided to do something to help his community.

“I wanted to make sure that people could enjoy these restaurants now, but also when the pandemic ends,” he said. “If you order directly from a restaurant they get to keep more money, and they can, hopefully, stay in business.”

Restaurants on Not UberEats can be filtered by location or by what’s open right now. Each listing includes a description of the restaurant and a link to its website or ordering portal.

An eatery’s location, hours, and ordering notes – such as the need to pre-order – are included as well.

Not UberEats

Gamaliel Obinyan, his coworker at Scotiabank, helped Singh catalogue the website’s restaurants. Not UberEats currently has about 100 restaurants listed, with another 60 or so in the backlog that Obinyan “can’t wait” to add.

“I look at so many photos of food, I’m hungry all day now,” Obinyan said.

The site has been visited over 35,000 times to date, with 26,000 of those users clicking through to an individual website.

Singh originally sent the site to friends and family at the end of December, but it wasn’t until January 7 when he shared it on LinkedIn that it really took off, he said.

The response has been “overwhelming,” the duo said. People from as far away as Amsterdam have asked if they can expand the site to serve their cities.

While there are no specific cities slated for expansion just yet, Singh and Obinyan agree they’ll take Not UberEats wherever they can to help local economies survive.

“I didn’t expect it to blow up so much. I’m humbled and honoured that people like the idea and that they’re supportive of it,” Singh said. “I’m glad that people want to support local.”