KING COUNTY, Wash — A popular gluten-free fried chicken spot is closing half of its locations. The owner of Bok a Bok announced on its Instagram Sunday that its White Center and University District locations are officially shuttered.
Its owner, Brian O'Connor, wrote that not enough people were ordering directly through the restaurant. Just a month ago, O'Connor opted to cut ties with third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats and Doordash, citing concerns about profitability.
"Hey, Bokkers, Brian here. Yeah... I don't even know what to say I'm so sad," said O'Connor in the video posted to social media.
O'Connor said he was too emotional to interview with KING 5 Monday, but the closure of two of his four locations is the latest fallout after apps like Doordash, Grubhub and Uber Eats raised fees on customers-- a reaction to Seattle's Pay Up ordinance that was originally intended to boost pay for delivery drivers.
In White Center, Vietnamese restaurant Pho Tai has been Bok a Bok's neighbor for nearly a decade. Its manager, Sharon Hwang, shared similar concerns that O'Connor had last month but felt her hands were tied.
"He started using his own delivery guys, and doing that is not sustainable," said Hwang. "To get those, like, old customers back from the delivery services, it would be a lot more difficult to just be like, 'Hey, call us and then we'll deliver it,' or something like that. You know?"
It has been eight months since the fees were instituted on the apps. Uber Eats, for example, blamed Councilmembers Cathy Moore and Joy Hollingsworth for inaction on their proposal to revise it, writing in a letter to the council this summer, "We have had stakeholder meetings with them and negotiated in good faith to meet the policy goal of reducing costs, but they continue to move the goal posts in terms of minimum earnings/pay per mile."
Uber Eats says on its website that restaurant owners must give up 30% of their delivery sales to maximize sales and stand out on its app.
"So if we don't do delivery, we actually-- that's 50% of all our sales," said Hwang.
She added, "Produce prices going up, meat prices going up. There's a lot less people actually going out to eat now. For us, compared to last year, huge decrease in sales."
O'Connor also said in his Instagram post, "Please support Capitol Hill and Kirkland, our other two restaurants that are still open, and don't forget: support your local businesses."
O'Connor also wrote on social media that the apps "were great for exposure but made margins so thin that those orders didn't count after it was all said and done."
Uber Eats does have cheaper plans that merchants can opt for, including a self-delivery plan that still promises exposure in the app.