Kitchener restaurant says it’s owed $11,000 from Uber Eats

Kitchener business makes claims against Uber Eats A Kitchener Shawarma business owner says a delivery food company owes him money. CTV’s Tyler Kelaher explains.

A Kitchener restaurant says it will no longer be offering delivery through Uber Eats because the company owes them $11,000 in payments dating back to Jan. 10.

“Our portion was not deposited, so we contacted them [asking] what’s going on,” Ali Elina, the owner and operator of 1001 Nights Shawarma, told CTV News.

Elina said when an online order is made the entire payment goes straight to Uber Eats and it’s up to the delivery company to pay the restaurant its portion of the profits.

But when he contacted Uber Eats, Elina was told the money was sent to a separate account that didn’t belong to his restaurant.

“This is not our account. It might be hacked or something,” he said. “They did not take any action.”

In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson with Uber Eats Canada said: “We are working with the merchant to investigate and rectify the situation.”

1001 Nights Shawarma said it was contact by Uber Eats on Thursday and the issue is being worked on.

Elina added that Uber Eats assured him all upcoming payments will be transferred to his original bank account, but they didn’t confirm if he’ll be reimbursed for the $11,000 in missed payments.

“This is a big impact on our business,” he said. “Especially when we pay wages for the workers, we have to pay rent, we have the cost of the food. We are just hardly surviving.”

The owner and operator of another Kitchener restaurant says he refuses to use third party delivery services like Uber Eats due to the high fees. Even if it did cost less, he would prefer to keep his money in house to avoid a similar situation.

“I’m happy to keep my sales directly through my business and not have to rely on third parties to remit funds after the fact,” said Angus Sheach at DeliWorks.

Elina, meanwhile, said no matter what happens, he doesn’t plan on offer Uber Eats delivery at 1001 Night Shawarma again.

The owner is asking customers to choose other delivery apps like SkipTheDishes or DoorDash.