There’s a new takeout app in city — and it needs to eat the competitors.
Launched on Oct. 20, Olo is a new ordering platform providing pickup and supply with one main promise — no sneaky charges. The debut comes as the app’s Goliath-sized rival, DoorDash, snapped up Instacart for $17B — which consultants warn could lead to even larger costs.
Olo at present has over 250 nationwide and regional restaurant manufacturers with names like Five Guys, Waffle House and Dave’s Hot Chicken — small fry in contrast to DoorDash, which brags roughly 615,000 partnerships.
Olo intends to take on DoorDash — but at present only has 250 nationwide and regional restaurant manufacturers accessible in its app. Olo
Olo’s shtick is comfort with out the markup. No inflated costs, they promise — no added expenses, no sponsored advertisements. What you see on the menu when you’re at the precise restaurant is what you see when you’re ordering through the app.
To make cash, the model guarantees just one flat price of 5%, called the “network fee.” Plus, customers will still want to pay a supply price on supply orders. However, creators say the app eliminates the major value driving up buyer costs.
It’s called the commissions price — where apps like DoorDash and Uber Eats cost eating places anywhere from 15% to 30% commissions on supply orders. This price makes the eating places elevate costs to cowl prices — but the Olo App is commission-free.
So what’s the catch? While Olo may supply decrease costs, The Post did a deep dive and discovered two issues customers may face — transparency and comfort.
Over the previous 12 months, customers have been listening to two phrases — dynamic pricing and surveillance pricing. While they’re used interchangeably, there’s a bit of a distinction.
DoorDash, by distinction, has more than 600,000 partnerships with eating places all over the nation. Bloomberg via Getty Images
Dynamic pricing modifications prices primarily based on market situations; surveillance pricing modifications value or provides primarily based on what a firm knows about you.
Either manner, it’s utilizing information behind the scenes to work against you.
While larger costs might be off the desk with Olo, it is still performing like its rivals — serving up your information on a metaphorical silver platter.
According to its press launch, the Olo App is “free of sponsored ads and content.” That may be true on its floor — but its privateness coverage says something else.
The model says it gives certain information to advertisers so its companions can “market or sell their services to you,” and “deliver targeted advertisements through the services and on third-party platforms.”
Translation — your information is given to advertisers so they can promote you issues. So, while you may not see advertisements on the Olo platform, you will most doubtless get served advertisements somewhere else primarily based on the information Olo collects.
Of course, DoorDash is hardly identified as a beacon of shopper goodwill.
The standard supply app has publicly been accused of surveillance pricing and hidden charges. In truth, Groundwork Collaborative president and CEO Lindsay Owens, testified in an August 2026 Senate listening to which uncovered a now-abandoned patent.
The DoorDash patent would have measured person agitation — designed to detect when a buyer was annoyed, hungry, impatient or in a hurry — and was ominously titled “Detecting User Agitation Application Interaction.”
The patent was just lately deserted and now can not be used.
The Post put the Olo app to the take a look at — ordering a meal from Five Guys. Olo
While Olo might not have any sneaky tips up their digital sleeve just yet, can the new app beat its opponents and dominate the supply sport?
Rich Pleeth is the CEO and co-founder of Finmile — a firm offering operational superintelligence for logistics and advanced bodily operations. He instructed The Post that in order for the model to take on its rivals, it wants to ship on worth and comfort.
“The comparison needs to happen at checkout. Olo says it removes menu markups, but delivery fees still apply. Compare the same basket, to the same address, including fees and any offers or membership benefits,” Pleeth instructed The Post.
The same meal from the same Five Guys with DoorDash was far more costly, a reporter discovered. Olo
To serve journalism — and our stomachs — The Post did just that and downloaded the new app, evaluating it to the most-used supply app, DoorDash.
Right off the bat — it’s clear Olo does not have many choices. Try and sort in most main quick meals spots and you won’t discover them. When you do discover one, get prepared to stroll — not all locations will ship.
That’s because the New York City-based app does not have the community of supply drivers DoorDash boasts — now up to over seven million impartial contractors, identified as Dashers.
Another characteristic that’s notably lacking is the eating places web page. While it’s a small issue — it’s felt. Customers are used to devoted spots on Uber Eats and DoorDash displaying hungry prospects which eating places to select from.
But Olo’s saving grace — the worth.
The Post ordered two similar gadgets from both Olo and DoorDash — a cheeseburger, fries and a drink from Five Guys.
Olo charged just $24.81 — a $1.09 Network Fee and $1.93 for tax but did not have supply accessible. Meanwhile the same order from DoorDash was $40.87 — almost double what Olo was charging.
Pleeth instructed The Post that while DoorDash will doubtless stay prime canine, Olo could pull customers away for at least one evening of week.
“I think Olo has a better chance of winning someone’s regular Friday takeaway than persuading them to abandon every other delivery app,” Pleeth said.
“If your favorite restaurant is there and the same order costs less, that’s a concrete reason to try it. When you’re browsing for something different, restaurant choice and an app you already know may matter more,” he continued.
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