Thinking about picking up your phone and ordering food to your door step? After listening to this, you might want to dash to your favorite restaurant instead. Jessica Dunker of the Iowa Restaurant Association and Bruce Gerleman, owner of Splash Seafood explain the state of the Iowa restaurant business, changing trends, and the truth about food delivery.
Setting aside the fact restaurant food is more fresh and experiences matter, you need to be careful when ordering online. Gerleman, who is celebrating 27 years of Splash being in business, also gives restaurant owners practical strategies to keep food costs down, treat guests well, and even how technology is making operations more efficient.
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How Food Delivery Services Can Hurt the Food Industry:
One might think food delivery services are an overall positive for the food service and restaurant industry, and it’s true they can present new revenue models, but they can also come at a cost.
The Iowa Restaurant Association has led the charge to make sure food delivery is safe and quality is protected.
📦 Service & Quality Complaints
- Food quality & delivery problems: Time in transit can degrade food quality and changing the experience of the food, leading to customer dissatisfaction and waste.
💸 Cost & Consumer Issues
- Higher prices & fees: Frequent use of food delivery apps can mean spending more due to delivery charges, service fees, and inflated menu prices compared with eating in-restaurant.
- Fraud costs: Nearly 48% of detected consumer fraud on delivery apps involved refund scams, which collectively cost businesses — including delivery platforms — billions of dollars (estimated $103 billion across sectors)
- 28% of drivers admit to “sampling” the food they’re supposed to deliver.
📉 Economic & Industry Challenges
- Restaurant profit squeeze: Delivery apps have been shown to pressure restaurant profit margins due to high commission fees, in some cases contributing to business closures or reduced order volume.
What is the Iowa Restaurant Association?
The Iowa Restaurant Association was founded in 1933 when restaurateurs from across Iowa convened in Des Moines to create a unified voice for the industry. This was during the Great Depression, when many businesses were under intense financial pressure.
In 2001, the Iowa Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (IRAEF) was created to support workforce development, including programs like ProStart to build pipelines for future hospitality professionals.
More recently, in 2023 the IRA helped form the Iowa Hotel & Lodging Association, and in 2024 it launched the Iowa Latino Hospitality Council — reflecting an expanding role in broader hospitality support and diversity efforts.
Today, the IRA remains a key institution for Iowa’s hospitality sector, which includes roughly 6,500 establishments generating over $7 billion in annual sales and employing 100,000+ people statewide.
The IRA exists because individual restaurants often lack the scale to influence public policy, shape industry standards, or provide comprehensive training on their own. By organizing collectively, Iowa’s restaurant and beverage operators gain power, resources, and a platform to address shared challenges — from workforce shortages to shifting regulations and economic pressures.