Which food delivery app in SC is cheapest? We tested 5 Bluffton restaurants to find out
Planning on ordering delivery soon?
While ordering a hot meal to your door is always convenient, sometimes different service providers charge differently.
That’s right, it’s possible to order the same meal from the same restaurant using Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub and DoorDash and pay four different prices.
Restaurants often charge more for items ordered through a third-party delivery service than they charge for the same items ordered directly from the restaurant. And because your food and/or drinks may be sitting on a shelf before making its way into the hands of a courier, who then has to transport the items to you, potentially facing literal and figurative roadblocks, it’s certainly not as fresh as it would be if it were instead ordered and enjoyed at the restaurant.
These companies, such as Uber Eats, Grubhub, Postmates and DoorDash, serve as the in-between, connecting locally owned and chain restaurants with customers, some of whom the restaurant may not reach without the third-party platforms and their delivery service.
How much does it cost to order food for delivery?
To determine the costs for each service provider, we set our delivery location to the Island Packet’s former office location in central Bluffton.
From there, we added one meal from five restaurants located in Bluffton to the cart on each of the delivery platforms, and recorded the prices of the food and fees to discover which delivery service offers the best prices. (Technically, we stopped short of clicking the order now button.)
We did not include the cost of a tip in these comparisons.
Grubhub did not offer every restaurant location we visited, as their selection of locations is limited. Each location that was not available is listed in the price breakdown.
Five meals we compared from each restaurant
Triple Decker Sandwich with Fries from Omelette Cafe
Sweet & Sour Chicken with Fried Rice from Chin Dynasty
16” New York Cheese Pizza from New York City Pizza
Double Bacon Burger from Wayback Burgers
Pork Sandwich from Jim ‘N Nicks
Here’s what we found in our price breakdown:
Omelette Cafe Total & Delivery Fees
Menu Price: $10.75
App Price: $13.98 (all)
Doordash:
Delivery Fee: $3.49
Fees & Estimated Tax: $4.64
Total: $22.11
Postmates
Delivery Fee: $2.99
Taxes & Other Fees: $5.01
Total: $21.98
Uber Eats
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.67
Total: $18.65
Grubhub:
Delivery Fee: $3.49
Tax and Fees: $3.58
Total: $21.05
Chin Dynasty Total & Delivery Fees
Menu Price: $14.95
App Price: $17.95 on Doordash; $12.45 on Postmates and Uber Eats
Doordash:
Delivery Fee: $0.99
Fees & Estimated Tax: $4.76
Total: $23.70
Postmates:
Delivery Fee: $0.49
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.74
Total: $17.68
Uber Eats:
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.55
Total: $17.00
Grubhub: Not available
New York City Pizza Total & Delivery Fees
Menu Price: $21
App Price: $24.57 (all)
Doordash:
Delivery Fee $0.99
Fees & Estimated Tax: $5.96
Total: $31.52
Postmates:
Delivery Fee: $0.49
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.13
Total: 29.19
Uber Eats:
Taxes & Other Fees: $3.21
Total: $27.78
Grubhub:
Delivery Fee: $2.49
Tax and Fees: $6.45
Total: $33.51
Wayback Burgers Total & Delivery Fees
Menu Price: $9.99
App Price: $11.49 (all)
Doordash:
Delivery Fee: $0.49
Fees & Estimated Tax: $4.20
Total: $16.18
Postmates:
Delivery Fee: $0.99
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.69
Total: $17.17
Uber Eats:
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.47
Total: $15.96
Grubhub:
Delivery Fee: $2.49
Tax and Fees: $3.43
Total: $17.41
Jim ‘N Nick’s Total & Delivery Fees
Menu Price: $8.49
App Price: $10.19 (all)
Doordash:
Delivery Fee: $0.49
Fees & Estimated Tax: $4.09
Total: $14.77
Postmates:
Delivery Fee: $0.49
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.55
Total: $15.23
Uber Eats:
Taxes & Other Fees: $4.36
Total: $14.55
Grubhub: Not available
Which service was cheapest?
For almost all of these delivery options, Uber Eats had the cheapest prices and did not charge an independent delivery fee.
How do the fees compare?
The base price of food across delivery services was almost the same for each item considered in our comparison.
However, food prices charged when using a delivery service are sometimes higher than what you’d pay if you ordered directly from the restaurant.
Restaurants don’t pay a fee to be listed on delivery platforms, but the platforms take a cut of each order.
What are the extra fees for delivery?
Each platform charges fees, including delivery fees and service fees, that you may see when you’re ordering from one of the third-party sites.
To learn how each platform defines these added fees, click on each link below.
What’s the key takeaway?
Delivery prices vary significantly between apps, even for the same meal from the same restaurant.
While ordering through these apps is convenient, you could end up paying more than the in-restaurant price due to markups and added fees.
All of these providers offer the exact same service, but by comparing each platform based on the restaurant and their listed prices before clicking ‘order now,’ you may be able to save a dollar or two before dinner.
This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
