In a piece published by Business Insider, Tony Xu, the CEO of DoorDash, recently revealed that he started his company to help small restaurants. The same restaurants are now shutting down due to the losses they have incurred during the pandemic.

DoorDash has filed for its initial public offering. Its details showed that the company made $1.9 billion in revenue with a $149 million loss in the past year. In June, the company got new financing, which had DoorDash valued at $16 billion.

Along with the filing documents was a letter that Xu had penned himself. He talks about his mother, who worked as a server to pay for medical school. It was she who inspired him to start his own company. He went on to say that DoorDash’s mission was always to fight for the underdog. This mission is why the business operated to work with community restaurants giving them the same edge in delivery as big chains.

The CEO also mentioned that they lowered commissions by half for local restaurants, so 180,000 restaurants in the USA, Australia, and Canada could benefit from the platform during the pandemic.

However, this comes after customers filed a class-action lawsuit against DoorDash for overcharging items beyond the menu price.

On top of this, the 50 percent reduced commission was temporary and only lasted till May 31, 2020. Contrary to what DoorDash say they stand for, restaurant owners have publicly discussed they would instead pass on app-based businesses like DoorDash based solely on their steep commissions billed to the restaurants.

During the lockdown period, an estimated 20% of restaurants have closed down permanently. More independent restaurants have stated that they fear 85% of their shops may close down before 2021 begins.