DoorDash is providing independent restaurants on its platform discounted rapid COVID-19 tests

<p><img src="https://static4.businessinsider.com/image/6022dca3cca90200129b746c-660/DoorDash-Cellex Test.jpg" border="0" alt="DoorDash Cellex Test" data-mce-source="DoorDash" data-mce-caption="DoorDash is giving independent restaurants access to discounted COVID-19 tests by Cellex."></p><p></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>As New York City restaurants prepare to reopen indoor dining later this week, DoorDash announced Wednesday that it is providing independent restaurants on its platform access to discounted rapid COVID-19 tests that provide&nbsp;results in 15-20 minutes.</p><p>The No. 1 food delivery operator in the US said restaurants with three or fewer locations are eligible to pay $100 for 25 rapid tests by <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/cellex-healthdatix-and-spartan-medical-team-up-to-provide-sars-cov-2-covid-19-antigen-rapid-testing-for-local-state-and-federal-governments-to-address-the-b-1-1-7-and-other-variant-strains-1030029030">Cellex</a>, whose tests are used by state agencies, military bases, and sports venues, DoorDash said.&nbsp;</p><p>Last year, the San Francisco-based delivery operator formed a <a href="https://blog.doordash.com/introducing-the-inaugural-restaurant-advisory-council-a4363f6437e1">Restaurant Advisory Council</a>, aimed at learning the needs of the restaurant community during the pandemic. &nbsp;The group told DoorDash a few months ago that having access to affordable and rapid COVID-19 tests was crucial to maintaining operations during the health crisis.&nbsp;</p><p>"We're really proud of being able to offer this at a highly subsidized rate," said Mariah Ray, public policy and partnerships lead at DoorDash, told Insider.</p><p><strong>Read more:</strong> <em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-enters-instacart-territory-by-expanding-beyond-food-delivery-2021-2">DoorDash is going beyond food delivery by partnering with Walmart and convenience stores as it becomes a one-stop shopping app for everything from Slurpees to paper towels.</a>&nbsp;</em></p><p>Starting February 16, eligible independent restaurants can order a kit containing 25 tests for the aforementioned $100 price tag. DoorDash has secured about 1,100 kits at a bulk discount rate and is subsidizing the cost of each $100 kit purchased by restaurants as part of its five year<em>,</em>&nbsp;$200 million <a href="https://blog.doordash.com/expanding-our-main-street-strong-program-to-further-empower-restaurants-44a8f19f9826" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Main Street Strong Pledge program</a> which supports local communities.</p><p>Experts say that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-sells-at-home-covid-19-tests-using-saliva-samples-2020-10">frequent testing for the deadly coronavirus</a>, or surveillance testing, can help identify asymptomatic people before they expose others to the coronavirus.&nbsp;</p><p>However, DoorDash said restaurants will likely be using the discounted kits to screen employees that they suspect might have been exposed.</p><p>Regardless, frequent testing can prove costly at a time when restaurants need every dime to survive.&nbsp;</p><p>Starbird Chicken CEO Aaron Noveshen, a member of DoorDash's initial advisory council, said he's paid $20,000 on COVID-19 testing to date.&nbsp;</p><p>Under DoorDash's new program, restaurants are limited to one kit at the $100 rate plus shipping. &nbsp;However, restaurant owners can buy additional kits at the negotiated bulk rate of $1,050. That's about $42 per test.&nbsp;</p><p>By comparison, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-sells-at-home-covid-19-tests-using-saliva-samples-2020-10">Costco is selling individual at-home tests</a> for about $130 each. Over the holidays, City Winery in New York City was paying $500 a day to offer free COVID-19 tests to customers who bought a case of wine, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2020/12/21/nyc-winery-offering-covid-tests-with-wine-case-purchases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New York Post.</a> &nbsp;Prior to that, before indoor dining was shutdown again in mid-December, City Winery was requiring customers to take an on-site rapid COVID test in order to eat there in the middle of the week, according to <a href="https://gothamist.com/food/city-winery-offering-50-rapid-covid-tests-attempt-lure-indoor-diners">Gothamist</a>. The test cost $50.&nbsp;</p><p>Members of the restaurant council told DoorDash that they often have to shut down their restaurant while they wait for potentially exposed employees to get a nasal swab test. Those tests are more reliable but can take days to get results.</p><p>DoorDash does not reimburse Dashers, or gig drivers, for COVID-19 tests. However, throughout the pandemic the company said it has offered other forms of financial assistance to Dashers such as access to discounted virtual urgent care visits.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Read More:</strong><em><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/food-tech-startups-offer-restaurants-alternatives-to-doordash-grubhub-2020-12"> As delivery exploded during the pandemic, these 5 startups offered restaurants alternatives to DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub and their hefty fees</a></em></p><p>Jan Louise Jones, a professor of Hospitality and Tourism at the University of New Haven, told Insider that there is a "possibility that consumers may feel safer [going to a restaurant] with rapid testing and therefore more likely to visit a restaurant."</p><p>"However, the information provided so far about rapid testing has not been all that favorable in terms of accuracy," she said.&nbsp;</p><p>While rapid tests are not a substitute for a PCR nasal swab test, DoorDash's Ray said restaurant owners told them that having a cost-effective rapid COVID-19 test would give them "peace of mind" about keeping their doors open safely.&nbsp;</p><p>"In a concerted effort to protect our employees and customers, rapid antigen testing has been a lifesaver," Noveshen of Starbird Chicken said in a statement. "In today's environment, being able to keep your doors open even just one more day, means money back in your pocket to keep operations running for long term."</p><p>The restaurant industry closed 2020 down $240 billion in sales with roughly 110,000 eating and drinking establishments having closed long term or permanently due to the pandemic, according to the National Restaurant Association.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doordash-offers-restaurants-discounted-rapid-covid-19-test-kits-cellex-2021-2#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-most-expensive-liquid-thoroughbred-horse-semen-2020-3">Why thoroughbred horse semen is the world's most expensive liquid</a></p>
Click here to read full news..