Cons: After more than two and half years as a Strategic Merchant Lead, I came to believe that DoorDash's greatest challenge was not the quality of its product, but the consistency with which opportunity, performance, and leadership were evaluated across the sales organization.
I worked in a mature market where I was told DoorDash had already captured approximately 70% market share. Once a territory reaches that level of penetration, the nature of the role changes significantly. Growth becomes increasingly dependent on new store expansion, territory composition, and local market conditions rather than pure sales execution. Despite those structural realities, performance expectations often appeared remarkably similar across markets with vastly different levels of opportunity.
My team also questioned evolving partnership priorities. Our team would discuss why certain foodservice brands operating within convenience retail are being sold by other SML's, including Hunt Brothers Pizza, Champs Chicken, and Wingman Pizza. Unlike traditional standalone brick-and-mortar restaurants, these concepts typically operate as branded foodservice programs within convenience stores and travel centers. A few of us also questioned why the company paid substantial commissions to salespeople for these partnerships.
I remember Miami as a market where reps appeared to have substantially greater partnership flexibility and deal support due to DoorDash's lower market share in the region. This raised a broader question about how performance should be evaluated across fundamentally different operating environments. In today's economic climate, many restaurants are under significant financial pressure. Conversations that might otherwise be challenging can become considerably easier when accompanied by substantial financial incentives or materially reduced commission structures. Comparing results across markets without fully accounting for those differences risks measuring opportunity as much as execution.
Employees also questioned whether opportunity allocation and prospecting expectations were consistently applied across regions. When different markets appear to operate under different operational realities, performance comparisons inevitably become more difficult to interpret.
Another recurring concern involved leadership credibility. As markets matured and sales cycles became increasingly complex, many employees hoped for coaching grounded in recent frontline experience. Strategic guidance carries greater weight when leaders possess a deep understanding of the operational realities their teams encounter every day, particularly when selling merchants who have previously chosen to leave the platform.
Lastly, I was told employees also expressed discomfort with the company's highly publicized appearance involving President Trump and an elderly Dasher. For some employees, it became another example of leadership making a highly visible decision without fully considering how it would be received internally.
