The holidays are here — and this is our 9th holiday season together, it’s just unbelievable! We as a team want to start by saying thank you to every single person who’s ever eaten Girls. Whether it’s your first burrito or your 100th bag of Girls Chips, we are so, so grateful for you.
We love making food for you. And we have so much fun doing it. Working with food and serving our community delicious meals is a total blessing that I do not take for granted.
We also want to ask directly for your help. With the drop in temperatures, we really see that winter season coming at us. Winter is always a tough season for small, independent restaurants, and this year is no exception. So we’re asking (begging? pleading?😅) for your help in supporting our small business and keeping our team thriving during these colder holiday months.
Here are 5 easy (and some totally free) ways you can support your local girlsgirlsgirls Burritos and Girls Chips — and other small Lexington businesses too:
1. Like, share, repost. For real.
Every time you engage with us on social media, it helps more than you know. It tells that dang algorithm to show our posts to more people, and it really lifts up our team morale to see your love. Your comment might be the reason someone new tries our queso. And your tag might be what brings a new neighbor into our shop.
Plus it’s 100% free.
Follow + tag @girlsgirlsgirlsburritos and @eatgirlschips! TikTok @girlsgirlsgirlsburritos
2. Dine with us this winter and bring your friends.
Our space is colorful, cozy, and full of flavor. Our spot is truly unique in it’s vibrancy, and it’s a great way to break up the gray of winter. And we want to thank you for fitting us in your busy holiday schedule. Make a reservation at our restaurant this holiday season and enjoy one of our shareable appetizers, a sweet nachos, or a churro basket dessert on us. We’re running the special all holiday season so please tell your friends 🎁🎁🎁
🎉 Holiday Deal: Make a reservation for 4+ people and get a free appetizer or dessert for the table!
Book at girlsgirlsgirlsburritos.com → click “Reserve”. Or click here to go straight to our reservation page.
3. Shop Girls Chips + merch online.
We offer free shipping and Girls Chips make a fabulous stocking stuffer or snack gift. Be on the lookout for our new, resealable, snack size variety packs that’ll be available here at EatGirlsChips.com this week. Grab our extremely popular Girls Churro Chips, plus fan-favorite Eat Girls gear:
✔️ Stickers, hats (coming soon)
✔️ Tees, crewnecks, and totes (in lots of colors!)
Shop now at: EatGirlsChips.com
4. Leave us a 5-star review on Google.
If you love us and other local Lexington businesses, please let the internet know! 🌟
Your kind words help new customers find us and build trust before they ever walk through the door. Our team loves reading reviews about how they made someone’s day. And it really does make a difference for small businesses in today’s algorithm-driven world.
And if your experience wasn’t perfect?
Please reach out to us directly! We’re always here to make things right, fix mistakes, and improve. Contact us directly anytime at:
📧 [email protected]
📱 859-285-MULE (call or text)
📲 Or DM us on any socials!
Scan this QR code to easily leave us a Google review:
5. Order directly from us whenever you can.
Yes, DoorDash is convenient. But it takes 30–40% of each order from small businesses like ours. Our team doesn’t see those tips. We lose visibility in the app unless we pay DoorDash for pricey “promotions.” And it just adds up. Fast. And we hate to see that money go to the DoorDash CEOs instead of stay in our local economy.
Ordering directly from us gives you:
- Lower prices
- Full menu access
- The chance to leave us specific instructions
- Better service (we can communicate with you directly)
- And we get to actually meet you!
✨ Order takeout or free bike delivery directly at:
girlsgirlsgirlsburritos.com → “Order Online” → “From Us”
Here’s the truth about DoorDash (from someone who’s been on both sides of the tablet)
We’re so grateful for your DoorDash orders. Truly. For guests outside of our bike delivery zone, without a vehicle, managing a disability, or just too pressed for time — we love that DoorDash helps you get a delicious, homemade, locally sourced meal. That access matters and we will continue providing our service.
We’re simply here to share more behind-the-scenes info so that if you’re someone who orders DoorDash multiple times a month, maybe consider making one or two of those orders directly with the restaurant. That small shift can have a huge collective impact by helping us all keep more dollars in our local economy, supporting local teams, and ensuring local restaurant food stays accessible for years to come. Or perhaps you’ll learn something from this extra insight and can help lobby for a cap on the percentage that DoorDash takes and demand they pay their drivers way better.
Here’s what a lot of folks don’t see:
- DoorDash takes 30–40% of every order. If you spend $20, we may receive only $10–12.
- If you use a promo code, we’re the ones covering the discount, not DoorDash (even though they present it as their gift to you).
- Our team doesn’t receive the “service fees” or tips you leave in the app.
- If we don’t pay for “marketing campaigns,” we get buried in the app.
- We cannot communicate with you directly to help clarify your order details, correct a mistake or offer you a refund or gift card.
Back in 2021, when DoorDash was just starting to take off in Lexington, I wanted to dig deeper. At the time, there were still so many kinks in their system. For example, multiple drivers would show up for the same order, and we’d have to go through a long “dispute” process and “prove” one of their drivers picked up the order so to receive our cut of the money from the transaction. So I signed up as a dasher to better understand their system. I also wanted to see if it was worth picking up as a side hustle because as a self-funded small business owner, I’m always looking for ways to make ends meet 😅. I’ve “dashed” about 8-10 times total, including a couple times in recent months (I like to stay current with knowing how systems work that my business participates in).
Here’s what I learned:
- Most delivery offers were around $1–2 before tip.
- Even with tips, it rarely made up for gas, car wear, or time spent waiting.
- Their system is setup to pit drivers and local restaurants against one another rather than as a symbiotic relationship.
- For the amount being charged to customers and taken from restaurants, very little trickles down to the drivers.
And honestly, it’s just a bummer to see how DoorDash presents itself as a “game” that we as a restaurant, or a driver, must keep up with to continue receiving minimum value from their system. If I don’t pay for promotions, our “Optimization Score” drops from 90% to 2% and we’re no longer shown on the app home page. When a driver doesn’t accept an order for whatever reason (because it’s a low rate, low tip, or too far away in poor weather) their “Performance Metrics” drop and thus are offered lower value orders.
And what’s worse is their lack of compensation for high performance. When a restaurant or a driver does correct in their “game” — it never amounts to money that’s provided in return for the excellence in service and performance. Instead, you’re offered tiers of “rewards” that basically amounts to the “opportunity” to spend more money or time in the DoorDash app — “You’re great, dash again for an extra $1 per delivery!” “Your restaurant did excellent last month, you earned “local favorite” icon on your profile!” “Add photos of your menu items for +5 points to your score!!” It’s a dehumanizing system to everyone involved in the very real, beautiful world of cooking and serving food.
So when you order directly from us, you’re helping your local restaurant, and your money is staying local.
We use MenuPunks, a small company based in Louisville, Kentucky, to power our online ordering. We’ve used MenuPunks since day one, and I cannot sing their praises enough! They charge a very small per transaction percentage and in return they provide the tech that allows us to present our menu online, take your orders, print the tickets, handle bike deliveries, and keep things running smoothly.
We love that our service partner is Kentucky-grown — not a corporate tech giant based across the country. When you order directly from us, that money stays in Kentucky. It helps support real people doing good work. We truly are Kentucky Proud.
Thanks for making it this far in this little “deep dive” into a nuanced side of our work and our holiday tips to support small businesses. I truly love doing business in and for Lexington and could honestly talk shop all day, so please reach out with questions, comments, feedback 💙. I hope this detailed insight will create both conversation and encouragement toward supporting our local Lexington community this holiday season!
Thank you for supporting Girls. We couldn’t do it without you!
With so much love,
– Sara & Team Girls
Swing back for next week’s post! I think this time of year brings with it creative thought, reflections and intentions, and goals. So if you’ve ever thought about starting a business, or you currently have one, or you’re just interested in local Lexington, please stay tuned in 😊. I’ll have more behind-the-scenes insight and detailed ins-and-outs of what I do and use to run a local business (and on a budget). Plus some of our team’s favorite & recommended Lexington experiences for the holiday season. LOVEEEE~
💗💗💗,
-Sara