Guides · 🍽️ Food & drink
Food Delivery in Fredericton: Which Apps Actually Work Here (and How to Pay Less)
Good news for a city this size: all three major apps (SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and Uber Eats) genuinely operate in Fredericton. Skip lists the most restaurants (around 95), while DoorDash and Uber Eats have caught up fast. For groceries, Instacart and PC Express both deliver here, but Voilà by Sobeys only offers curbside pickup in Fredericton, not home delivery. Every order stacks a delivery fee, a service fee and a tip on top of 15% HST, so read on before you tap.
Which apps actually work in Fredericton
The short answer: all three of the big ones deliver here, which is not something every city of Fredericton’s size can say. We checked each platform’s live Fredericton pages rather than assuming. SkipTheDishes lists around 95 restaurants across town and remains the deepest bench, which tracks with its long head start in Atlantic Canada. DoorDash is fully live too, showing dozens of restaurants plus grocery from Superstore. Uber Eats also operates here, covering the usual chains alongside a growing list of local spots and grocery.
Coverage is not identical, so the app you pick changes what you can order. Skip tends to have the most independent Fredericton kitchens, the local spots you actually want on a Friday night. DoorDash and Uber Eats lean a little harder on national chains (McDonald’s, A&W, Wendy’s, KFC, Subway, Boston Pizza, Swiss Chalet) but both carry plenty of local names as well. If your favourite restaurant is missing from one app, it is worth checking another before giving up.
One honest caveat: menus and listings shift constantly. Restaurants sign on and drop off delivery platforms all the time, and a place that was on Skip last month might only be on DoorDash today. The reliable move is to open two apps, search your craving, and compare who has it, what it costs, and how long the quoted wait is before you commit.
How fees and tipping really stack up
The menu price is the smallest part of what you pay. Every order layers on a delivery fee (which flexes with distance and demand), a service fee (a percentage of your subtotal, often a couple of dollars), and then a tip on top, all before New Brunswick’s 15% HST is applied. It is entirely normal for a $20 burger-and-fries order to land closer to $32 or $34 by the time you confirm. None of the three apps is dramatically cheaper than the others on any given order; the winner changes day to day based on promos and surge.
Tipping on delivery apps is a genuine grey area, and worth thinking about. Your tip goes to the courier, not the restaurant, and on all three platforms a low or zero tip can mean your order sits longer while better-tipped runs get picked up first. Tipping before delivery is the norm on these apps, which feels backwards to a lot of people. A practical middle ground: tip a fair flat amount (many folks do $4 to $6 on a normal order, more in bad weather or for a long haul out to the suburbs) rather than a straight percentage, since percentage tips on a padded total add up fast.
Watch the fee that appears only at checkout. Apps advertise “$0 delivery fee” banners constantly, but that zero often applies only to the delivery line, not the service fee, and sometimes only above a minimum subtotal or for members. Read the full price breakdown on the final screen. If the total makes you wince, pickup is always an option, and several restaurants will quietly quote you a lower price if you phone and order directly.
Grocery delivery: what is real here
Grocery delivery in Fredericton is more capable than most people realize, but the options are not interchangeable. Instacart operates here and pulls from multiple local retailers including Sobeys, with same-day windows and its own membership (Instacart+) to waive delivery fees above a minimum. PC Express, the Loblaws family service, delivers from Atlantic Superstore and also offers pickup. Both Uber Eats and DoorDash now carry grocery and convenience too, so you can add a Superstore or Walmart run to the same app you order supper from.
The most important thing to know: Voilà by Sobeys does not deliver to your door in Fredericton. Voilà’s full home-delivery service is limited to the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, the Ottawa-Gatineau area, the Greater Montreal area and Quebec City. In Fredericton, Voilà exists only as curbside pickup at participating Sobeys locations, including the Uptown Centre store. You order online, book a time slot, and a staffer loads it into your trunk. It is a good, low-fee option if you do not mind driving, but if you specifically need groceries carried to your kitchen, Instacart or PC Express delivery are the ones that actually do it.
PC Express fees are worth knowing because they are tiered. Scheduled next-day-or-later delivery is the cheapest option, same-day costs more, and rapid delivery (where offered) is the priciest, typically landing somewhere between about $5 and $10 in delivery charges plus a small handling fee. Pickup is cheaper or free above a minimum basket. The PC Express Pass (around $99.99 a year, and often discounted or free with the right PC Mastercard) waives most delivery fees and is only worth it if you order groceries online regularly. Because these fees change, check the current breakdown before you book a slot.
Ordering direct: sometimes the smarter move
Before you default to an app, remember that plenty of Fredericton restaurants still run their own delivery. Pizza is the obvious category: the big pizza chains and several independents keep their own drivers, which means no app service fee and often a lower menu price than the marked-up delivery-app version. Domino’s, for instance, delivers through its own system nationally. Phoning the restaurant directly, or ordering from its own website, frequently beats the app on total cost even after the restaurant’s own delivery charge.
Ordering direct also means the restaurant keeps more of your money. Delivery apps charge restaurants steep commissions (commonly in the 20% to 30% range on each order), which is part of why a small local kitchen would genuinely rather you called. If you have a favourite Fredericton spot you want to keep in business, checking whether they deliver themselves, or picking up, is a small kindness that adds up over a year of Friday nights.
The tradeoff is convenience and tracking. Direct delivery usually means no live map, a rougher time estimate, and phone-only ordering at some places. For a lot of people that is a fine trade for saving five or six dollars and supporting the restaurant. For others, the one-tap reorder and real-time tracking of an app is worth the premium. Neither is wrong; just know you have the choice.
Coverage, timing and the edges of town
The apps cover the core of Fredericton well, but the edges get thinner. Skip breaks the city into areas like the Central Business District downtown, the university hill near UNB and STU, and the north side, and the other apps reach similar territory. Once you get out toward New Maryland, Hanwell, Oromocto or the more rural fringes, your available-restaurant list shrinks and delivery fees climb with the distance. If you live on the outskirts, always check the app with your real address entered before you get your hopes up about a particular restaurant.
Timing matters more here than in a big city. Fredericton is not a 24-hour town, and the late-night delivery window is genuinely limited. Kitchens close earlier than you might expect, especially on weeknights and around the university calendar, and courier availability thins out late. If you want food after about 10 or 11 p.m., your realistic options narrow to fast food and a handful of late spots. Order earlier rather than gambling on a 1 a.m. craving.
Weather is the other Fredericton variable. A serious snow event, and we get them, means longer waits, surge-priced delivery fees, and sometimes no couriers accepting orders at all. On genuinely bad nights, tipping well up front is the difference between food arriving and your order languishing. If a storm is forecast, ordering groceries a day ahead through pickup or scheduled delivery beats fighting the app during the first big dump of the season.
Getting the best of it: practical tips
Comparison-shop across two apps before every order of any size. It takes ninety seconds to search the same restaurant on Skip and DoorDash and see which has the lower total and shorter wait. Promo codes, first-order discounts and “$0 delivery” days rotate constantly, and the gap between apps on a single order can easily be five or six dollars. Loyalty to one app rarely pays; loyalty to whichever app is cheaper tonight does.
Do the membership math honestly. Uber One (Uber Eats), DashPass (DoorDash) and the grocery passes all promise waived delivery fees for a monthly cost. They pay off only if you order often enough to clear the subscription price in saved fees, and remember the service fee usually still applies even with “free” delivery. If you order twice a month, skip the membership. If you are a several-times-a-week household, one grocery pass plus one restaurant membership can genuinely save money.
The frugal Fredericton playbook: order pickup when you can, phone local pizza and independents directly to dodge the service fee, batch a grocery order to clear the free-delivery minimum, tip your courier a fair flat amount, and keep two food apps installed so you always order from whichever is cheaper that night.
Finally, mind the minimums and the small stuff. Many services waive delivery fees only above a subtotal (often around $35 for groceries), so consolidating one bigger order beats three little ones. Double-check the address and any gate or buzzer notes, since a Fredericton walk-up or a rural driveway can genuinely confuse a courier. And screenshot your order total once in a while: it is the fastest way to notice when fees have crept up and it is time to rethink how often you are tapping that button.
So which should you actually use?
If you want the widest choice of real Fredericton restaurants, start with SkipTheDishes. Its roughly 95-restaurant local list is the deepest, and it has the longest track record in this part of the country. It is the safest first check when you are hunting for a specific independent kitchen rather than a chain.
If you are chasing a promo or a chain, check DoorDash and Uber Eats too. Both are fully operational in Fredericton, both run aggressive first-order and $0-delivery promotions, and both bundle grocery and convenience alongside restaurants. On any given night one of them may simply be cheaper for the exact order you want, which is the whole reason to keep more than one installed.
For groceries, match the tool to the need. Want it carried inside? Instacart or PC Express delivery. Happy to drive and want to keep fees low? Voilà curbside at Sobeys or PC Express pickup at Superstore. Just topping up a takeout order? The grocery tab inside Uber Eats or DoorDash is fine. There is no single best app in Fredericton, only the best one for tonight’s specific order, and now you know how to spot it.
Key takeaways
- All three major apps (SkipTheDishes, DoorDash and Uber Eats) genuinely operate in Fredericton, with Skip carrying the most restaurants at around 95.
- Every order stacks a delivery fee, a service fee and a tip on top of New Brunswick’s 15% HST, so a $20 order routinely lands past $32.
- Voilà by Sobeys does not deliver to your door in Fredericton; it offers curbside pickup only, while Instacart and PC Express actually deliver groceries here.
- PC Express delivers from Atlantic Superstore with tiered fees (scheduled is cheapest, same-day and rapid cost more), plus a yearly Pass (around $99.99) that waives most delivery fees.
- Ordering pizza and independents directly by phone often beats the apps, since restaurants pay 20% to 30% commission on app orders.
- Keep two food apps installed and compare totals every time, since promos and the cheapest option change night to night.
Common questions
Does Uber Eats work in Fredericton?
Yes. We confirmed on Uber Eats’ live Fredericton page that it operates here, covering chains like McDonald’s, A&W, Wendy’s and Subway, a growing list of local restaurants, and grocery and convenience from stores including Walmart, Atlantic Superstore and Sobeys. It is one of three major apps working in the city, alongside SkipTheDishes and DoorDash.
Which delivery app has the most Fredericton restaurants?
SkipTheDishes lists the most, around 95 restaurants across Fredericton, including plenty of local independents. DoorDash and Uber Eats are both fully operational too but skew a little more toward national chains. The smart move is to check two apps for your specific craving, since coverage and pricing differ.
Can I get groceries delivered in Fredericton?
Yes. Instacart delivers here from several retailers including Sobeys, and PC Express delivers from Atlantic Superstore. Uber Eats and DoorDash also carry grocery and convenience. The one to watch is Voilà by Sobeys, which offers only curbside pickup in Fredericton, not home delivery, since Voilà’s delivery service is limited to parts of Ontario and Quebec.
How much do delivery fees and tips add up to?
Expect a delivery fee (variable with distance and demand), a service fee (usually a percentage of your subtotal), and a courier tip, all before 15% HST. A $20 restaurant order commonly totals $32 or more once everything is stacked. Tipping happens up front on these apps and affects how quickly your order is picked up, so a fair flat tip of $4 to $6 is the practical norm.
Is it cheaper to order directly from the restaurant?
Often, yes. Restaurants pay delivery apps commissions in the 20% to 30% range, and many pizza places and independents keep their own drivers. Phoning directly or using the restaurant’s own website usually avoids the app service fee and sometimes a menu markup, and it keeps more money with the local business. The tradeoff is no live tracking and, at some spots, phone-only ordering.
Is a delivery membership like DashPass or Uber One worth it in Fredericton?
Only if you order frequently. These memberships waive delivery fees for a monthly cost, but the service fee usually still applies, so you need enough orders to clear the subscription price in saved fees. Occasional users (a couple of orders a month) should skip it; several-times-a-week households can come out ahead, especially if they pair one restaurant membership with a grocery pass.
Sources & further reading
This guide reflects the documented local consensus, reporting, reviews and community voices, verified where possible. Things change; if we’re out of date, tell Freddy.
- SkipTheDishes: Fredericton restaurants
- DoorDash: Food delivery in Fredericton, NB
- Uber Eats: Fredericton food delivery
- Instacart: Grocery delivery in Fredericton, NB
- Voilà by Sobeys: FAQ (delivery vs pickup areas)
- Sobeys: Voilà by Sobeys overview
- PC Express: Pickup and delivery fees
- Milesopedia: PC Express Pass explained