'How Delivery Is Destroying American Restaurants' (msn.com) 176
Nearly three out of every four restaurant orders are no longer eaten in a restaurant, according to the National Restaurant Association. The share of customers using delivery more than doubled from 2019 to 2024, and 41% of respondents in a recent poll said delivery was an essential part of their lifestyle. The transformation has fundamentally altered restaurant economics. Delivery companies charge restaurants commissions between 5 and 30%, along with fees for payment processing, advertising, and search placement.
Shannon Orr runs an eight-restaurant group on the West Coast. One of her restaurants generated $1.7 million in delivery sales last year. Of that, $400,000 went to delivery companies. The restaurant, previously among her most profitable, made no money in 2024, she told the Atlantic.
About a third of full-service restaurants have modified their physical spaces to accommodate the delivery boom, installing dedicated entrances, bike parking, and banks of lockers.
Shannon Orr runs an eight-restaurant group on the West Coast. One of her restaurants generated $1.7 million in delivery sales last year. Of that, $400,000 went to delivery companies. The restaurant, previously among her most profitable, made no money in 2024, she told the Atlantic.
About a third of full-service restaurants have modified their physical spaces to accommodate the delivery boom, installing dedicated entrances, bike parking, and banks of lockers.
old again (Score:5, Insightful)
Here I am, old again. In my day, restaurants that did delivery had their own drivers. There was one you've probably heard of that once guaranteed delivery in 30 minutes or less. Planning your own business needs instead of just relying on someone else, shocking idea in 2025.
There are lots of restaurants that refuse to use those high priced and crappy delivery services. Dine-in and Pickup Only can be a valid choice too.
Complaining that you rely on other and they charge too much is just lame. Stop acting like your business is frozen in time but things around it change.
Re:old again (Score:4, Interesting)
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Compared to delivery or take-out, where I can eat in the peace of my own home, maybe put on an episode of star trek, and actually enjoy the food.
back when baby sisters worked for minimum wage (Score:3)
For parents the nice thing about a restaurant is that there is probably not children screeching there versus guaranteed to be at home.
Re: old again (Score:2)
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Ah yes, the time honored tradition of "picking up chicks at Applebees"
Re:old again (Score:5, Insightful)
Why the hell would I sit in a restaurant to eat food?
Because, by the time the food has spent 30 minutes in a bag on its way to you, the texture is terrible, destroying the experience.
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^^^ This.
Re:old again (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, and I forgot. If your 'tip', the ordinarily voluntary but expected and traditional contribution, doesn't meet the expectations of the delivery person, They may or may not actually give you the food you paid for.
The expanded tip culture is a pox.
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Why the hell would I sit in a restaurant to eat food?
Because, by the time the food has spent 30 minutes in a bag on its way to you, the texture is terrible, destroying the experience.
Exactly. If I want shitty cold food, I'll cook it and let. it sit 30 minutes to get cold and soggy. Gross.
Re:old again (Score:4, Insightful)
Because, by the time the food has spent 30 minutes in a bag on its way to you, the texture is terrible, destroying the experience.
Yes, 100% this. The delivery services are part of the enshittification epidemic. Somehow (covid played a big role) it became acceptable to pay a considerably higher base price, plus delivery fees, plus the expected tip, for soggy tepid food.
The restaurants aren't blameless either. I used to order Uber self-pickup sometimes when they offered 50% off promos and stuff, which even with their markup would be below menu price. Restaurants do things like put hot dishes on the bottom of a paper bag and then put sushi on top, or put fries and greasy wet food in the same styro box, etc., virtually guaranteeing a shitty experience. Picking up myself, I can fix some of that, but Uber drivers aren't going to care, and even if they do, they're not supposed to open bags and rearrange things.
After a couple bad experiences with Uber, the app was deleted and I no longer deal with them. They still keep spamming me to come back and enjoy 70% off.
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Some people are perfectly happy never leaving their home, never going outside, never interacting with anyone they don't see every day, all the time.
Most people, however, are not. Sometimes, "going out to eat" is more about "going out" that it is "to eat."
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Re:old again (Score:5, Insightful)
Why the hell would I sit in a restaurant to eat food? More often than not, the music is shitty and/or too loud, there's a baby or two screaming its head off, a toddler running around unrestrained and unparented, and a gaggle of boomers all coughing up lungfulls of covid. Compared to delivery or take-out, where I can eat in the peace of my own home, maybe put on an episode of star trek, and actually enjoy the food.
Perhaps it's just my age, but I remember when dining out - especially in the evening - was an event. And even in "greasy spoon" restaurants, screaming children were a relative rarity - parents back then were mindful of their kids' impact on other diners. If there was music, it was background - soft, unobtrusive, and just enough to take the edge off any silences there might be.
What constitutes good manners in public has changed a lot since then, and mostly the change hasn't been for the better IMO. Being considerate of strangers was the rule - now it seems to be an exception. I wonder - if today's restaurants were more like those I knew as a kid, would delivery still have become so popular as to represent an economic threat to them?
Re:old again (Score:5, Funny)
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",,,and a gaggle of boomers all coughing up lungfulls of covid."
Which they got from young people. Old people did not spread COVID, they died from it.
You can tell a lot about a person from how casually they expose their bigotry trying to be clever.
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Maybe you should try a restaurant that doesn't have bad or loud music, or babies screaming. Do a little Googling, there are plenty of good options. And even better, go with a friend. That's the real point of eating out...it's not about ingesting calories, it's a social experience. Try it, it's actually really good for you to go out and be with people, and not just online!
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There are lots of restaurants that refuse to use those high priced and crappy delivery services.
I rarely use delivery myself; for me most of the point of eating out is the "out" part. But among the people I know who use delivery a lot, their starting point for ordering food is the delivery service app, and they choose who they order from mostly based on the user reviews. Restaurants that refuse to join are just invisible to people who primarily use delivery services.
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There are lots of restaurants that refuse to use those high priced and crappy delivery services.
I rarely use delivery myself; for me most of the point of eating out is the "out" part. But among the people I know who use delivery a lot, their starting point for ordering food is the delivery service app, and they choose who they order from mostly based on the user reviews. Restaurants that refuse to join are just invisible to people who primarily use delivery services.
And if you are trying to find a date like people used to do, maybe the delivery guy or girl will put out - I mean, they are already at your place.
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There are lots of restaurants that refuse to use those high priced and crappy delivery services. Dine-in and Pickup Only can be a valid choice too
A lot of these scummy delivery services will add you if you do take-out whether you like it or not. The business has no say in the matter. There was one (Postmates or something) that absolutely refused to remove the place I was working, and if we didn't pick-up when they showed up on caller id, the dispatcher would just call from a private phone.
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Rudeness is an option when dealing with people who don't take "fuck off" as an answer.
I disagree. It's not optional at all, it's mandatory.
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Basically, they would harass you until
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Spill some fish sauce or something else similarly stinky on the delivery person's bag by "accident." Also, don't tell them to fuck off ... just ignore them entirely and make them wait. Or keep forgetting their order and making them wait another hour.
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Nowadays, I can order food for the family, one orders Indian, one Chinese, one French, one Japanes and they get all picked up by the same delivery guy.
In the olden days, we had to make our choice on ONE.
In some places, there a ghost kitchens that cook everything French, Italian, Chinese etc and they don't even HAVE a restaurant.
Maybe in the future every block will have one like that instead of 1500 unused kitchens.
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Problem is it ends up being bland and samey. The kitchens churning this stuff out don't bother with all the specialist ingredients and knowledge needed for each type of cuisine, they just pair it down as much as possible and use as much factory produced food as possible. No making their own curry or sauce, meat comes pre-processed and battered, rice all comes from the same big pot and then a bit of flavouring mixed in for each different menu.
At least with supermarket ready meals the quality and the content
Re:old again (Score:4, Interesting)
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Pretty much.
Before UberEats/DoorDash/etc Only the odd pizza place or Chinese place would deliver. And sucks to be you if you were more than a 10 minute drive away.
Like I will admit that these delivery companies are charging resturants extortionate amounts of money, but that has a simple solution, release your own app like McDonalds/TimHortons/Subway/Walmart etc does and then push the order off to whatever service is available, or your own staff.
Literately all of the ones I just named above, use DoorDash her
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The problem with dedicated delivery is that doesn't take advantage of the efficiency of scale. One driver can potentially do more servicing per mile the more nodes in the org's network.
I have questions. Also, I prefer in person life. (Score:5, Interesting)
The question is, how much of this business wouldn't exist at all without delivery apps.
This being said, as an unmarried guy, I always sit down and eat "in person" even if I'm alone. I enjoy the people watching aspect and don't feel stigma sitting down by myself. If I'm going to eat at home on the couch, may as well just cook. Eating around other people is part of the experience. COVID is over societally speaking.
But yeah, that's what I prefer about the EU and Poland. People are much more conservative in their habits. They got through lockdown and returned to old ways; didn't stop living in person and move things online or to their homes.
Re: I have questions. Also, I prefer in person li (Score:2)
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How does that make sense? (Score:2)
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Re:How does that make sense? (Score:5, Insightful)
The delivery services charge fees to the customers AND to the restaurants. Additionally they also screw over their own drivers so that they are basically working for tips (which are on top of all the fees). It's a predatory business model and I refuse to participate in it.
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It's a predatory business model and I refuse to participate in it.
While that is a very good reason to not use such a service, it's not my main reason. My main reason is that such services are, by all accounts, a crap shoot on quality (will the driver eat half your food on the way, or just flake out, or deliver it to the wrong address, etc.), and because the service simply isn't anything I want.
But lacking those reasons, yeah, not contributing to the predatory business model would be a good one, too.
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This m
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With 1.7 million in revenue, and 400k going to delivery, that 400k is added on top as a fee when you order, isn't it? (I've never actually used doordash or anything.) So you would have charged the customer less if they ate there, and you'd have to provide a table for them to eat at. I don't understand how it can be less profitable, unless you're offering free delivery or something.
I think that overall attendance at restraints is down, probably as a collapse of dating. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2025%2F0... [nytimes.com]. https://ancillary-proxy.atarimworker.io?url=https%3A%2F%2Fintellectualtakeout.or... [intellectualtakeout.org].
And in true 2025 fashion, she laments men dropping out of the restaurant scene, but manages to get a little shaming in. Yeah, that'll bring them back.
I can't believe... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't believe so many people lack fiscal sense. If you're ordering through a service like Door Dash with any regularity you're paying a small fortune in all the markups and extra charges they do.
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Re:I can't believe... (Score:4, Insightful)
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You also save if you pick up the food yourself. I've seen people DoorDash food from the place across the street. Many places let you order food for pickup online so you don't even have to order and wait for it.
Yes, cooking yourself is the cheapest option. But if you go out, bringing it back yourself is cheaper than DoorDash. And if DoorDash is cheaper than bringing it back yourself, you likely make enough money that rent isn't an issue.
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The last two or three that I tried redirected me to their ordering site.
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I saved $50 a week after quitting Door Dash! Too bad rent is $2000...
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People laugh at this sort of thing, but $50 a week for 30 years is $78,000. If you got an 8% return on that money (and over the last 30 years you would have had to work pretty hard not to get that) you would end up with $325,593, with $247,593 of investment returns. Not to mention the fact that if you are having trouble making rent you probably should steer away from spending 10% of your rent bill having food delivered to your house.
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$50/week is $200/month. That's 10% of your rent, which is a significant amount of money...
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You are paying the extra fees to save your time (going to the restaurant, waiting to be seated, waiting until your order is ready and going back home) and your transportation expenses.
Nope Nope Nope (Score:3, Insightful)
There is no way I would ever let some random dude or dudette with a car deliver a meal to me that was not directly employed by the restaurant.
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I've worked in a restaurant. Your confidence in "direct" restaurant employees, is sadly overrated.
Delivery services vs delivery (Score:2, Informative)
Delivery companies charge restaurants commissions between 5 and 30%, along with fees for payment processing, advertising, and search placement.
To any restaurants that hate the above facts, I'll give you a free protip, we hate those services too.
They have an exceptionally low quality of service, a very low bar that would take a significant amount of time and effort to suck worse than they do.
If you hire your own delivery people and employ them directly, your reputation won't be at the whim of a company that doesn't give a crap.
Delivery problems will still happen, but you have complete control over the situation.
You have every opportunity to make it
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I for one go out of my way to buy from places with their own delivery staff,
Just make sure you have their actual phone number. If you get it through search (or even what looks like their on-line site), that might be Door Dash intercepting the contact.
And I wouldn't put it past Door Dash to have the pizza parlor delivery person given the location of a Door Dash driver. Who will just take it and drive it out to the customer (you).
And what does it tell you? (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps that going out, making an effort, just to be in company of other, noisy people, posing with their food for instagram is not really worth it? Perhaps that nothing beats your own sofa, with your own, perfect, comfy butt print?
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This quote would seem to contradict your position: "Nearly three out of every four restaurant orders are no longer eaten in a restaurant, according to the National Restaurant Association."
Is that because people can't eat at restaurants? Or just that so many prefer to eat in the comfort of their own homes?
We see similar data when you ask people about working from home vs working in an office - the majority want at least a hybrid arrangement and a large percentage want to work exclusively from home. And what
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Or maybe the United Stinks has become a fearful, stratified society where people are afraid to interact with strangers outside of their existing social/family bubble. I think COVID made it worse, since the authorities actually encouraged social siloing, and some people developed a long-term case of Stockholm Syndrome, looking back on quarantine life with fondness. Go to Europe and there's delivery, but much less common. Most people either sit down in person or cook and eat at home. Full-time WFH rates a
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Europe still hasn't forgotten the art of interacting with people outside one's own bubble, and it's glorious.
I wonder if the lack of that in America is a cause, or an effect, of the political divide and the simmering hatred at its score. Possibly it's both cause and effect.
I think inflation plays a bigger role (Score:2)
This quote would seem to contradict your position: "Nearly three out of every four restaurant orders are no longer eaten in a restaurant, according to the National Restaurant Association."
Is that because people can't eat at restaurants? Or just that so many prefer to eat in the comfort of their own homes?
We see similar data when you ask people about working from home vs working in an office - the majority want at least a hybrid arrangement and a large percentage want to work exclusively from home. And what streaming services have done to movie theaters.
It turns out a lot of people would rather be at home - though they're not necessarily at home. My wife and I get take-out (we don't use delivery services) about once a week, sometimes twice. We have two small kids and it's not convenient to drag them to a restaurant.
Whether the trend is positive or not is a worthwhile question, but it seems clear that it's not a "small cohort" of "autistic individuals" that don't like to spend time in the company of strangers.
In the last decade, the cost of eating out has roughly doubled in my area. A 2x increase changes something from a nice thing to do on a Friday night to something you save for special occasions for many. It's quite possible I am wrong, but I think the factors are more economic than similar trends of people preferring to watch movies at home.
I am in the same boat as you. I have 2 kids now. The 2x increase has become an 8x increase. A stop at the McDonald's drive through on the way back from a trip h
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We have two small kids and it's not convenient to drag them to a restaurant.
I get that, and I hope that you do it occasionally anyway. As far as I'm concerned it's good for the kids - I feel that I learned a lot and was better socialized as a result of eating out with my parents.
I think it's also worthwhile to make it an occasion - these days it's easy for kids to not experience the feeling of special events often enough. Dressing up a bit, and being on best behaviour, keeps kids mindful of a version of the 'social contract' that could use a little more promoting in this day and ag
Re: Humans beings are social. You're clearly not (Score:3)
I meant that there are better social experiences than eating out in a crowded place.
It's kind of a staple of socialization & datin (Score:2)
I meant that there are better social experiences than eating out in a crowded place.
I suppose that's technically true, but it is a staple of socialization. It's kind of the default for:
:). And yeah, I suppose my non-dinner dates with my wife have been a little more fun...but if you told me "We got you a babysitter...plan a date for your
1. first dates
2. guests from out of town
3. date nights
4. experiencing new or other culture's cuisine
5. informal work celebrations
Yeah...I suppose I'd prefer a first-date come over to my place (were I single), but....they usually aren't into that.
Re: And what does it tell you? (Score:2)
No, it got on the nerves of extroverts, who are overly vocal on social media platforms already.
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Of course (Score:5, Interesting)
Who doesn't like paying up to three times the cost of the food to have it delivered lukewarm?
And people wonder why they're always broke.
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It's mostly done by the upper middle class and only special occasions for the rest. And maybe that Cat Lady that bothers JD Vance for existing.
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When I used to be in an apartment my upstairs neighbor had food delivered every Friday and at least one other time each week. I can guarantee they were not upper middle class.
My current neighbor across the street has food delivered, as far as I can tell, once a week as well. Not sure if they have it delivered while I'm at work so it's always possible they have it delivered more than that one time. Again, they are not upper middle class and there are no special occasions going on\ that I am aware of.
There
Not for me (Score:3)
The one exception I'll make to that is for pizza places with their own delivery drivers. I'll order delivery from them once in a while
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If delivery is destroying your business (Score:4, Informative)
Then don't deliver.
Re:If delivery is destroying your business (Score:5, Informative)
The companies like door dash etc do not care if you do not deliver. They list you anyway, pay full price for the food, slap a 35% fee on top and sell your food.
The the customer who gets cold food calls you upset. You have to explain that we do not deliver and they do not care.
They leave a bad review. You post explaining the situation. Takes a month to deal with.
Meanwhile you sue Door Dash, they take you down, then Uber eats signs you up. and whole thing stars all over again.
Re:If delivery is destroying your business (Score:4, Interesting)
Then something doesn't add up. My understanding is that the fees that the delivery company charges the restaurant are what is hurting the restaurants. But if your restaurant doesn't have a contract with the delivery company (i.e. "they list you anyway") then that fee is $0, isn't it?
So what's the harm? It sounds like any fees the restaurants are paying, are something they've opted into.
I can see how bad experiences (caused by the delivery service which otherwise wouldn't have happened) could reduce order frequency, but that doesn't seem to be what people are talking about here.
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Restaurants are hard businesses to run. Bad reviews kill your business quickly.
I do not ever use door dash. But I do use Yelp. I used to love a place called Bobby Van's Steak house. But when I saw reviews under 4 stars, I picked a new steak house.
As for the $0 fee - that only happens if you refuse to use their service. You can sign up for a massive fee and they offer things like advertising and better delivery.
It's not one thing, it's both combined. Either you give away your profit or you get bad revi
Re:If delivery is destroying your business (Score:4, Interesting)
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They list you anyway, pay full price for the food, slap a 35% fee on top and sell your food.
How? If you don't offer delivery, then everything Door Dash has to deal with comes out of the kitchen on dishes once the Door Dash "customer" has been seated. No delivery, no take away containers. Sorry.
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Use DoorDash if you HATE the restaurant (Score:2, Interesting)
Here's the problem, everywhere around me, res
So why pay more to get it slow and stale? (Score:2)
How is that different than any business? Capitalism is an ugly game, we just more or less accept that to get cheap shit quick.
I think you're making my point. You're not getting food for cheap. You're paying a lot for a shitty service to ruin the experience at huge profit to San Francisco execs. Sometimes door dash makes sense, but it never does for me. If I am going to pay for someone else's cooking, I'd rather make a quick trip, save some money, and get the food on time when it's fresh and tastes good. If I wanted to make food that tastes shitty, I can do so without the middleman.
Speakers on cell phones have ruined everything (Score:3, Insightful)
One major reason I don't dine out as much as I used to: suddenly it seems it has become socially acceptable for people to be using their phone with the sound volume on all the time, usually on MAX volume. Sometimes they're scrolling social media and I'm just hearing one annoying song or person talking after another. Sometimes it's someone having a video chat with someone else. Sometimes it's parents with an iPad set up with their kid watching a movie. NEVER do I see anyone using headphones anymore. Just a constant onslaught of tinny, horrible loud sounds from every direction.
If I'm paying a premium to dine out, I can't stand this. It's distracting and extremely rude. Yet no one seems to bat an eye anymore, except in the most fancy of restaurants.
Don't get me wrong, I also won't pay a premium for delivery services like Doordash, but... if restaurants want me back eating in person, they need to start making rules against using speakers in their establishment, and enforcing said rules.
delivery companies are terrible (Score:3)
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Hiring servant services to make you feel good. (Score:2, Insightful)
Hey, I get it, who wouldn't want to have servant appear with your meal at the tap your mobile phone. It makes us feel important and indispensable doesn't it?
The down side is the extra you pay for this service. Someone's got to pay for it, right? The issue is, a significant chunk of the population is blind to this fact, and they even make it worse by using a credit card to pay for the delivered meal, then don't pay the balance off at the end of the month.
The "Live for Today and don't worry about tomorrow" pr
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Misrepresentative headline change (Score:2)
How did "The Innovation That’s Killing Restaurant Culture" turn into "How Delivery Is Destroying American Restaurants?"
Counterpoint (Score:2)
You go to a sit-down restaurant:
1) You wait 30-60 minutes to be seated. If it's a really nice restaurant, you may try to make reservations. Nah, nobody does that anymore and the online things are booked a week in advance (Downtown Seattle, I'm looking at you). Nah.
2) If you manage to get seated, the clock has started. They want you in and out in under an hour. The waiter will show up typically just as you've sat and take your drink order, you will see him again in 5 minutes to take your entree order. In som
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1. I live in NYC, probably the most crowded market. I've seldom waited more than 5-10 min to be seated, often seated immediately. I've never made stinking reservations - I don't have the mental ability to plan that far ahead.
2. Give the waiter the death stare and be curt. They'll usually get the message to leave you alone for a bit unless you need something.
3. This being said, one of the things that's nicer about European culture vs United Stinkian is that you're not hurried as much by anyone. This i
Quality of the food (Score:3)
As soon as you seal up a cooked meal for transport, the steam gets trapped and makes the food mushy or chewy. It's the same reason people don't often like eating leftovers, the experience not quite the same as a fresh cooked home meal.
That doesn't even take the extra cost into consideration. In a bind I may get a pizza delivered or a sandwich from Jimmy Johns but beyond that, not a chance.
I don't under why you want cold overpriced food! (Score:3)
Let's fairly extract those with disabilities, who can't really go out to eat, as they have a good reason for using Uber Eats or Door Dash.
What about people who are just lazy? Uber Eat, which on going is going to represent all delivery companies, is the new Drive Through. The Drive Through on its own is an idiotic concept, and it changed restaurant life enough to be an annoyance. If I go to my local McDonald's, and order some food, they will ignore everyone in the restaurant, and just focus on Drive Through, and Uber Eats. I have stood in our local McDonald's for 40+ minutes waiting for my order, while they fill every Drive Through order, and every Uber Eats order with hast. Generally, you have to complain to get your order if you didn't use Uber Eats or the Drive Through. It's gotten to the point you can get free food just by going in to order because, they will make you wait long enough, they'll hand out coupons for free meals, for your wait.
The food was “fresh” when you ordered, but now it goes into an unseal “insulated” bag, to go on a journey. The Mc-Doubles are tasty when “fresh”, but 10, 20 or 30 minutes later? Even if you didn't pay extra, who wants cold food? You do have to pay extra, and a lot, it's not cheap so not only, are you getting cold food, you're getting excessively priced and tipped cold food, all so you don't have to what? Seriously, what? What can't you go out for?
Before someone asks in a comment, do I get delivery Pizza? No, do you know how much delivery is? I used to get delivery but fees + tip, and you're in $25 on top of the meal, and all you got for that $25 was essentially nothing, and the meal was probably under $50, so why are you paying 50% extra?
Uber Eat has changed the industry, but what problem did it solve? Let's not get into grocery delivery, which again, I think is stupid. What is this obsession with finding ways to be lazy, and accomplishing what otherwise is a simple and easy task? Restaurants don't even have an option because if they don't allow Uber Eats, their customer base will be non-existent.
On a little rant, the people who complain the loudest about Uber Eating causing issues, or not getting food, are the same group who complain it's “Sooooo difficult to lose weight.”. When you can't bother to walk into McDonald's, what are you really complaining about? When it comes to fees, I know families, and couples, who spend hundreds of dollars to have food delivered, when the drive to pick up the food, or go out to eat, would be 10-minutes. Uber Eats is a confusing but successful business model, it's solving a problem almost no one had, at a cost no one can defend.
And extra wait in-person. (Score:2)
Volume (Score:3)
I was at a local Indian place the other day for some lunch off-hours.
In the 20 minutes I was there they had three tables going and four takeout orders.
The idea that they are losing money on every order is silly. They wouldn't participate.
Even if they're breaking even (doubtful at $4 per samosa and $16 for chickpeas and rice) they can get better pricing on their inputs in larger volumes.
If they do better as a business by catering to an affluent crowd that doesn't want to go out then that's good for me because they'll stay in business.
I would probably need to be laid up in a full body cast to order delivery for myself, but whatever.
No industry provides less value... (Score:3)
the restaurant pays a fee
the customer pays a fee
the delivery driver gets paid next to nothing and gets no benefits
the delivery driver endangers those around them in a frantic effort to get in as many deliveries as possible
Municipalities should pass laws preventing the delivery apps from operating within their borders.
A lot of FUD here and some facts.... (Score:3)
I've done a lot of food delivery "gig work" over the years, as well as having friends in the restaurant industry who deal with it from the opposite end.
The apps like DoorDash absolutely rip you off as a customer. They add large percentages on to the restaurant's normal food prices and then you still have to pay the driver a tip, which is really a "bid for service" since you pay it before even getting your food. In the past, they really soured some smaller restaurants on them too, with stunts like adding them and their menus to the service without even asking the restaurant first (and would generally just set those up so Dashers paid with their pre-paid debit card upon arrival).
I don't quite get restaurants saying the food delivery is "killing them" though, either? If your food is popular enough so lots of people will pay huge upcharges just to have someone deliver it to them? You should be able to sell it at a profit and get the benefit of your place not being too full and turning dine-in customers away.
Most of the time? The places I see who claim services like DoorDash hurt them are just upset they have to adapt a bit. Their one cook in back can't make food fast enough and they won't pay for more labor, for example?
Many charge more for delivery (Score:3)
I placed an order for 2 via a delivery service a while back and it was going to be $80 to be delivered. I thought that we high so I made the same order directly from the restaurant for pickup and it was $40. The delivery fee was supposedly $2.99, but under closer inspection I found each item had a 10-20% markup through the delivery site. Throw in a few more "convenience" fees and it literally doubled the price of the meal. I know delivery isn't free, but double the price seemed a bit much. I would think with those extra fees and not having to do all the effort to accommodate eat in service, they would still be pretty profitable.
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Dating sucks anyway. All they want to do is talk about their gold CFDs and crypto investments. And how do they ALL have an aunt who's an investing expert? Is that a coincidence? Why are they all so positive?
Also, all this texting and still haven't had a single date. It used to be sex first talk later, or maybe not at all.
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