3 ms·

I'd like to believe that but long-term, I expect the app is just a rent-seeking gatekeeper between the restaurant and their customers. We can expect the gatekee

I'd like to believe that but long-term, I expect the app is just a rent-seeking gatekeeper between the restaurant and their customers. We can expect the gatekeeper to turn the screw and make margins barely survivable eliminating quality leaving only a few low cost supply chain optimisers. We see the same pattern again and again. Small businesses should fight like hell to keep a direct relationship with their customers.

jmonegro 11y ago
Good use case for http://openbazaar.org http://openbazaar.org
edoloughlin 11y ago
> just a rent-seeking gatekeeper between the restaurant and their customers Couldn't agree more. I think this central to any discussion about the 'sharing economy'. Uber et al claim to be disrupting established monopolies and their marketing seeks to establish themselves as champions the free market. In reality, they are seeking to build a new monopoly, where they control the information about relationships in a system. Memory fails me at the moment, but I remember hearing a piece on a podcast recently (it might have been Radiolab) where they discussed how the 'live' view presented by Uber was a prediction coming from their algorithms and that no actual location data was available to the app on your phone until you booked a ride. I thought it was ironic that the new darlings of the free market were operating what was essentially a soviet-style central planning system, albiet with a very modern gloss.
__abc 11y ago
Actually, I work in this space and we (and our competitors such as UberEats, etc) all tap into the restaurant's down time when the kitchen currently isn't being used. That's essentially the pitch as to what's in it for them. Give us your kitchen between 9-10 and will give you sales you otherwise wouldn't have had.

3 ms·

I'd like to believe that but long-term, I expect the app is just a rent-seeking gatekeeper between the restaurant and their customers. We can expect the gatekee

by duncanawoods 11y ago

jmonegro 11y ago
Good use case for http://openbazaar.org http://openbazaar.org
edoloughlin 11y ago
> just a rent-seeking gatekeeper between the restaurant and their customers Couldn't agree more. I think this central to any discussion about the 'sharing economy'. Uber et al claim to be disrupting established monopolies and their marketing seeks to establish themselves as champions the free market. In reality, they are seeking to build a new monopoly, where they control the information about relationships in a system. Memory fails me at the moment, but I remember hearing a piece on a podcast recently (it might have been Radiolab) where they discussed how the 'live' view presented by Uber was a prediction coming from their algorithms and that no actual location data was available to the app on your phone until you booked a ride. I thought it was ironic that the new darlings of the free market were operating what was essentially a soviet-style central planning system, albiet with a very modern gloss.
__abc 11y ago
Actually, I work in this space and we (and our competitors such as UberEats, etc) all tap into the restaurant's down time when the kitchen currently isn't being used. That's essentially the pitch as to what's in it for them. Give us your kitchen between 9-10 and will give you sales you otherwise wouldn't have had.