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> They add a piece of paper to EVERY ORDER indicating that if you call or text... That's really clever, given that many of these delivery apps work by insertin

> They add a piece of paper to EVERY ORDER indicating that if you call or text... That's really clever, given that many of these delivery apps work by inserting themselves invisibly in front of the business. Having a communication channel that you know will reach the customer and that you know the delivery app can't block is a way of getting around some of the constant fight of "how do I make my real site show up above Grubhub's when my name is Googled?"

chrisseaton 7y ago
Businesses are deluding themselves here. People use the big apps because they don't want to install a billion different special-case apps, set up their payments, set up their address etc etc etc, or literally phoning the restaurant (people don't want to speak on the phone anymore, they find it awkward.) Hotels try to berate you for booking through a third-party but I ain't got time to go poking around on their individual websites. Same with taxis - 'don't use Uber, just install this local app' - nice idea, but I really don't have time or space for a trillion local apps for the cities I visit all working slightly differently and needing different accounts - I try to keep it simple. I don't care if it's 5% better or 5% cheaper - it's 100% overhead compared to a single app and I don't want it.
- koolba 7y ago
  > I try to keep it simple. I don't care if it's 5% better or 5% cheaper - it's 100% overhead compared to a single app and I don't want it. It’s not 5% though. It’s more like 50-100%. I’d wager you’re in the minority and most people are not willing to pay a premium if they could avoid (or maybe even knew about it).
- danShumway 7y ago
  I would agree with you in theory, but the restaurants we're talking about just take phone calls. Most local chains that are fighting with Grubhub (at least in my area) aren't pushing their own custom apps. They just either have A) an order form on a website, or B) a phone number I don't think it's unreasonable for them to say, "hey, we know you have a working phone. Instead of launching the Grubhub app, send us a text message and we'll knock X% off of your price."
  - chrisseaton 7y ago
    > hey, we know you have a working phone Sounds like a rebuke. I'd be pretty offended if a business tried to call me out like this for using an app that (presumably) they're willingly taking orders from. If they don't want to be on there then don't, but don't have a go at me about it.
    - danShumway 7y ago
      Part of the issue is that restaurants don't always sign up for Grubhub. When you place an order with a food delivery service, there may not be a special infrastructure or agreement set up -- the food delivery service may just call the restaurant and pretend to be a customer[0]. People assume that there's a strong relationship here, like selling a product in Walmart. Very often, there's not. I'm not in the food service industry, maybe it's just expected that you monitor all of these things and manually request your restaurant to be removed every time a new one launches. But it's not crazy to me that someone could get fed up and say, "no, I don't need to pay attention to every VC backed startup that scrapes my website and starts advertising with my menu on top of my own business on Google. I just want to let customers know that a direct relationship with me is cheaper than a relationship with a middleperson." Is offering a discount to someone having a go at them? If I was ordering through Grubhub, and I could save even just $5 by ordering directly, I'd want to know the option existed. I might not take advantage of it if it was a tiny amount of money. But I'd like to be informed; choices are nice. [0]: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/01/13/park-ridge-restaurant-complains-that-grubhub-is-selling-its-food-for-delivery-without-permission/ https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/01/13/park-ridge-restauran...
      - chrisseaton 7y ago
        > Is offering a discount to someone having a go at them? No it's the 'hey' and slightly accusatory sounding 'we know you have a working phone.'
      - throwaway71719 7y ago
        How does the delivery service get the restaurant to foot its 30% of the bill in that case? Do they call the order in as a regular customer and then show up and identify as GrubHub, at that point the food has already been made and they hold the order hostage? If so then that is beyond shady.

chrisseaton 7y ago

Businesses are deluding themselves here. People use the big apps because they don't want to install a billion different special-case apps, set up their payments, set up their address etc etc etc, or literally phoning the restaurant (people don't want to speak on the phone anymore, they find it awkward.) Hotels try to berate you for booking through a third-party but I ain't got time to go poking around on their individual websites. Same with taxis - 'don't use Uber, just install this local app' - nice idea, but I really don't have time or space for a trillion local apps for the cities I visit all working slightly differently and needing different accounts - I try to keep it simple. I don't care if it's 5% better or 5% cheaper - it's 100% overhead compared to a single app and I don't want it.

koolba 7y ago
> I try to keep it simple. I don't care if it's 5% better or 5% cheaper - it's 100% overhead compared to a single app and I don't want it. It’s not 5% though. It’s more like 50-100%. I’d wager you’re in the minority and most people are not willing to pay a premium if they could avoid (or maybe even knew about it).
danShumway 7y ago
I would agree with you in theory, but the restaurants we're talking about just take phone calls. Most local chains that are fighting with Grubhub (at least in my area) aren't pushing their own custom apps. They just either have A) an order form on a website, or B) a phone number I don't think it's unreasonable for them to say, "hey, we know you have a working phone. Instead of launching the Grubhub app, send us a text message and we'll knock X% off of your price."
- chrisseaton 7y ago
  > hey, we know you have a working phone Sounds like a rebuke. I'd be pretty offended if a business tried to call me out like this for using an app that (presumably) they're willingly taking orders from. If they don't want to be on there then don't, but don't have a go at me about it.
  - danShumway 7y ago
    Part of the issue is that restaurants don't always sign up for Grubhub. When you place an order with a food delivery service, there may not be a special infrastructure or agreement set up -- the food delivery service may just call the restaurant and pretend to be a customer[0]. People assume that there's a strong relationship here, like selling a product in Walmart. Very often, there's not. I'm not in the food service industry, maybe it's just expected that you monitor all of these things and manually request your restaurant to be removed every time a new one launches. But it's not crazy to me that someone could get fed up and say, "no, I don't need to pay attention to every VC backed startup that scrapes my website and starts advertising with my menu on top of my own business on Google. I just want to let customers know that a direct relationship with me is cheaper than a relationship with a middleperson." Is offering a discount to someone having a go at them? If I was ordering through Grubhub, and I could save even just $5 by ordering directly, I'd want to know the option existed. I might not take advantage of it if it was a tiny amount of money. But I'd like to be informed; choices are nice. [0]: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/01/13/park-ridge-restaurant-complains-that-grubhub-is-selling-its-food-for-delivery-without-permission/ https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2020/01/13/park-ridge-restauran...
    - chrisseaton 7y ago
      > Is offering a discount to someone having a go at them? No it's the 'hey' and slightly accusatory sounding 'we know you have a working phone.'
    - throwaway71719 7y ago
      How does the delivery service get the restaurant to foot its 30% of the bill in that case? Do they call the order in as a regular customer and then show up and identify as GrubHub, at that point the food has already been made and they hold the order hostage? If so then that is beyond shady.