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This is the right move - local restaurants are hurting and, sadly, the internet is a place where big corps with large budgets have leverage over passionate litt

This is the right move - local restaurants are hurting and, sadly, the internet is a place where big corps with large budgets have leverage over passionate little guys working their butts off. For those who want to help, I built a chrome extension similar to Honey that shows a local restaurant's direct ordering website as you're about to order from that restaurant thru a third party service. If direct ordering isn't available, it will also show you if that same order is cheaper elsewhere. If you have a favorite local restaurant that accepts direct orders, please help us add them to our system by filling in this form: https://platerapp.app.link/JACVBOFUY7 https://platerapp.app.link/JACVBOFUY7 For those interested in checking out the extension, it can be downloaded here: https://platerapp.app.link/tDSD3mUTY7 https://platerapp.app.link/tDSD3mUTY7 (it doesn't collect browsing history or sell personal info or anything of the sort)

slugiscool99 6y ago
Fantastic idea! If a restaurant offers delivery themselves, it's a no brainer to order directly from them. Usually it's cheaper and faster than ordering through an app. Hope this gains traction.
- cromka 6y ago
  I dont agree on the "faster" part. Uber or Doordash manage their own delivery people and they're vastly more efficient than the restaurants' own. If you look at Yelp or Seamlesss negative reviews, you'll notice that most of them complaint about delivery service. If there's one thing that the restaurants can benefit from when using Uber or Doordash is having their reviews on those platforms based solely on the quality of food itself.
  - ajzinsbwbs 6y ago
    When I order delivery from a restaurant, an employee (maybe the owner’s kid) comes and delivers the food directly to my house when it’s done. It‘s generally faster than the app model where you need to wait for the driver to go to the restaurant to pick up the food, then come to your house while possibly stopping at other restaurants and/or houses on the way. I could see how the restaurant delivery would be worse if that particular restaurant is bad at delivering. Also, the app model does seem like it should be cheaper at scale by using the deliverer’s labor more efficiently.
    - xsmasher 6y ago
      Restaurant deliver can be worse when the driver is overloaded and your food sits at the restaurant waiting for them to pick it up, or when the driver picks up multiple orders at once (likely) and yours is delayed or is last to be dropped off.
      - obibring 6y ago
        I've definitely had this happen on occasion. There might be interesting ways to solve this problem, like showing the level of "delivery risk" associated with an order given the user's distance from the restaurant and time of day.
    - thaumasiotes 6y ago
      > the app model where you need to wait for the driver to go to the restaurant to pick up the food, then come to your house while possibly stopping at other restaurants and/or houses on the way This is a weird set of complaints. 1. Usually, there would be some lag time between when you order the food, and when the restaurant finishes making it. This would overlap with the time required for the driver to go to the restaurant and pick up the food; the app model isn't actually introducing a delay there. 2. Restaurants that do delivery themselves also use the same driver to deliver multiple orders at once. You're definitely better off with a dedicated driver, but the restaurant is much worse off. Again, this would not appear to be related to the app model. We order pizza and pick it up ourselves, because if the pizza place delivers it, it arrives stale and we pay extra for delivery.
    - Kiro 6y ago
      > It‘s generally faster than the app model where you need to wait for the driver to go to the restaurant to pick up the food That's not how it works. I order a lot and the driver is always there to pick it up as soon as it's ready. The driver obviously gets notified about the delivery as soon as the restaurant confirms the order.
    - hnick 6y ago
      The restaurant also has a more direct incentive to actually deliver. One Friday night here in Sydney, it was raining like crazy - so we ordered in some food from one of the online groups. 2 hours later and multiple talks with support and they were still telling us stories about how it's nearly there. We eventually called the restaurant directly and the food had been sitting ready for 90 minutes on the counter. The service just had all their gig-economy-staff decide this isn't the gig for them in bad weather, so no one was available to pick it up and deliver it. They said we could pick it up ourselves but we didn't really feel like old food at that point so we cancelled and drove out somewhere else. Being lied to was the most annoying part.
- Kiro 6y ago
  The best part about the app is able to see where the driver is on the map. I hate being in the unknown and not knowing what's going on with my delivery.
  - randycupertino 6y ago
    I think sometimes those maps are faked. We've seen drivers from apps pick up multiple orders for delivery, but the map doesn't show them stopping at multiple houses, it just slows down the icon of the car.
    - Kiro 6y ago
      I'm using Foodora in Sweden and sometimes I see the courier go to other places and they've even told me they had to do other drops (when I said "I saw you took the wrong way on the map"), so yes but I don't think they fake it here.
pizza 6y ago
Is there a Firefox version coming soon?
fpgaminer 6y ago
(Preface: I'm sure your app filters for stuff like this) I got kinda burned when I tried to order direct from a restaurant. The last time we ate there they included a little "order online" card with a link to their website. So the next time, in the spirit of supporting businesses directly, I went to their site and ordered. They did use a third-party handler (ChowNow I think?), but I figured it was a kind of order management third-party. In fact, after placing the order, I got an additional email from that third-party handler congratulating me on ordering directly from restaurants, and that they explicitly don't charge restaurants a fee. Neat, right? Well, Lo and behold, behind the scenes they just used DoorDash to handle delivery... That sucked because A) it was more hassle for me to sign up for Yet Another Account, and B) I have DashPass (free delivery and discounted service charge) but didn't get to use it, so it ended up costing me more even with the coupon the restaurant threw in. Hell, there are even pizza places around me that use DoorDash for delivery. Pizza places, for goodness sake! It's a weird world I suppose.
- obibring 6y ago
  Wow, that's really wild. Would you mind sharing the name of the restaurant? I'd love to reach out to them to understand what happened there. And thanks for posting this, that's definitely something I'll take into consideration.
- RussianCow 6y ago
  I have actually seen quite a few restaurants do this, where they use a third-party ordering system but then delegate to DoorDash/GrubHub for delivery. Is it maybe because the delivery service gets a smaller cut in this case? I wonder if the total fees add up to a smaller number with the two middlemen than with only DoorDash/GrubHub. Presumably, the latter can charge more if they also handle the transaction as well as bring traffic, as opposed to only handling delivery.
  - adfuioqenasdf 6y ago
    > Is it maybe because the delivery service gets a smaller cut in this case? Yes, this is correct. If you order from DoorDash directly, the restaurant will pay anywhere from 15-40% of the total transaction. Restaurants that have partnered with DoorDash for delivery logistics only will pay usually around $7 per order (this varies depending on geography and overall partner terms). However, the key difference is that this delivery fee is almost always passed on to the customer. So from a restaurant's perspective, they are getting a great deal: Delivery logistics for customers who want delivery, but if they're using a low/no commission direct ordering service, they keep (most of) the full order margin.
usehackernews 6y ago
This is absolutely not the right move. This is you self promoting your app. Restaurants will pay more to market themselves, hire delivery drivers, and manage the logistics. Local restaurants are hurting because of COVID. They are blaming the delivery services, whose proprietary tech, marketing spend, logistics services are the only reason 90% could maintain any revenue stream.
- obibring 6y ago
  This is a pretty cynical way to see things. I’m a restaurant lover who wants my local restaurants to survive the pandemic. Why is building a product to help them “not the right move?”
- kerkeslager 6y ago
  > This is you self promoting your app. Okay, but it seems like a reasonable time to promote a relevant app that is apparently free with no ads. It's not like your post is completely free of agenda. > Restaurants will pay more to market themselves, hire delivery drivers, and manage the logistics. This is simply not true. Adding middle men does not make this more efficient, and I'm really not sure why you think it does. One basic reason it's not true, is that business owners won't necessarily pay for these things at all, they may just do them themselves. Sometimes it's easier to produce effort than it is to produce cash to buy effort.
usehackernews 6y ago
The app is a cool idea, however, I’m curious how you guys plan on managing the standardization across menu items. Replicating a single restaurant menu is an incredibly complicated problem given the amount of customization, but you also need to account for the variability of the same menu across multiple services.
- obibring 6y ago
  This is a really good insight and a part of the delivery experience I think could be greatly improved. Different services offer surprisingly different versions of the same menu, and customers are unaware there might be better selection on a different website.

slugiscool99 6y ago

Fantastic idea! If a restaurant offers delivery themselves, it's a no brainer to order directly from them. Usually it's cheaper and faster than ordering through an app. Hope this gains traction.

cromka 6y ago
I dont agree on the "faster" part. Uber or Doordash manage their own delivery people and they're vastly more efficient than the restaurants' own. If you look at Yelp or Seamlesss negative reviews, you'll notice that most of them complaint about delivery service. If there's one thing that the restaurants can benefit from when using Uber or Doordash is having their reviews on those platforms based solely on the quality of food itself.
- ajzinsbwbs 6y ago
  When I order delivery from a restaurant, an employee (maybe the owner’s kid) comes and delivers the food directly to my house when it’s done. It‘s generally faster than the app model where you need to wait for the driver to go to the restaurant to pick up the food, then come to your house while possibly stopping at other restaurants and/or houses on the way. I could see how the restaurant delivery would be worse if that particular restaurant is bad at delivering. Also, the app model does seem like it should be cheaper at scale by using the deliverer’s labor more efficiently.
  - xsmasher 6y ago
    Restaurant deliver can be worse when the driver is overloaded and your food sits at the restaurant waiting for them to pick it up, or when the driver picks up multiple orders at once (likely) and yours is delayed or is last to be dropped off.
    - obibring 6y ago
      I've definitely had this happen on occasion. There might be interesting ways to solve this problem, like showing the level of "delivery risk" associated with an order given the user's distance from the restaurant and time of day.
  - thaumasiotes 6y ago
    > the app model where you need to wait for the driver to go to the restaurant to pick up the food, then come to your house while possibly stopping at other restaurants and/or houses on the way This is a weird set of complaints. 1. Usually, there would be some lag time between when you order the food, and when the restaurant finishes making it. This would overlap with the time required for the driver to go to the restaurant and pick up the food; the app model isn't actually introducing a delay there. 2. Restaurants that do delivery themselves also use the same driver to deliver multiple orders at once. You're definitely better off with a dedicated driver, but the restaurant is much worse off. Again, this would not appear to be related to the app model. We order pizza and pick it up ourselves, because if the pizza place delivers it, it arrives stale and we pay extra for delivery.
  - Kiro 6y ago
    > It‘s generally faster than the app model where you need to wait for the driver to go to the restaurant to pick up the food That's not how it works. I order a lot and the driver is always there to pick it up as soon as it's ready. The driver obviously gets notified about the delivery as soon as the restaurant confirms the order.
  - hnick 6y ago
    The restaurant also has a more direct incentive to actually deliver. One Friday night here in Sydney, it was raining like crazy - so we ordered in some food from one of the online groups. 2 hours later and multiple talks with support and they were still telling us stories about how it's nearly there. We eventually called the restaurant directly and the food had been sitting ready for 90 minutes on the counter. The service just had all their gig-economy-staff decide this isn't the gig for them in bad weather, so no one was available to pick it up and deliver it. They said we could pick it up ourselves but we didn't really feel like old food at that point so we cancelled and drove out somewhere else. Being lied to was the most annoying part.
Kiro 6y ago
The best part about the app is able to see where the driver is on the map. I hate being in the unknown and not knowing what's going on with my delivery.
- randycupertino 6y ago
  I think sometimes those maps are faked. We've seen drivers from apps pick up multiple orders for delivery, but the map doesn't show them stopping at multiple houses, it just slows down the icon of the car.
  - Kiro 6y ago
    I'm using Foodora in Sweden and sometimes I see the courier go to other places and they've even told me they had to do other drops (when I said "I saw you took the wrong way on the map"), so yes but I don't think they fake it here.

pizza 6y ago

Is there a Firefox version coming soon?

fpgaminer 6y ago

(Preface: I'm sure your app filters for stuff like this) I got kinda burned when I tried to order direct from a restaurant. The last time we ate there they included a little "order online" card with a link to their website. So the next time, in the spirit of supporting businesses directly, I went to their site and ordered. They did use a third-party handler (ChowNow I think?), but I figured it was a kind of order management third-party. In fact, after placing the order, I got an additional email from that third-party handler congratulating me on ordering directly from restaurants, and that they explicitly don't charge restaurants a fee. Neat, right? Well, Lo and behold, behind the scenes they just used DoorDash to handle delivery... That sucked because A) it was more hassle for me to sign up for Yet Another Account, and B) I have DashPass (free delivery and discounted service charge) but didn't get to use it, so it ended up costing me more even with the coupon the restaurant threw in. Hell, there are even pizza places around me that use DoorDash for delivery. Pizza places, for goodness sake! It's a weird world I suppose.

obibring 6y ago
Wow, that's really wild. Would you mind sharing the name of the restaurant? I'd love to reach out to them to understand what happened there. And thanks for posting this, that's definitely something I'll take into consideration.
RussianCow 6y ago
I have actually seen quite a few restaurants do this, where they use a third-party ordering system but then delegate to DoorDash/GrubHub for delivery. Is it maybe because the delivery service gets a smaller cut in this case? I wonder if the total fees add up to a smaller number with the two middlemen than with only DoorDash/GrubHub. Presumably, the latter can charge more if they also handle the transaction as well as bring traffic, as opposed to only handling delivery.
- adfuioqenasdf 6y ago
  > Is it maybe because the delivery service gets a smaller cut in this case? Yes, this is correct. If you order from DoorDash directly, the restaurant will pay anywhere from 15-40% of the total transaction. Restaurants that have partnered with DoorDash for delivery logistics only will pay usually around $7 per order (this varies depending on geography and overall partner terms). However, the key difference is that this delivery fee is almost always passed on to the customer. So from a restaurant's perspective, they are getting a great deal: Delivery logistics for customers who want delivery, but if they're using a low/no commission direct ordering service, they keep (most of) the full order margin.

usehackernews 6y ago

This is absolutely not the right move. This is you self promoting your app. Restaurants will pay more to market themselves, hire delivery drivers, and manage the logistics. Local restaurants are hurting because of COVID. They are blaming the delivery services, whose proprietary tech, marketing spend, logistics services are the only reason 90% could maintain any revenue stream.

obibring 6y ago
This is a pretty cynical way to see things. I’m a restaurant lover who wants my local restaurants to survive the pandemic. Why is building a product to help them “not the right move?”
kerkeslager 6y ago
> This is you self promoting your app. Okay, but it seems like a reasonable time to promote a relevant app that is apparently free with no ads. It's not like your post is completely free of agenda. > Restaurants will pay more to market themselves, hire delivery drivers, and manage the logistics. This is simply not true. Adding middle men does not make this more efficient, and I'm really not sure why you think it does. One basic reason it's not true, is that business owners won't necessarily pay for these things at all, they may just do them themselves. Sometimes it's easier to produce effort than it is to produce cash to buy effort.

usehackernews 6y ago

The app is a cool idea, however, I’m curious how you guys plan on managing the standardization across menu items. Replicating a single restaurant menu is an incredibly complicated problem given the amount of customization, but you also need to account for the variability of the same menu across multiple services.

obibring 6y ago
This is a really good insight and a part of the delivery experience I think could be greatly improved. Different services offer surprisingly different versions of the same menu, and customers are unaware there might be better selection on a different website.