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This is like what happened to newspapers with the rise of the internet. It was great for the top few - the NYT, the Washington Post. But why would you read the
by lacker 6y ago
This is like what happened to newspapers with the rise of the internet. It was great for the top few - the NYT, the Washington Post. But why would you read the Cincinnati Enquirer if it was equally convenient to read the Wall Street Journal?
Similarly, the rise of DoorDash etc is going to be bad for most restaurants. If there are 100 Chinese restaurants in my city, why would I ever order from one that wasn’t one of the best? Any restaurant whose food isn’t good enough to win on DoorDash is going to be hurt when more people choose delivery.
It will be great for some, though. The best restaurants with big delivery volume will be able to expand and improve their margins by operating at a larger scale.
- legerdemain 6y agoIs that how restaurants work in reality? Restaurants are very different to newspapers. Suppose there is a "best" Chinese restaurant in a city. Is its food still good if it has all the way across the city to reach you? How long does it take to arrive to your house? Can it produce a volume of food to feed an entire city? OK, maybe this restaurant has many locations. You're now proposing that the best Chinese restaurant in a given city is a chain. Chain restaurants are not historically known for offering the best food available. And now you also have variation across restaurants, unless your restaurant is literally just Panda Express, where standard food comes frozen in a giant plastic sack. Many colleges have started canceling formal courses in linear algebra because we have a video recording of Gilbert Strang, but few cities are in danger of losing their Chinese restaurants because a single one is so obviously the best.