4 ms·

What really pisses me off about this whole paradigm is that nowadays I'll go to what seems to be a quiet sit down restaurant and it will take me 45 minutes to g

by mdoms 5y ago

What really pisses me off about this whole paradigm is that nowadays I'll go to what seems to be a quiet sit down restaurant and it will take me 45 minutes to get a meal because the kitchens, for some reason, prioritise their zero- or negative-profit delivery customers over patrons who choose to eat in. It happens all the time and for every venue that pulls that crap it's the last visit they'll ever get from me.

arvinsim 5y ago
Or maybe because the people who ordered delivery ordered first. Why shouldn't they be served first? I would be pissed off if my order got delayed because they prioritized someone in the restaurant who came in after I ordered. FIFO/queue has been around forever in F & B.
- jiveturkey 5y ago
  Because if you want local, dine-in business, then you can't take a customer in and then hold them captive for 45 minutes just waiting on the queue. Whereas for delivery it's ok to be more async. Dining in person is in part (maybe large part) about the experience of being there and being served, even for lower budget fare. This is restauranting 101. If a restaurateur cares about their customers they'll set an appropriate rate limit on call in orders so that they can properly prioritize dine-in customers. Those that don't are optimizing for revenue since of course online customers will pick another place if the reported delay is too long. It's customer hostile to keep your dine-in customer captive for 45 minutes because they are there and will sit there and be "forced" to accept it due to a kind of sunk time fallacy. And you can't really hire for peak times if your peak to average ratio is too high. Do you not find it rude that when there's a long line at your favorite coffee shop or whatever, that people that come late order online using their phone then move over to the pickup? Getting served before the folks in front of them in the physical queue? In short: customer service matters in the restaurant industry and that is why online order shouldn't be served first, simply based on having a single queue for orders.
  - arvinsim 5y ago
    > Dining in person is in part (maybe large part) about the experience of being there and being served, even for lower budget fare. This is restauranting 101. If a restaurateur cares about their customers they'll set an appropriate rate limit on call in orders so that they can properly prioritize dine-in customers. Yes, it's the restaurant responsibility to rate the customers coming in so that they can serve dine-in customers in a reasonable amount of time. That doesn't entitle the dine-in customers to cut the queue. > Do you not find it rude that when there's a long line at your favorite coffee shop or whatever, that people that come late order online using their phone then move over to the pickup? Getting served before the folks in front of them in the physical queue? I do not know where you live but where I am, there are shops that have a separate queue for dine-in and take out. No one would bat an eye if you decide to go take-out instead for faster service
    - jiveturkey 5y ago
      tons of places like that near me. it’s the norm. but very clearly the parent is talking about places that don’t do that. and your earlier response was much more hostile than this. more like how dare he want good in person service?
      - arvinsim 5y ago
        Not at all. I was playing devil's advocate and taking the perspective of someone who ordered online. They are as much as a customer as one who dines in.
  - philwelch 5y ago
    > Do you not find it rude that when there's a long line at your favorite coffee shop or whatever, that people that come late order online using their phone then move over to the pickup? Getting served before the folks in front of them in the physical queue? I don’t understand how it’s rude to do this. If everyone did that they’d still be served in FIFO order, and they’d save the overhead of ordering verbally so the system as a whole would be more efficient.
Lamad123 5y ago
I'd give priority to people who show up.. I worked in a fast food place where the manager used to tell me the doordash and uber guys can wait but we had to first finish with the people who were in front of us.
- nefitty 5y ago
  My brother worked at a fast food place for a few years as a teen. He gave me two pieces of advice: don't eat at fast food places, but if you do, you'll get better food if you dine in.
TameAntelope 5y ago
How do you know that's why you're waiting?
- mdoms 5y ago
  Because I see several meals coming out of the kitchen in paper bags being picked up by helmeted people.
  - paxys 5y ago
    So it's okay to make delivery drivers wait but not you?
    - duskwuff 5y ago
      Or, more to the point: is no one else allowed to get their food before you?
    - mdoms 5y ago
      Yes.
  - TameAntelope 5y ago
    How do you know those meals weren't already being made before you got there?
twblalock 5y ago
If restaurants are making zero or negative profit from delivery customers, they could simply stop serving them. They could reject the orders. Indoor dining is open now, and there is simply no reason for a restaurant to fulfill an order for a loss. Few restaurants have their own delivery drivers, and for many, delivery services were the only way they could sell their food during lockdowns. Even at a loss, it made sense to have revenue. But that does not explain why restaurants continue to fulfill delivery orders now -- the only reason they still do it now is that they do make some money from it.

by mdoms 5y ago

arvinsim 5y ago

Or maybe because the people who ordered delivery ordered first. Why shouldn't they be served first? I would be pissed off if my order got delayed because they prioritized someone in the restaurant who came in after I ordered. FIFO/queue has been around forever in F & B.

jiveturkey 5y ago
Because if you want local, dine-in business, then you can't take a customer in and then hold them captive for 45 minutes just waiting on the queue. Whereas for delivery it's ok to be more async. Dining in person is in part (maybe large part) about the experience of being there and being served, even for lower budget fare. This is restauranting 101. If a restaurateur cares about their customers they'll set an appropriate rate limit on call in orders so that they can properly prioritize dine-in customers. Those that don't are optimizing for revenue since of course online customers will pick another place if the reported delay is too long. It's customer hostile to keep your dine-in customer captive for 45 minutes because they are there and will sit there and be "forced" to accept it due to a kind of sunk time fallacy. And you can't really hire for peak times if your peak to average ratio is too high. Do you not find it rude that when there's a long line at your favorite coffee shop or whatever, that people that come late order online using their phone then move over to the pickup? Getting served before the folks in front of them in the physical queue? In short: customer service matters in the restaurant industry and that is why online order shouldn't be served first, simply based on having a single queue for orders.
- arvinsim 5y ago
  > Dining in person is in part (maybe large part) about the experience of being there and being served, even for lower budget fare. This is restauranting 101. If a restaurateur cares about their customers they'll set an appropriate rate limit on call in orders so that they can properly prioritize dine-in customers. Yes, it's the restaurant responsibility to rate the customers coming in so that they can serve dine-in customers in a reasonable amount of time. That doesn't entitle the dine-in customers to cut the queue. > Do you not find it rude that when there's a long line at your favorite coffee shop or whatever, that people that come late order online using their phone then move over to the pickup? Getting served before the folks in front of them in the physical queue? I do not know where you live but where I am, there are shops that have a separate queue for dine-in and take out. No one would bat an eye if you decide to go take-out instead for faster service
  - jiveturkey 5y ago
    tons of places like that near me. it’s the norm. but very clearly the parent is talking about places that don’t do that. and your earlier response was much more hostile than this. more like how dare he want good in person service?
    - arvinsim 5y ago
      Not at all. I was playing devil's advocate and taking the perspective of someone who ordered online. They are as much as a customer as one who dines in.
- philwelch 5y ago
  > Do you not find it rude that when there's a long line at your favorite coffee shop or whatever, that people that come late order online using their phone then move over to the pickup? Getting served before the folks in front of them in the physical queue? I don’t understand how it’s rude to do this. If everyone did that they’d still be served in FIFO order, and they’d save the overhead of ordering verbally so the system as a whole would be more efficient.

Lamad123 5y ago

I'd give priority to people who show up.. I worked in a fast food place where the manager used to tell me the doordash and uber guys can wait but we had to first finish with the people who were in front of us.

nefitty 5y ago
My brother worked at a fast food place for a few years as a teen. He gave me two pieces of advice: don't eat at fast food places, but if you do, you'll get better food if you dine in.

TameAntelope 5y ago

How do you know that's why you're waiting?

mdoms 5y ago
Because I see several meals coming out of the kitchen in paper bags being picked up by helmeted people.
- paxys 5y ago
  So it's okay to make delivery drivers wait but not you?
  - duskwuff 5y ago
    Or, more to the point: is no one else allowed to get their food before you?
  - mdoms 5y ago
    Yes.
- TameAntelope 5y ago
  How do you know those meals weren't already being made before you got there?

twblalock 5y ago

If restaurants are making zero or negative profit from delivery customers, they could simply stop serving them. They could reject the orders. Indoor dining is open now, and there is simply no reason for a restaurant to fulfill an order for a loss. Few restaurants have their own delivery drivers, and for many, delivery services were the only way they could sell their food during lockdowns. Even at a loss, it made sense to have revenue. But that does not explain why restaurants continue to fulfill delivery orders now -- the only reason they still do it now is that they do make some money from it.