4 ms·

> You can't trust online food delivery at all anymore. Why? Is their food bad?

by sgift 3y ago

ChainOfFools 3y ago
Extrapolating from what OPI is saying, I would guess they mean is something along the lines of being unable to check for secondary proxy indicators of care and quality prior to choosing to order food at all, such as cleanliness of restrooms, the number of critters buzzing/crawling around in the dining area, the quality and cleanliness of tableware, the taste of the water etc. the overall customer facing aspects of a normal restaurant which allow you to get a general sense of how the places you cannot see are run. While not a completely reliable or quantifiable metric, the dining experience conveys information that is absent entirely with a ghost kitchen. Ghost kitchens are essentially the opposite of an open kitchen dining establishment. Everything about the preparation of substances you're going to put into your own body is hidden from view, and because this is inherent to the model it's not even something that can be criticized or measured. And unlike restaurants with a public facing facility, there is a much greater likelihood that a ghost kitchen that poisons its customers vanishes and reappears under a different name in the very same location. This would be extremely difficult for a regular restaurant, or even a fast food drive-thru, to pull off without strident public blowback at the place of business. If you agree to eat food from such establishments, there's an implicit acceptance of this blindness to conditions in which the food is prepared. Given the inevitable race to the bottom economics of any food service industry I can understand why this would be a non-starter for a lot of people. Even if you trust people to do the 100% right thing structural forces favor the ones doing the 99% version of it, and then the ones doing 99% of that, ad terminum, ad (literal) nauseam.
- sgift 3y ago
  Hm okay. I can see that. I think, it's different for me cause I trust the food safety protocols in place here in Germany to make sure the standards for hygiene etc. are guaranteed. So, the only thing I care about is the quality of the food (i.e. how it tastes) and ime, that's one thing you always have to test with delivery. Even restaurants which are good at in-place dining can have a shoddy delivery experience.
JohnFen 3y ago
Often, yes. Also most of what ChainOfFools said. Also, when I'm ordering food from a restaurant, I am dealing with real people, seeing them in person, and they see me in person. Eating from a restaurant is about much more than just the food. Ghost kitchens eliminate all of that.
- sgift 3y ago
  Yeah, okay, I can understand the whole "experience" of ordering in place as a bonus, if you like that. I'm naturally shy (and lazy, I admit it), so going out and talking to people is the worst part of the whole experience for me.
- hot_gril 3y ago
  I get this, but that's why I usually want to eat at the restaurant instead of getting to-go.

> You can't trust online food delivery at all anymore. Why? Is their food bad?

by sgift 3y ago

> You can't trust online food delivery at all anymore. Why? Is their food bad?

Extrapolating from what OPI is saying, I would guess they mean is something along the lines of being unable to check for secondary proxy indicators of care and quality prior to choosing to order food at all, such as cleanliness of restrooms, the number of critters buzzing/crawling around in the dining area, the quality and cleanliness of tableware, the taste of the water etc. the overall customer facing aspects of a normal restaurant which allow you to get a general sense of how the places you cannot see are run. While not a completely reliable or quantifiable metric, the dining experience conveys information that is absent entirely with a ghost kitchen. Ghost kitchens are essentially the opposite of an open kitchen dining establishment. Everything about the preparation of substances you're going to put into your own body is hidden from view, and because this is inherent to the model it's not even something that can be criticized or measured. And unlike restaurants with a public facing facility, there is a much greater likelihood that a ghost kitchen that poisons its customers vanishes and reappears under a different name in the very same location. This would be extremely difficult for a regular restaurant, or even a fast food drive-thru, to pull off without strident public blowback at the place of business. If you agree to eat food from such establishments, there's an implicit acceptance of this blindness to conditions in which the food is prepared. Given the inevitable race to the bottom economics of any food service industry I can understand why this would be a non-starter for a lot of people. Even if you trust people to do the 100% right thing structural forces favor the ones doing the 99% version of it, and then the ones doing 99% of that, ad terminum, ad (literal) nauseam.

sgift 3y ago
Hm okay. I can see that. I think, it's different for me cause I trust the food safety protocols in place here in Germany to make sure the standards for hygiene etc. are guaranteed. So, the only thing I care about is the quality of the food (i.e. how it tastes) and ime, that's one thing you always have to test with delivery. Even restaurants which are good at in-place dining can have a shoddy delivery experience.

JohnFen 3y ago

Often, yes. Also most of what ChainOfFools said. Also, when I'm ordering food from a restaurant, I am dealing with real people, seeing them in person, and they see me in person. Eating from a restaurant is about much more than just the food. Ghost kitchens eliminate all of that.

sgift 3y ago
Yeah, okay, I can understand the whole "experience" of ordering in place as a bonus, if you like that. I'm naturally shy (and lazy, I admit it), so going out and talking to people is the worst part of the whole experience for me.
hot_gril 3y ago
I get this, but that's why I usually want to eat at the restaurant instead of getting to-go.