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As an old person, I'd like to point out that my hometown of New York City had a dynamic, world class restaurant scene, including a cornucopia of home delivery,
by crmd 3y ago
As an old person, I'd like to point out that my hometown of New York City had a dynamic, world class restaurant scene, including a cornucopia of home delivery, long before the tech platform companies found a way to siphon ~40% of consumer spend out of the local restaurant economy in exchange for some friction reduction. We were doing great. But you had a drawer full of paper menus and had to call the restaurant.
- graphe 3y agoDid you experience the automats?
- candiddevmike 3y agoAnd if you called the restaurant enough, you typically got on a first name basis with them and had incredible customer service. Now you're just another customer #47523 that created order #37324.
- koolba 3y ago> And if you called the restaurant enough, you typically got on a first name basis with them and had incredible customer service. Also Caller ID isn’t that new.
- Scoundreller 3y agoCaller ID made answering phones at work fun. When we saw "you know who" calling, we'd rock paper scissors and the loser would have to answer.
- hiatus 3y agoI don't know about your experience but zero restaurants I've worked in had caller id.
- throwaway2037 3y agoIt existed since at least the 1990s in the US. Is 30 years enough for you?
- tsm 3y agoWe had friends who got Domino's every Thursday. On days when they hadn't called by a certain time, Domino's would call them and ask if they wanted their usual. (This was in Tegucigalpa in the '90s, fwiw)
- Scoundreller 3y agoWhen I showed up to pickup my pizza and they recognized me, I scaled back a lot. I knew then that I was going too often relative to everyone else.
- lozenge 3y agoI got a notification from my bank when my girlfriend used her debit card to order at the local Chinese on her way home from work. I was bored so I went to surprise her... she was then greeted there every time with "is your boyfriend coming?"
- Flameancer 3y agoEhh some restaurants still know you on a first name basis even with DoorDash. I used to order from this one Philippine spot like twice a week and after a month a decided to go there in person to sit down and when they asked for my name they immediately asked if I wanted my usual DoorDash order
- bobbylarrybobby 3y agoI definitely miss the experience of hearing “the usual?” once I tell them my address.
- darth_avocado 3y agoThis was not very doable pretty much everywhere outside NYC. The lower density of restaurants made it harder for delivery to be a thing except all the pizza places that offered it.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- handy2000 3y agoAt the end of the day this is all driven by market dynamics that affect everyone. Uber Eats doesn't have a secret sauce that makes it cheaper for drivers to deliver food in cities with lower restaurant density. Someone has to pay for gas, someone has to pay for drivers' time. Even in large cities Uber Eats is now more expensive than ordering directly from restaurants in the past, why would it be different for cities with fewer restaurants?
- Dylan16807 3y agoOh I don't think anyone said they're making it cheaper. But a lot of restaurants now have expensive delivery instead of no delivery. Before, there were very few places where most restaurants would deliver.
- interactivecode 3y agoDoordash could just employ delivery drivers to solve this problem. No need for a 100% at will temp work force. They could just hire people part time or full time. And if work is really that surgy they could just have workers on call. Why does “innovation” have to go hand in hand with fucked up labor practices?
- Draiken 3y agoBecause we live in a capitalist society and profit is the only objective. Not exploiting your workforce as much as you can is an almost guaranteed road to failure. Imagine taking investor money and saying "I'll pay more to my workers so they can have decent lives". They'd oust you in a second. Same if you're in a publicly traded company. The only possible way this doesn't happen is if you're running an already profitable private company, you're willing to grow at slower rates (which carries its own risks), your market allows it and you're not a sociopath. That's a very rare combination.
- Consultant32452 3y agoHas the local restaurant scene recovered from the lockdowns? I live in a smaller city and we have recovered some but it's nothing like it was. I heard it was particularly rough in NYC.
- crmd 3y agoIn my experience, the more "corporate" restaurant groups are growing but the less well capitalized small businesses are in a world of hurt trying to balance the books with the leftovers after the rise in physical rent and advertising/platform company costs.
- Consultant32452 3y agoNow that you have written it, this models my experience too. Thanks for sharing.
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> the more "corporate" restaurant groups are growing but the less well capitalized small businesses are in a world of hurt Within the <$50/diner category, yes. It seems this is where the new Applebees/Ruby Tuesdays are forming. Above that, there is an explosion of creativity in the fine and pseudufine dining categories.
- jncfhnb 3y agoI’m not sure that’s true. Only change I saw was a growth of fine dining Korean food in nyc
- JumpCrisscross 3y ago> only change I saw was a growth of fine dining Korean food I can count half a dozen on my block in Flatiron alone. The only Korean fine-dining place to have opened near me is Nōksu, and I'm a few blocks from Koreatown.
- 3y ago
- phendrenad2 3y agoThe time savings of having a digital, interactive menu, where you don't have to worry that the person on the other end will interpret "no mayo" as "extra mayo" should not be underappreciated.
- Aeolun 3y agoKinda, but just like Steam captured 80-90% of PC sales with convenience, so did others.
- oldandboring 3y agoWait. What? For the first time in my life I am not being a wise ass. Can you please tell me more about this?
- oldandboring 3y agoI love that you have posted this. I am also old and I think about this from time to time. Nothing makes me feel so old as observing the phenomenon of people (mostly younger) habitually ordering food through these platforms, paying $5 to $10 in platform and delivery fees per meal. All this against the economic reality that wages have not kept up with the rising cost of, well, everything and it just looks a lot like rent-seeking on the part of these platforms. I do appreciate how the platforms have brought near-universal delivery to the suburbs, but I've lived in the suburbs my whole life and I simply do not use these services due to the cost. Same goes for ride-sharing. My only usage of these platforms is when I'm traveling.
- up2isomorphism 3y ago+1 to this. Also I think we should use delivery as little as possible. Walking a couple of blocks is not bad at all.