5 ms·

Support your local restaurants. Don’t let these vampire platform companies enshitify your city’s food scene.

by crmd 2y ago

deprecative 2y ago
We say shopping at Whole Foods, Walmart, and Kroger.
- pkilgore 2y ago
  What point are you trying to make? Seems like a failure of government to enforce monopolization laws than individual consumers.
  - deprecative 2y ago
    Consumers are voters.
- tomtheelder 2y ago
  Local grocery stores have basically been extinct for decades- and realistically that isn't that surprising given they mostly sell commodity products. We don't need to let restaurants suffer the same fate.
  - kelnos 2y ago
    Agreed. I'm super lucky in that we have a local independent grocery in our neighborhood. Prices are definitely a little higher than the big grocery chains, but the convenience of walking 2.5 blocks is hard to beat when I need something immediately (which turns out is fairly often).
  - deprecative 2y ago
    Restaurants are by definition food commodification.
- pie420 2y ago
  no, we don't. if we're not mindless little drones we stopped shopping there a long time ago, don't lump us in with yourself
  - deprecative 2y ago
    Someone's defensive about a statement of the American populace.
fragmede 2y ago
Which is an empty platitude if restaurants won't meet customers where they are - on their smartphones. I'll use my local restaurants' app/webpage when there is one and get pick-up, but if there isn't one, I'll be real - I just use Doordash. When I've got people over and need to order food, it'll take 45 mins between everything else going on to figure out a restaurant, and then another hour to pick some food. And then someone changes their mind while on the phone with the restaurant. Orrrr (after we pick a restaurant) we just pass the phone around.
- talldayo 2y ago
  Ah, but there's the catch. Resturants aren't meeting you there, Grubhub workers are. Resturaunts largely just optimize for takeout, and whether or not your food arrives warm is less of their problem and more of the Grubhub worker's issue. And as delivery drivers quit over low pay and their businesses go bankrupt, I really see no way for restaurants to support this behavior. Additionally, you have to look at it from a pragmatic perspective. When I visit the East and West coast of the US, meal delivery is popular enough that you might think it's a booming business. Everywhere else it's pretty much dead though. In places where the cost of living isn't enough to compensate for a restaurant and their middleman (read: most of the US), you can't even find a driver most hours of the day. It's one of those nonsense businesses like Uber that seems like a great idea on paper but one that falls apart outside the Bay Area economy. Most places in America are not gentrified enough to pay peons gas money in exchange for hand-delivered McDonalds.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    edited to be clear this is for pickup. a number of local restaurants meet me there.
- pie420 2y ago
  [flagged]
  - fragmede 2y ago
    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
standardUser 2y ago
Or just order from local restaurants using GrubHub. Most mark up their menu prices to absorb the hit they take from working with GrubHub and similar services. Some will encourage you to order directly or through a different 3rd party by including a flier with the delivery order. But many others only offer delivery through 3rd parties like GrubHub.
- zemo 2y ago
  I just call them, it's not like the phone company takes a cut when you order on the phone.
  - standardUser 2y ago
    That's good for you. I prefer putting together my order with the menu on my phone, adding notes and having a moment to think about those notes, adding delivery instructions, tipping with the same credit card I pay with, tracking my order, having an order history I can view, and not bothering people who are busy running a restaurant and don't need to be talking to me on the phone since this has all been automated for a couple decades. And to be frank, many restaurant workers don't have the best English skills and may be in a loud environment, making phone calls more difficult.
    - what 2y ago
      [flagged]
      - zemo 2y ago
        c'mon man he means adding notes to the order like "put the sauce on the side" or "my building has two entrances, use the one on the left", you're being ridiculous.
    - zemo 2y ago
      honestly I order from five or so places with regularity and at each of those places there are two or three things I actually order. Most of the time I really don't think GrubHub is providing any value that merits giving them a cut. I know that I like the orange chicken at the Chinese place near me, the white pie from the New York pizza place, the drive-through burger from the burger place, etc, etc, etc. I don't really need a menu. But yeah, if I'm in a new place and I'm doing a whole browse and search affair, looking at a new menu, reading reviews and all that, I just use Grubhub. That's just not actually most of my delivery. Most of my delivery is "I don't feel like cooking dinner tonight" -> order from one of my regulars. > And to be frank, many restaurant workers don't have the best English skills and may be in a loud environment, making phone calls more difficult. Yeah I dunno this argument feels very alien to me, because even people with poor English skills know the names of the items on their menu. It's not like I'm calling them to have an in-depth conversation, I'm just naming items off of their menu. Also I call in for pickup for like half my orders and pick up myself. At a bunch of places the food is cheaper if you just call.

Support your local restaurants. Don’t let these vampire platform companies enshitify your city’s food scene.

by crmd 2y ago

Support your local restaurants. Don’t let these vampire platform companies enshitify your city’s food scene.

deprecative 2y ago

We say shopping at Whole Foods, Walmart, and Kroger.

pkilgore 2y ago
What point are you trying to make? Seems like a failure of government to enforce monopolization laws than individual consumers.
- deprecative 2y ago
  Consumers are voters.
tomtheelder 2y ago
Local grocery stores have basically been extinct for decades- and realistically that isn't that surprising given they mostly sell commodity products. We don't need to let restaurants suffer the same fate.
- kelnos 2y ago
  Agreed. I'm super lucky in that we have a local independent grocery in our neighborhood. Prices are definitely a little higher than the big grocery chains, but the convenience of walking 2.5 blocks is hard to beat when I need something immediately (which turns out is fairly often).
- deprecative 2y ago
  Restaurants are by definition food commodification.
pie420 2y ago
no, we don't. if we're not mindless little drones we stopped shopping there a long time ago, don't lump us in with yourself
- deprecative 2y ago
  Someone's defensive about a statement of the American populace.

fragmede 2y ago

Which is an empty platitude if restaurants won't meet customers where they are - on their smartphones. I'll use my local restaurants' app/webpage when there is one and get pick-up, but if there isn't one, I'll be real - I just use Doordash. When I've got people over and need to order food, it'll take 45 mins between everything else going on to figure out a restaurant, and then another hour to pick some food. And then someone changes their mind while on the phone with the restaurant. Orrrr (after we pick a restaurant) we just pass the phone around.

talldayo 2y ago
Ah, but there's the catch. Resturants aren't meeting you there, Grubhub workers are. Resturaunts largely just optimize for takeout, and whether or not your food arrives warm is less of their problem and more of the Grubhub worker's issue. And as delivery drivers quit over low pay and their businesses go bankrupt, I really see no way for restaurants to support this behavior. Additionally, you have to look at it from a pragmatic perspective. When I visit the East and West coast of the US, meal delivery is popular enough that you might think it's a booming business. Everywhere else it's pretty much dead though. In places where the cost of living isn't enough to compensate for a restaurant and their middleman (read: most of the US), you can't even find a driver most hours of the day. It's one of those nonsense businesses like Uber that seems like a great idea on paper but one that falls apart outside the Bay Area economy. Most places in America are not gentrified enough to pay peons gas money in exchange for hand-delivered McDonalds.
- fragmede 2y ago
  edited to be clear this is for pickup. a number of local restaurants meet me there.
pie420 2y ago
[flagged]
- fragmede 2y ago
  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

standardUser 2y ago

Or just order from local restaurants using GrubHub. Most mark up their menu prices to absorb the hit they take from working with GrubHub and similar services. Some will encourage you to order directly or through a different 3rd party by including a flier with the delivery order. But many others only offer delivery through 3rd parties like GrubHub.

zemo 2y ago
I just call them, it's not like the phone company takes a cut when you order on the phone.
- standardUser 2y ago
  That's good for you. I prefer putting together my order with the menu on my phone, adding notes and having a moment to think about those notes, adding delivery instructions, tipping with the same credit card I pay with, tracking my order, having an order history I can view, and not bothering people who are busy running a restaurant and don't need to be talking to me on the phone since this has all been automated for a couple decades. And to be frank, many restaurant workers don't have the best English skills and may be in a loud environment, making phone calls more difficult.
  - what 2y ago
    [flagged]
    - zemo 2y ago
      c'mon man he means adding notes to the order like "put the sauce on the side" or "my building has two entrances, use the one on the left", you're being ridiculous.
  - zemo 2y ago
    honestly I order from five or so places with regularity and at each of those places there are two or three things I actually order. Most of the time I really don't think GrubHub is providing any value that merits giving them a cut. I know that I like the orange chicken at the Chinese place near me, the white pie from the New York pizza place, the drive-through burger from the burger place, etc, etc, etc. I don't really need a menu. But yeah, if I'm in a new place and I'm doing a whole browse and search affair, looking at a new menu, reading reviews and all that, I just use Grubhub. That's just not actually most of my delivery. Most of my delivery is "I don't feel like cooking dinner tonight" -> order from one of my regulars. > And to be frank, many restaurant workers don't have the best English skills and may be in a loud environment, making phone calls more difficult. Yeah I dunno this argument feels very alien to me, because even people with poor English skills know the names of the items on their menu. It's not like I'm calling them to have an in-depth conversation, I'm just naming items off of their menu. Also I call in for pickup for like half my orders and pick up myself. At a bunch of places the food is cheaper if you just call.