Imagine when these ghost kitchens are equipped automatic with robot-arm burger flippers and the orders are delivered by drones.
11
This is confusing for someone who orders takeout regularly, but has only recently begun reading about delivery apps in the Times. I'm lacking a basic understanding of how this all works. First, why would a consumer use the app? Is it because, as my friend says, millennials will do anything to avoid talking on the phone? Next, why does the existence of an app increase demand? Is my friend right -- are there people who in the past would have chosen to cook, rather than to call, but will now order out because it's "easier"?
Next, why would a restaurant use this if it hurts profits? Why not stick to phone calls? Would people really stop eating that establishment's food if they have to call for it?
I remember when I first started reading Businessweek, it seemed like all the "exciting" new inventions seemed to be apps and most of them seemed so boring -- designed to solve problems that didn't exist. This seems to be one of those cases.
Someone, please explain to me why these apps are popular and/or why restaurants can't ignore them.
11
Where I live, there was no delivery but pizza. Now I can have all kinds of far healthier variety. When work was exhausting, the kids only want something boring, or my joints are acting up, or just when my husband and I want a pleasant dinner and a movie at home, I love delivery. There's no difference whether the restaurant has tables or not to me. One of our favorites is an Indian place that has barely any tables, but excellent food going out the door in a constant stream.
2
"The Virtual Restaurant"?
You mean take-out places that also take orders by phone? (or online now).
Nothing like the latest, greatest "New New Thing," treated with breathless excitement!
5
And who, did you say, is inspecting all those virtual kitchens?
15
The USA is becoming more antisocial more than ever people’s need interactions between them
7
While I have a hard time paying a delivery fee for food, I have no problem paying the person who delivers the food a decent tip. If a restaurant is delivering the food, that means they don't have to wait on me at least twice (one to take the order, one to bring), clean up after me, nor have me take up space at a table which could go to another waiting customer. I think that likely offsets any marginal cost in gas/maintenance from driving a few miles.
2
We've taken it one step further and put together our own ghost restaurant kitchen in a corner of our commercial building.
The co-workers take turns cooking, they enjoy it and we all get a home cooked meal every day. Most importantly the cost is much lower than ordering out and it also saves time compared to eating out. We sometimes get the ingredients delivered and they are of known, guaranteed quality.
We were forced to do this after 2 of the 3 neighborhood restaurants closed and we visited the only remaining one several hundred times until we could no longer stomach it. Over the past year we have saved thousands on the cost of lunches and covered the cost of the commercial kitchen equipment we've bought and continue to buy, several times over.
Now and then, we still go out on Friday, just for fun and to enjoy ourselves. But wow, it's so expensive !
8
My sister and I use DoorDash and GrubHub frequently. We are seniors, and our mobility is limited, as is our patience. Having our food delivered allows us to eat in the comfort of our own home, without having to worry about parking, long wait time in line or out-of-control children.
8
Why doesn't the article even mention the massive amounts of single-use plastic that take-out and delivery uses?
Surprisingly even very few of the comments mention this. This trend is yet another environmental disaster for convenience's sake.
28
What about the environment? How does all that take out packaging compare with real dishes in a restaurant? How many people aren’t walking to neighborhood restaurants anymore and have a car deliver their food instead?
I rarely eat out. Home cooking is so very much cheaper, and it’s healthier because I have control over the ingredients. Less flavorful, perhaps, but I’ll take the trade off. It makes going out more fun when I do go.
11
I started noticing GI problems increasingly when I ate out. So five years ago, I started to subscribe to a well-known food planner/delivery service. I now rarely eat out (only when friends drop in from out of town and there's a new restaurant we want to try), and though cooking food is a commitment in terms of time and effort, it is worth it.
5
What is the current obsession about food that grips the United States? I find it so odd to see the Times spending so much page space on such a boring topic. Recipes? Cook books? Articles? Really?
2
Boring? To you maybe. It’s because of people who are interested in food that you have more to eat than white bread. It’s an exchange of ideas and a discussion of an extremely complex industry. Revisit.
7
On the contrary, I am fascinated with this article on several aspects, never bored! the entrepreneurship of people in creating consumer's need, financial , the ingenuity , and creativity to cooking to satisfy the hunger. I wonder if I can do something similar. Even the comments are so provocative with opinions! So relevant part of this evolution!
6
As a small restaurateur I hate uber along w uber eats. Both business models rely on slave labor. And with eats, uber takes about 30% + the cost of the app equipment. That's chutzpah! . How much profit do people think a restaurant makes? Eats is merely providing a platform where the restaurant can get rid of inventory or cover costs, and ends up essentially working to profit uber. The dreams of owners coming true compliments of uber are bigger than life.
21
I always remember what the CEO of Domino's (whom I despise), said: "We're not in the pizza business, we're in the delivery business". I guess he knew his customer--they didn't care if they ate a pizza that tasted like cardboard, they just wanted it delivered in 15 minutes.
7
As someone who has never ordered on Doordash or Uber eats or any of those apps, I guess I am going to: Go ahead and STARVE! At least I will be in good shape and health. Somebody please make a movie out of eating only from takeout orders!
2
I hope their is a rise in virtual health inspectors.
7
If this is the trend, let's hear about health department inspections. Does anyone check these virtual establishments for rat dropping, cockroaches and proper food storage? If there are inspections, where are the results posted?
6
it's a concern for sure the food preparation, I can foresee the same industry developing a safety inspection score to guarantee a healthy consumption.
1
take out eat out is pretty expensive as is add delivery charge and you know the driver would like a cash tip you have an expensive meal and a ghost kitchen no thanks so fly bye place in a dirty warehouse if I cant use your restroom to see how clean your kitchen is before I order your take out no thanks
2
pretty soon we won't even need to look at other people for everyday tasks, much less talk to them. NYTimes comment section could become my only form of interpersonal contact
7
Those fees are outrageous. Uber is making so much money off of the data captured by the apps, they should be fore-going any additional fees.
Using an app like Uber to order food is volunteering to be stripped searched of your most intimate data. They know where you live, where you work, what you eat, when you eat, how often you order, even your emotional state of mind when ordering, especially if you voice order. They use this data to then "nudge" you and manipulate your behavior for their own benefit (profit), not your benefit.
You are not a free autonomous citizen, but the means to someone else's profit.
50
@DB
I choose what I order. All advertising has always been manipulation, to be suddenly outraged by it seems disingenuous. Might as well complain about the cookie store with the fans blowing out.
2
@DB
Tell me again who is making you use the app?
A) They can't refuse to take cash, that's illegal.
B) This will lead to people cooking in the most unsanitary and disgusting conditions resulting in all manner of food poisoning and other illnesses. This of course will result in lawsuits galore and costing the taxpayers a fortune.
C) A literal army of millions of drones constantly whining and buzzing through the air. Crashing into people, pets, wildlife, cars, windows, etc. And more lawsuits, rinse, repeat.
If they want a small takeout stand, cart, or food truck than nothing is stopping them from doing that but this is a disaster waiting to happen.
1
Talibat has been operating in the Arab Gulf region for several years - I think at least six or seven years. I’ve used it in Kuwait City and Abu Dhabi, and find it very convenient. It’s the only way you’ll have a glass of wine with supper. :-)
2
Enjoyed reading all the concerns about cleanliness when you can't check virtual restaurants. I concur! On another topic, I'm impressed by the work ethic of this 26-year-old entrepreneur, who is running four businesses.
4
“Why would a restaurant be working with us if we weren’t helping them increase their orders?”
Because if you don't, you're no longer visible. Restaurants that had delivery - with drivers that were employees of the restaurant and paid accordingly - are forced to use these delivery services because customers increasingly go directly to Caviar or Grub Hub or Uber Eats, instead of to the restaurant's website. Restaurants see their income draining away and realize the necessity of being available via these third-party delivery services, despite the 15-30 percent of each order that they then have to pay the parasitic company.
Meanwhile, drivers for these third-party delivery services are independent contractors, not employees, which can hurt both the driver and the customer. For the driver, it means lacking the security of being an employee, and even having your tips stolen by the company. For the customer, it means having a driver who picks up your food from the restaurant on his or her schedule, delivers it when s/he wants to, might be smoking or have a dog in the car, might deliver your food half-eaten, etc.
2
Establishment and expansion of America's own version of hikikomori continue apace. Consider, too, the volume of waste in comparison to eating out or home cooking. We might as well get to work on exchanging our bodies for the cyborg alternative and then consign our living oceans to dim history. How people can delude themselves into being optimistic enough to have children will be life's only lingering mystery.
4
It's in the bricks and mortar restaurants' court, to decide whether they want to become slaves to these 15-30% commissions from the delivery apps. They have the power to refuse to work with Uber, until its commission comes down, to say, 5%. I don't buy this notion that bricks and mortar will be disintermediated by online delivery. People will always want to eat out; it is as much about convenience as it is about novelty and social connection.
3
The crazy thing is, they actually don’t. When I worked in restaurants our menus would be routinely put up on websites even though we, for very good reason, wanted to minimize phone orders. Calls to yelp and other companies went absolutely nowhere, with them claiming they COULDN’T take it down. We just kind of had to deal with a new deluge of orders and it didn’t matter who we chewed out, they just kept coming.
1
@Olivia
Some do, some don't. You can always say you don't do pick up orders - it remains your choice as a restaurant how you serve.
1
If Mr. Lopez is licensed by the state of California and city, then it is a great idea. Restaurants go out of business at a phenomenal rate. If they can build up a clientele without the expense of a large dining room, more power to them. When I visited San Diego I was warned of unlicensed places that do business from their garages. The only downside to virtual restaurants is that I can't check out the condition of their restroom to see how clean their kitchen might be.
6
My concern with restaurants, and food delivery, has always been the cleanliness of the restaurant. With virtual restaurants there seems to be no way of knowing where the food comes from, and how clean these kitchens are. I don't care what name is being used, as a customer I would like full disclosure where the food is being prepared.
It seems the industry needs new board of health regulations, and check systems to protect the consumer from dirty kitchens, substandard food storage and preperation.
As it is, I have seen terrible, filthy kichens in New York City, allowed to operate where violations continue for months, and years, while customers are at risk. Also, restaurants paying for a better letter grade exits. These are brick and mortar stores with real addresses.
What regulations are these virtual stores subject to?
7
“All they need is a kitchen — or even just part of one. Then they can hang a shingle inside a meal-delivery app and market their food to the app’s customers..”
And with that ease comes the increased cases of food poisoning. All should re-read Upton Sinclair.
14
What Amazon has done for retail, Uber eats, etc will do to restaurants. The day will come when there will be nowhere to go. Sad.
5
this is already common in seoul and many asian cities . resturuants that only deliver food and don't have tables to eat in has been around for decades.we still have the dining experience. we dine at home with friends while watching a movie or playing games
3
Another way in which we isolate ourselves.
11
I have a friend in Manhattan who orders a cupcake from the place downstairs...in the same building! That is not convenience, that’s sheer laziness. Any the packaging to sustain all this can’t be good.
12
Is this just the next "food truck" fad...?
1
I can think of at least one lunch place that has followed this concept for years...Jason's Deli. They have shops that are over 90% dedicated to the kitchen/prep areas, for take out orders and call-in's. The very limited seating space is mostly used by take-out customers waiting for their orders, the very few who eat there most likely didn't intend to. Everything new has been done before.
1
The delivery gig jobs are a sad sign of the times. You can take just about any meal and once you make it carry out the quality drops substantially as most foods that are cooked are meant to be eaten shortly after. Even a short period of time in wrappings makes it go down hill. Sadly most people don't care about where their food comes from or how it is prepared.
13
Are these kitchens licensed and inspected by local municipalities? Is there a health hazard for the public?
3
The delivery of food at home, streaming services, social networks and so on are convenient, practical, cheap services compared to traditional ones. Of course, they have drawbacks.
Among these I can mention the creation of unemployment and the downward compression of wages without forgetting the fact that the companies that own the new services pay on average much less taxes on profits than those that own the traditional services. It may be that in a more or less distant future, remedies will be found for these disadvantages. History is full of similar situations. But there is another drawback that, in my opinion, is neglected and that alone should make us think about the long-term sustainability of these services, because I see no remedy: they kill sociality. We go less to restaurants, we go less to the cinema, we meet less in person and so on. That means in other words that we are more alone. Does this come at a price? In my opinion, it does. And it's going to be heavy, because we're going to lose the ability to stay in a community, to build a community.
Or am I wrong?
Best regards from Padua (EU)
6
Feeling old here! Can not recall last time I ordered delivery as I was always disappointed with the results - Luke warm, mediocre food. I much rather cook at home and eat out when we feel like having a break from the ordinary and splurge on a fine dining restaurant.
My daughter does use postmates as she works full time and says it’s easier than cooking for one. However a recent order from a wonderful restaurant in her neighborhood arrived with container ajar and 3 missing shrimp from her salad! The delivery guy had clearly eaten them! Yuck! The restaurant refunded her immediately but it’s a real turnoff. You don’t know what happens when your order leaves the restaurant.
3
This is depressing. Restaurants already have to deal with third parties masquerading as them online to siphon off delivery business at a cost. Now some kitchens rely only on people who download apps for their customer base.
1
So I'm a tourist in NYC and want to go to a low or medium priced restaurant and talk to the locals and feel the vibe. Instead I find an app only environment and no humans to talk to so its back to the hotel room where I too order in. What fun.
11
Do what native NY’ers do and start WALKING around . If you stay away from chains, There are a zillion places to eat a good meal.
5
@Mrs. Cat, when restaurant owners are FORCED by law to increase the wages of their staff this is what happens. When people push the $15.00/ hour minimum wage they have to understand that the vast majority of restaurants cannot afford it. So, they move to this new model or go out of business. Meaning they fire their staff, so now those workers that thought they were going to benefit from $15.00/hour are not out of a job. A $15.00 / hour minimum wage sounds great on the campaign trail, but it just does not work in the real world, so be aware of politicians pushing these laws. It will push people out of work.
2
@Mrs. Cat
And this is after you take your Uber to the hotel and do a virtual check in on a computer screen...
guess what, as a working mother of two small children with both of my elderly parents living with us, i have no desire to spend my precious weekends in the kitchen, or drag my entire family of 6, young and old, to a sit down restaurant. apps allow me to pick and order from different favorite locations, we get to enjoy a meal together at home, and I have time on a weekend to actually spend with my family, not stress over cooking.
5
The death of the honeybee. But what is all that buzzing noise? The sky is flooded with drones delivering everything from the chronic blueberry ganga to the munchie junk food. Picture a bay of drones on their charging pads next to a conveyor belt with pneumatic arms shoving orders into their departure vehicles. We all sit and smoke and eat and drink and get fat while gazing lovingly at our electronic gadgets and virtual worlds. What's not to love?
78
@Peter
Dude, you just rewrote Wall-E... Nice.
5
@Peter
Ganja*
1
@oogada
Or Huxley's Brave New World, or Plato's Allegory of the Cave, or it's a spinoff of Century of the Self. This theme has been around a long time.
5
as a part-time waiter, I can tell you that carryout does me and my colleagues no good.
13
I was walking down Mission Street in SF yesterday. The long blocks unfurled before me. The roadways have been cleaned up and redistributed with dedicated bus lanes, which Uber has rendered obsolete. The soul of Mission was always people; people who worked and lived and walked in the neighborhood. But there are no more people walking around. The stores and restaurants whose scents hid other smells less appetizing are shuttered. Only the urine remains.
2
@Ms. Sofie
What, multi millionaires don’t walk around their neighborhoods? And the people that are supposed to work in the restaurants (you know, the ones if paid $15 an hour will destroy the business), they aren’t going to be living nearby...shoot the executive chef can’t afford to live nearby. The interesting part will be where the drivers and cooks are supposed to live that work in this “restaurant”.Still need someone to flip the burger that's delivered....
Idk, I have concerns about sanitary conditions. I’d want to be sure I wasn’t eating food prepared in a kitchen where the family’s teacup poodle is washed in the kitchen sink. Are these ‘ghost’ kitchens visited by inspectors?
131
@itsmildeyes great point and something that diners should absolutely push on. It’s unclear regionally who is abiding by inspection protocol but in the US at least ghost kitchens risk being shut down if they aren’t complying. That’s even greater of a threat if they’re part of a chain like sweetgreen. A great idea for a follow up piece!
30
@Mike Isaac surprised you didn’t consider this in your article. What Uber Eats and the rest consider restaurants will be as flexible as we allow. In the past I’ve used these apps and the ratings seem super high and the food awful, when you look at the Same place on yelp or Facebook it has terrible reviews. Even if a ghost kitchen gets bad reviews, what’s stopping Uber eats from rebranding it and wiping the rating?
21
@Jesse hi jesse,
We did talk to inspectors though we ultimately felt that it was an entirely different story to go into that issue/problem. What I think would make a good follow up piece is if/when we found evidence of this not only becoming a trend but a mass occurrence of frequent health code violations and rule breakers. Stay tuned to see if we can land that story!
14
This sounds a bit alarming. A delivery service that is predominant in a location might ultimately decide which eatery does good and which goes bust.
So, it will not be the taste, quality and service of the food that will decide if a restaurant survives. A restaurant existing on the delivery list of an UberEats or a Door dash and the speed of delivery of that food will ultimately decide if a restaurant survives or not.
25
What about the safety of the food when there is no food inspection as there is with a sit down restaurant?
5
I really don't care for carry-out, let alone delivery. It's never fresh tasting and steams in the container. My first preference is going to an actual restaurant (with people and being social), or picking up the order. Delivery is not for me, nor do I want the additional wait time, fees, or disposal of more plastic into the environment.
10
@Michael I couldn't agree more... I've never really viewed cooking at home to be a burden... (And what's so great about rent-to-ride bikes, cars and scooters? Remember when we all hopped on our bike, or walked down the street to get someplace....?)
2
@Skip Descant
I used to ride my bike all over the place when I was a kid - times sure have changed. I'm from suburban NY, but I was in St. Louis this past weekend and there were scooters laying all over the place that I guess are part of a local rental program. They are so incredibly dangerous for pedestrians and almost got hit several times by riders zooming around the corners without looking.
2
Like Uber, people are being forced to pay a 30% share of profits to use the most basic of computer/web technology. The only real value of Grubhub/Seamless is they were first to market.
This is a extortion run monopoly if I have ever heard one, and needs to be regulated ASAP. Having a restaurant industry built on making up for a 30% profit loss will just lead to less healthy food.
11
It seems that the New York City tradition of free delivery is on its last legs. Soon we will no longer be able to phone in our delivery order to a real person or pay--and tip--the delivery guy in cash. Apps may be convenient for some, but they remove personal contact as surely as they raise delivery costs and keep the money which used to go to actual workers.
140
@Camille
Where do you park your horse?
I'm predicting this shift to all-takeout will have a limited lifespan. About like the lifespan of the hula hoop. And it ain't never 'gonna catch on in Bill, Wyoming or in Omaha either.
1
In India they have been doing this for ever. People make a living of delivering food in small, stackable metal containers that are produced in Independant kitchens and consumed by mostly office workers and such. Maybe they didn’t start with an app but the concept suggests startling similarities like how everybody seems to be poor.
5
We have eaten for years at a neighborhood restaurant that has shifted its focus from inhouse diners to an online clientele. Unfortunately for those of us that continued to eat there service got bad and the time to get a meal delivered to your table incredibly long because they have so many online orders to fill. We finally just stopped going there.
73
@Duxoup Attempting to eat out while witnessing a never ending stream of aggravated delivery guys coming in and out ruins the experience in itself.
23
In the city, we prefer "take out" to support our local restaurants. When we order in, if there's a mistake, we pretty much have to live with it. Also, tipping for delivery ahead of service is an odd way to go.
Also, VERY unhappy that GrubHub/Seamless are buying restaurant web domain names to the detriment of the restaurants themselves.
2
I ordered food for delivery all the time when I lived in the city (which for me was Cambridge, MA) but now that I live in the "country" (40 min northwest of Boston) I never order delivery - instead I pick up prepared foods from local grocery stores (yes, I still don't really cook). I see the niche for this in urban environments but I have this weird guilt about ordering for delivery: I feel like I need to make it worth the trip and order more than I would eat in one sitting. Then again, I'm stilling getting used to ordering one thing from Amazon at a time instead of aggregating a bigger order. Oh, this weird ordering guilt.
Live in NCal and lived in SF for many years and this fast food minimal kitchen venue delivery service sounds awful. Please do not put local smaller restaurants out of business. Gosh especially in San Francisco where awesome small mom and pop eateries give us such diverse food choices. Nothing like hopping out for a bite to eat in the City by the Bay for Dim sum, Vietnamese, Italian, Japanese, and more from the small eateries that dot city streets in every neighborhood.
11
I live in France where eating is not seeing as a way of consuming calories to get through the day, here eating is an experience. I cannot imagine giving up the whole experience of eating out with my husband. We only do it once a week, but the ambiance, the soft lights, the courtesy of the waitresses, the walk we do through the medival streets of our town are all part of the experience. I would never ever give up that!
Plus i cannot stop thinking on how much rubbish food delivery creates.
295
@Mocca
Eating in France is a wonderful relaxing experience for sure. Here everybody rushes in gobbles down their food and rushes out. Waiters have no clue as to etiquette of removing plates at the right time. Eating in France plan at least two hours. Bon Appetite!
27
@Mocca when I cycled with a group in France, we branched out into community stores after breakfast to gather supplies for lunch. A couple of people would be dispatched to a farmers' market for produce, another to the patisserie, another to the butcher. We used our panniers for what they were originally intended for! Of course, we visited wineries and brought a couple bottles of that, too. That was as "fast food" as things got!
22
@Mocca Unfortunately, this is a side effect of the work culture in the US in which encourages "face time" and long working hours, and rewards workers who slave away in the office for 12+ hours a day with blurring lines between work and personal life. I would love to slow down and enjoy a meal like this more often, but most days dinner delivered to my office is the most I can manage.
15
The Silver Palate did this 35 years ago but without an app. The shop was beautiful and an experience in itself. Everything old is new again.
3
People aren't getting out of their homes and are continuing to be couch potatoes. Food that arrives to you after a sometimes 20-minute car/bike ride is less fresh. There are all those plastic containers and plastic bags. More orders for food delivery means delivery guys are under more pressure. More cyclists and eBikes and scooters on already chaotic NYC streets means more danger for pedestrians.
What happened to socializing with friends and family over a nice leisurely meal?
Most food delivery customers don't appreciate all the hard work and the dangers that the delivery guys face. They aren't paid well enough, and customers barely acknowledge them as a human, much less thank them. They should be paid far far more money. Restaurants and Seamless/Grubhub need to be held accountable for reckless drivers. DoT and cops need to ticket anything on wheels, that doesn't obey all traffic laws.
Also, for those of us NYers who live alone, and can feel lonely at times, there is something about the very nature of food delivery that can add to that. A home will always feel more alive, more happy, with the smells and sounds of food being cooked in the home. Whether it's going to the market for ingredients and interacting with others, the zen act of chopping veggies, sauteeing, hearing the 'sizzle' of the onions...the aromas... and ultimately, sitting down to a meal you prepared yourself. Preparing our own meals is more natural, and better for us and the planet all around.
4
@Lisa
"More cyclists and eBikes and scooters on already chaotic NYC streets means more danger for pedestrians."
I spit out my coffee laughing, good one.
What’s most likely going to happen is that the average American in 2024 will be 400 lbs! Health care will become a National Crisis.
“. . . and deliver us from Fast Processed Food”
2
@TheHowWhy
...and then we can get our healthcare delivered to our door as well...!
The time spent waiting for the food to be cooked and arrive could be spent cooking. You can put more money into the ingredients, have a better meal, and have it served freshly prepared rather than warmed. Look at the price of a good filet mignon: how can you afford to have someone else prepare it?
5
@ThePB Most "kitchens" in new one bedroom/studio apartments barely have enough room to microwave something. Good luck preparing your filet mignon.
Some people just don't like to cook, not everyone is you.
Instead of shaming people for wanting to pay someone to cook their food for them, how about we find a more sustainable solution for people who want to pay someone to cook food for them.
2
What about food safety? Actual restaurants are inspected for cleanliness, food temperature storage and preparation, etc. I was surprised there’s no mention of this in the article.
7
This practice is life threatening to those with severe food allergies. Restaurants should be required to disclose that they operate out of a ghost kitchen, or that other foods not on their menu may be prepared using their equipment. I am highly allergic to calamari/squid/octopus so I have to scour restaurant menus to weigh the risk of cross contamination.
If another business runs out of the same kitchen with a completely different menu but using the same equipment, there's no way for me to know. So I may think I'm safe to order french fries, but if it ends up my food is also cooked in the same oil as fried calamari, I won't know until my throat closes up.
2
@Lucy R. Or just don't order from seamless/grubhub until they post food allergy information?
God created man straight, but they sought novelties, as Ecclesiates (7:29) approximately says.
I would not trust the food apps of any restaurant, be it even -- what horror! -- a Michelin three-star eatery that ventures into this domain.
“Why would a restaurant be working with us if we weren’t helping them increase their orders?”
Because we feel obligated. Because all of the other restaurants on the street are doing it.
There are so many reasons not to, though, beginning with the shrill cry of the tablet alerting staff to an incoming order. It can be heard all over the dining room.
These delivery services send untrained people into the restaurant to crowd the bar or the host stand waiting to pick up orders, hassling staff and creating an unwelcoming environment for the guests who are there to enjoy a meal.
The quality of product that the delivery guest receives is so much poorer than what they’d get if they came into a restaurant. Food gets cold, mushy, jumbled...I can’t imagine ordering curly fries from a restaurant via Uber Eats - you might as well just set $6 on fire.
For restaurants with no brick-and-mortar establishment, these delivery services might be ideal. For everyone else, they’re a pain in the neck. I couldn’t point to a single staff member at any restaurant that’s enthusiastic about any one of these so-called “services.”
175
@KRM Absolutely! Not a special meal or anything, but now if I walk out of my office down the street to Potbelly's I wait and wait and wait...while the employees respond to app orders. They are not going to hire more employees.
If millennials and Gen Z say baby boomers have ruined their world, maybe they should look at their personal acquiescence to the app, subscription, and sharing economy. Money down the drain for convenience, and especially with food, not even good quality.
26
@KRM It's extortion plan an simple.
Grubhub/Seamless ran a multi-year (sometimes racist) campaign about how hard it is to call in to order delivery/takeout from restaurants.
Now if you aren't on Grubhub/Seamless you get 0 takeout orders. Thats a loss of 20-30% of the business.
Now, you have to go on grubhub and seamless, yes, you get 50-70% more takeout orders, but after their massive cut of profit, you still make the same 20%-30% of the business income as you used to with "old" phone takeout orders. You are just working a lot more, making a lot more orders, more stress.
So basically Grubhub and Seamless have forced restaurants to do more takeout orders, with little to no additional profit.
These monopolies need to be regulated, or banned in NYC.
27
The huge amounts of single use containers, utensils, plates in the take out industry is a foolish shortsighted illusion of "convenience" when really we're creating piles of garbage that our offspring will be swimming in for as many years as we have left on this planet that we treat with righteous disregard. Eat at a restaurant, relax and think about how you might make the world a better place for every living thing. A enjoy your generosity for the service that people bring to you by tipping!
47
Discuss the Waste in Landfills. Here we are with Climate Change and more and more Trash. This is so sad. Please consider slowing down your
Life and cooking.
21
To all the naysayers of these delivery apps, please remember that nobody is forcing you to use these apps.
If you want to cook a lovely meal at home for you and your significant other, have at it.
If you want to enjoy the experience of dining at a nice restaurant, jump in the car and get moving.
It's all about choices.
It's nice to have options.
3
@OnTheBrink It may be about 'choices', but sometimes we need to open up people's eyes to the impact of their actions.
It's sorta like saying that no one forces Americans to buy SUVs, but rather that it's all about 'choices'.
1
@Lisa As far as opening peoples eyes to the impact of their choices; I have been a vegetarian for about 10 years now. When I first "converted", I was always telling people the benefits of eating more fruits and vegetables, less meat and getting more exercise. I understand that a lot of it fell on deaf ears. No harm, no foul.
I came to realize that humans are going to human.
Good, bad or indifferent.
In todays society, a majority of people are only concerned about the consequences of their actions as they pertain to their daily lives.
2
Read “My Frantic Life as a Cab-Dodging, Tip-Chasing Food App Deliveryman” in this paper and the subsequent “DoorDash Changes Tipping Model After Uproar From Customers” for an understanding of the impact this phenomenon will have on delivery persons.
6
I love it......but, how do you trust the driver not to eat part of your meal? How do you deliver fast enough to keep the food hot and fresh? I bet someone will figure this out!
1
When Guide Michelin awards stars to take-out eats, it'll be time for me to say ciao, world.
3
Isn't this the business model of just about every corner Chinese restaurant going back a few decades?
7
Who makes the money here, The restaurant or the app? My guess it’s the app
12
Been like that in China for nearly a decade now and I’d say my life quality has definitely improved.
1
Makes me think of the 19th-century novel, "Looking Backward," by Edward Bellamy, in which all food is cooked in central kitchens. People could eat in central dining halls or, if they wished, have their meals delivered. Finally coming true?
6
I cook our meals. My wife is an invalid, and we use delivery service every once in a while. I just find delivery food is not as good as in the restaurant, and the paper bags and plastic dishes and utensils seriously detract from the experience.
24
@Don Feferman
Yeah delivery generates so much waste for the environment, I feel guilty every time I order.
4
Take-out or delivery has long been an option for people who are elderly or otherwise not able to get around. It is nothing new. There’s always been a disconnect there between the folks making the food and the people eating it. Apps and smartphones or tablets are doing what they do best which is keeping people from looking up from their devices and realizing that there’s a real world out there with real people. Getting a meal, getting a taxi, getting a date, and many other things are gamified by apps.
Many industries and companies create apps for their clients to make things easy and convenient when in reality they keep our heads down on our devices longer and not up from the real world around us.
Food from a “ghost kitchen”? Are you serious?! Who do you complain to about a water bug or rat tail in your food, or the salmonella or e-coli that made you violently ill? The delivery apps surely don’t think it’s their responsibility. They’re just the messengers. Do cities inspect these kitchens? Can they even find them? It’s in apartment 5B but there’s no 5th floor at that address.
That sound you hear is the startups and investors laughing their way to the bank.
26
Well put. I have a cafe that is, to a vast amount of people, "invisible" because these days it's not your actual physical presence that makes you noticeable, but whether or not you show up on an app. but it's being a part of a community that makes this work interesting to me, so I continue as I am. what is lost is much of what makes community.
55
@lise You are doing the right thing.
5
Where is all the joy in life? Are we headed toward a world where we never leave our homes and devices? All shopping, dining, and communicating can be done digitally without any interaction with real people? Not for me.
The environmental implications of moving all those goods and food around in packages and planes, trucks, cars, motorized bikes, etc. will be the death of us.
Save us from the "smart" techies who think that disrupting/reshaping everything in life is the only way to live in the future!
103
@SJC
I agree and think I have now seen it all regarding digital disengagement with one another, including with "loved ones," when yesterday I watched a father looking at his cell phone while pushing a stroller in a park, then stopping while still glued to the phone, and his toddler climbing out and running into a fountain splash pool and frolicking without supervision, but just as importantly, without the father seeing the joy of his child at play.
43
@SJC
No kidding! Articles like this make me happy I’m older and have no cell phone. If I’m hungry I’ll cook or go to a restaurant where I will enjoy the ambiance.
25
I see this too and am so thankful I daydreamed while pushing my daughter and we pointed at bugs and butterflies, etc. the small talk of engagement.
17
I didnt read the whole article but around where I live, the restaurants are pulling back from this. They have found that they are being ripped off by these delivery companies. They are like any other gig economy. Not really good for anybody.
31
@The Wizard Ayn Rand would like her talking points back.
4
My local Pizza Hut has been a delivery and take-out only storefront, with no seating, for several years. Not too different than a virtual restaurant.
4
Mine too. I don’t get food there. I go to the Mom and Pop next door and get a fresh hot pizza with table service.
11
There are different types of food deliveries nowadays. One can get the required food by directly calling the restaurant concerned and ordering the same. The other methods being the App method and ordering the food through a third party, which has connections with a number of restaurants.
This facility has become very popular in Indian cities mainly because of the reason it not only suits the customers since they have the choice to eat their favourite food on the comfort of homes but also due to non availability of seats in the popular restaurants on account of too much demand.
3
From reading the comments, you would think ordering "take out" was a new phenomenon. If the business has a license and is subject to sanitary inspections the impact on profits by reducing overhead can make/break a restaurant. Guess what, people get sick from brick and mortar restaurants, food trucks and food carts. In the end, it is literally a question of taste and service.
4
@RonRich
One more point......it's small scale catering.
3
Another example of the disruption of the food delivery system, next frontier, healthcare...good luck with that one!!
2
@Thérèsenyc1 Oh yes, what a disruption. What a catastrophe for mankind!
Gimme a break!
Our society continues to plummet to a Wall-e-like reality.
59
It's unbelievable to me how this entire article about delivery apps 'revolutionizing the restaurant industry' fails to include even one mention about how these apps thrive on the poor labor conditions of their drivers, to the detriment of society (not to mention transportation safety). The times even did a piece recently about how around the world these apps are allowing exploitation of undocumented migrant workers who are subcontracted to work for slave wages (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/16/business/uber-eats-deliveroo-glovo-migrants.html); can't there at least be a link to that article or at least a quote or mention of those criticisms? No, it seems the only whiff of criticism of the food delivery apps this article can offer is that they 'might threaten the emotional connection of a chef to his diners'. This article seems woefully superficial.
86
@Dannypanama
Some drivers are students or people looking for extra money. Uber drivers I’m told make about net $20 an hour.
If true, not bad for part time work.
3
@Peter Z It would be but it's not true. Most Uber drivers make less than $10/hour gross. Add in fuel costs, car maintenance and depreciation and they are making next to nothing.
18
@Dannypanama Wow, you have lots of issues
If I deliver food, I make $X per hour plus tips. Wow, that is so third world. Amazing how we can even function as a society when we have such anarchy /s
NYC delivery folks do not drive car. We all walk or bike.
2
I don't understand the point of this. We occasionally order takeout, but if I want to go to a restaurant I want to BE in the restaurant. Mostly we cook and eat at home, and I just can't imagine doing this.
21
I'm guessing you're over the age of 35.
6
I cook most of my family’s meals, but sometimes we get delivery. Mostly things I don’t do well (yet): sushi, Indian, Thai, fried chicken. I love the convenience.
3
If you want delivery - call a local restaurant directly. Pay cash. And tip generously.
36
Delivery apps greatly increases restaurants business. Avoiding them isn’t some progressive revolt to save small businesses.
6
@Brooklyn Dog Geek
You do understand that businesses only make money when their income exceeds their expenses, right? That's how business works. If a business has to pay a service a cut of their income to do something (like, deliver), then that business is making less money than they would otherwise. Increased business means nothing if profit is lower.
5
@Brooklyn Dog Geek
First and foremost, delivery apps greatly increase the income of delivery apps
10
Eats in North America, said the company analyzes neighborhood sales data to identify unmet demand for particular cuisines
This kind of data, a person's dietary requirements is considered a form of PII, personally identifiable information a d typically considered sensitive. This information can be used for ethinic and religious profiling - so what is Uber and other companies doing to both safeguard this data but also not exploit in the form of unwanted promotions, or spam?
You think it's not a big deal, then tell me your blood type, your surname and email address!
4
Nobody cares about regulations until people get sick. Typical American mentality--do nothing until there is a crisis.
15
@RAB meh it's still a restaurant. If they have e.coli in their food they're still liable.
2
a friend works in one of these in Madrid, it is a ghost kitchen that serves 6 restaurants (each a different cuisine: sushi, vegetarian, burger, etc). the total # of workers in these 6 ghost restaurants? TWO. they just heat the food and pack it for the delivery guy. the owner is o opening the third of such kitchens soon.
2
These aren’t restaurants. These are all fast food places. Talk to me when Chez Panisse is closing their door because of Uber Eats
18
Ah, the coastal elites again think that their experience is what all Americans experience!
9
@Skier I bet its happening in SLC, which is far from the coast. Alta, by the way, is pretty elite.
2
Wow. Fake restaurants.
13
Couldn't Mr. Lopes have put a glove on before putting his hand on top of that chicken sandwich??
Gross. I don't think I'd order from there after seeing that picture.
27
@Laidback
How do you know that isn't his lunch?
3
@Laidback Yeah I thought the same thing. If that's the kind of hygiene at these "ghost kitchens" I'll stick to the more traditional restaurants.
2
@Laidback
The glove would have only protected Mr. Lopes' hand. Wherever the gloved hand goes, it still picks up bacteria. A cook may pick up the raw chicken to cook it and then make the cooked chicken sandwich. There's no difference unless they change gloves with every single task. And if they have to put a tray of chicken into the oven, couldn't the glove potentially burn faster than their hand? The gloves are a joke.
1
Now if there was just a way to cutout the middleman and high commissions. Drivers, customers and producers using an app that doesn't take too much, works passively(cheaply) to get everyone the best value. Drivers getting paid decent, producers getting paid decent, customers getting cheap food delivered to their door.
Looking forward to seeing this trend go the way of the automat.
24
First went the shopping experience in interesting stores, now the socializing opportunities in a public environment, progress? Sad is what it is.
39
Will the geniuses of silicon valley start working seriously on environmental problems rather than accelerating them by encouraging long-distance consumption of heavily packaged junk food?
137
@Pc You make a good point, to a point. In fact, there are many "geniuses" in SiliValley and its extensions dedicated to working on environmental problems. The problem is, they just don't make the sexy copy that does the hedonism of easily-accessible food (or other lifestyle excesses).
3
This is great for small businesses, and start-up businesses, but do they have to adhere to the same health codes as restaurants here in NYC that receive the ever-present letter grades? I'd be a little skeptical about ordering from a place that isn't regularly inspected by the health department.
8
@Brett
In NYC I believe you're technically not allowed to cook from home and sell. You must have an inspected kitchen, etc. I don't think this will stop people, though.
1
Re-shape how you eat by learning how to cook.
Over the weekend I made West Indian curry chicken. Last night I made chicken tacos. Tonight I might make a big salad (with hard boiled eggs, feta, chick peas, black olives, or whatever is on hand).
31
@Third.Coast It sounds great in theory, but many of us ubanites or singles live in tiny places with small (or even non-existent) kitchens. I would learn how to cook if I had a bigger kitchen, a kitchen sink tht doesn't get clogged constantly, and more available time.
6
@Third.Coast
What's with all the smug replies about how virtuous people believe they are for cooking at home? It has nothing at all to do with the article. Amazingly enough, people can cook from home most of the time and still occasionally want (or need) to order in!
I cook/prepare dinner almost every night. But after a few nights in a row working until 8-9 PM or later, you better believe I need a break and look forward to ordering in.
12
Wow. You are amazing!
3
Even when using apps like seamless or grubhub to look for food places, my friends and I always call the restaurants to place orders instead of directly ordering through the app. It really helps to prevent profits of local restaurants being eaten up by commission fees for those delivery apps!
25
@Joy so do you pick it up or have it delivered? Not clear.
@Sharon A surprising amount of restaurants actually have their own delivery services. Although with the increase in people using delivery apps, who knows if this will still be a thing in the near future...
2
The last few paragraphs say it all. Uber told the chef to make burgers.
Virtual restaurants? Please. This is essentially franchised fast food delivered by fossil fuels and packaged for landfill.
201
Don't forget cold. The best anyone can say is the food was cooked a long time ago. If one was served this at the restaurant, most would not be pleased.
Freshly prepared is not held in a warmer for a half hour.
5
"Ghost" restaurants, Uber/Lyft, AirBNB - they all have the business model of breaking/skirting the law by avoiding regulation. The whole idea of regulation of these areas is to protect the public. If the regulations are harmful, change them, but don't support businesses that flaunt the rules and destroy the businesses and their workers who do obey the law.
60
@FE I eat hot dogs from a street vendor and thousands eat food prepared in a truck - trust me, no one in NYC cares about regulations at lunch time.
4
@Ben
Trust me, when people were getting sick and dying from e-coli contamination, everyone cared about regulations and sanitation.
25
@Third.Coast "Everyone" is getting sick and dying from e-coli?
Who exactly is everyone you refer to? Where are you getting your facts from? Please link the sites
I lived here all my life. Never got sick. All my friends and family - never got sick. Ever
2
I was at an upscale hotel on Central Park South, went down to grab some coffee, water and a danish. Came back to the room $22 lighter.
About 15 minutes later, my wife discovered Door Dash. I d/loaded the app, searched for the area restaurant we wanted and ordered. We decided upon Dunkin' Donuts and wound up spending less than what I spent at the hotel's quick-serve. Bkfast for 4, two kids/two adults, came in under $20, including the tip.
This will have an impact on area hotels, once guests realize the app can actually deliver food to a hotel. If I just want a quick lunch, but dont want to spend $75, as we did, I can simply order online and save.
Our next trip into NYC will definitely be a much less expensive endeavor now that we found these apps.
BTW - No, I do not work or am affiliated in any way with any of these companies.
11
@Ben Staying in a nice hotel on Central Park South and ordering Dunkin Donuts food to eat in the room is no triumph of ingenuity. It's dismal. Next time, will your family huddle together to watch a movie on your laptop? Think how much cheaper than theatre tickets!
102
@Katharine Weber
I think it is a "triumph of ingenuity". Just because he is staying on Central Park South it's not OK for him to be price-concious about his good?
Your comment is what is "dismal"
10
@Ben You couldn't walk out of the hotel and gone to Dunkin Donuts or a sandwich place and gotten the same meals for less (no delivery charge)? You would be experiencing NYC as well - isn't that why you are visiting?
8
As someone with a number of food allergies and is retired on a fixed income, I worry about how this will affect the smaller neighborhood restaurants I tend to frequent. I recall a couple of times in the last year where waiters who know me as a regular, warned me about changes in recipes where a dish I used to get now has something in it I am allergic to. I am pretty sure that no app will be able to work with me on this.
I went to a new restaurant yesterday, and discovered that every dish but one on the menu had something I am allergic to in it. Half of those I only found I couldn’t eat as usually prepared by asking about the ingredients. I was able to order one of the dishes to be prepared without tomatoes (one of my allergies) only with the help of the waiter and the cook. And for their help, I tipped them generously.
I can just see ordering something from one of these ghost kitchens, only to have to throw it out because of some unlisted ingredient. It would be waste of food and money.
6
@AS Pruyn the food being delivered is the same food that is on the menu at the restaurant. If you have concerns or worries, simply dont use the app or that particular vendor.
Pretty simple answer.
5
@Ben
ASP's point is that by ordering in person at the restaurant, they aren't limited by the menu.
Knowledgeable waiters can give detailed answers about ingredients.
The food can be custom tailored to the restaurant patron.
You can't get that through an app delivery service when you are limited to only picking from the menu.
14
@Ben It is not necessarily the same food as on the menu at the restaurant. I know someone who told me that he has a different menu and price point for the apps used at his restaurant as he would go broke charging the same amount thru the app. The ghost restaurants have no real location, and other articles have had restaurant owners state that they have to change recipes to make them better suited for delivery - they are in essence dumbed down.
9
These apps work for certain restaurants but not all. Seeing how these apps operate in a restaurant I work in, I'll never use them. They're awful.
6
@P And specifically why are they awful? How does your "working in a restaurant" relate to how these apps work from a practical and convenience POV?
I owned a restaurant and would have loved to have had this an option. Another source of revenue for a small monthly buy-in paid to the app
1
@Ben,
Many dishes don’t travel well and customers tend to blame kitchen for that. Second, delivery folks demand orders be prepared right away because they’re on the clock. A busy kitchen can’t rush delivery orders while still taking care of diners at tables. That’s not how kitchens operate. They’re not McDonald’s where it’s just a matter of bagging burgers sitting under a lamp.
22
@Ben my working in a restaurant means I have to deal with DoorDash blasting our phones and kitchen with multiple of the same order when we had told them NO we don't want to be a part of their service. That we will not be taking anymore orders because it does not benefit the overall service/experience we provide to our customers.
The rep kept badgering any person answering the phone to fulfill the order and wouldn't accept our request
They clog up the service we are giving diners in the restaurant. No thanks.
You may have owned a restaurant but not everyone wants these apps and they are making foodservice worse for certain restaurants
1
Something needs to be done about delivery food packaging and additional carbon emissions if delivered by car.
16
@late adopter
if the delivery doesn't occur through an app , or the customer drives to collect , do they pay carbon fee?
2
@late adopter in NYC they walk or use bikes
1
@late adopter
Well I'm not sure the car delivery IS additional carbon emissions. After all, if a delivery person takes food to 10 people, that's 10 people not driving to a restaurant or drive-through. Is it equivalent, or possibly even lower carbon emissions to have the delivery? Perhaps it is. I've long thought that door-to-door delivery as with Amazon saves in vehicle emissions because of the avoided additional trips to the store for each person receiving a package. (The packaging is another issue, but also not straightforward, considering boxes and bags from a store.)
3
Another argument for UBI.
Virtual!? Fly by night is a better description.
7
For us there are two types of food: those that work for delivery and those that don't. We winnow our delivery list down by experience. Deli, pizza, some burgers. Some foods can be heated up via microwave without much damage. Pizza reheats well in a counter top oven.
We would never order any chef driven food for deliver. Fries are a limp soggy disaster delivered. Sushi from neighborhood places works well. Like all things in life, some good and some bad. Learn from experience.
The other night while watching a movie about Ramen, I got a yen, called a nearby Ramen place and had a steaming bowl in front of me in 30 minutes. That's NEW YORK!
9
@Joel NYC
Ridiculous.....you could have made the same dish at home in half the time.
6
@hometeam how does one create tonkotsu broth in 15 minutes?
7
@Ariel Exactly (he must think all Ramen comes in plastic bags with the pouch of "flavorings.")
2
For a small extra fee the ghost kitchen will pre-chew your food for you
55
@Larry D’Oench Forget chewing. We should all aspire to pre-digested and maybe just skip the entire process altogether, drive by a sewage processing facility and call it eating out.
This is not making me particularly hungry anymore. In fact, outright starvation is beginning to kind of gain some appeal.
8
@Martino
Really, you can't expect someone to binge watch Netflix, scroll through their phone, AND chew at the same time! Celebrity chef IV's are the next step in this downward spiral.
3
@Martino
Laugh out loud...not abbreviated LOL!
3
Gag me. The ubiquity of junk food.
33
I'm wondering about the demographics for this kind of food consumption? It's a convenience but consumers pay for it. It's more expensive and less healthy in so many ways. I'm also wondering how long this trend will last? Will it replace home cooking? Will it replace fast food? Will it replace the destination restaurant? Will it lead to greater obesity?
4
@EmilyBooth
How exactly does the act of placing food in a delivery container turn it "less healthy in so many ways?" This oughta be good...
Personally, I order delivery a decent amount, and if you're confused about why then this seems like a case of "if you have to ask, you'll never know."
5
@EmilyBooth Nope, not more expensive. See my post above
1
@EmilyBooth
3.5 years
no
no
no
yes
2
The uncovered hand on the chicken sandwich...
67
@ramsen
EXACTLY what I thought
7
@ramsen If you actually think that the food being prepared in your sit-down restaurant isnt undergoing the same "non-gloved" hand procedure, then you are sorely mistaken
Are you that naive to think that just because it is a delivered item, that it is going to be less clean, less healthy, etc. than ANY other food item that is prepared in a kitchen?
Let me guess - you aint from NYC are you?
11
@ramsen Ditto!
1
I keep swearing off these services because of delivery fees but convenience sometimes gets the best of me. However, I’d order a heck of a lot more if there was no or a minimal delivery fee. It should be between free and 99 cents. Currently delivery fees are $3.99 to $5.99 NOT including taxes or tips. It really adds up.
8
@Ms Korunova
And how do you expect the people delivering the food to your doorstep to be paid, exactly?
5
Technology contributing to the dumbing-down of the palate -- just as on-line music has dumbed down the ear for aural fidelity. Yes, some prepared hot food works OK when delivered after sitting in a hotbox for some amount of time, but much dining is best experienced when the steps from kitchen to table are brief and the meal isn't sweating (or entropically cooling) in some closed container. Delivery and its cousin of takeout are undoubtedly a convenient, but one loses something -- in food quality, in human interaction -- by giving up the in-person restaurant.
48
We never order food to be delivered, still preferring to shop for quality ingredients and cook at home (in the summer we have a farm share for fruits and vegetables). It’s a lot less expensive, and the food is better and healthier.
BTW, we own our own business and work 7 days a week, but still feel that the time spent for food shopping and meal preparation is worth it. We have our mothers to thank for that...
104
@BJ So, a person who doesn't order takeout is not allowed to comment on the cons of ordering takeout? What are your other editorial rules for commenters in the comment section. David makes a good point. Americans order takeout a great deal, leaving literally tons of plastic takeout containers to further pollute our already compromised environment.
24
@David
Also, some of what goes on in kitchen restaurants is appalling in terms of hygiene (or lack thereof).
A waiter picks up an armful of plated entrees, but before he makes it to the dining room, a steak falls off one of the plates. So what does he do? Well, he's under tons of pressure cuz the place is so ungodly busy, so he picks the steak up off the floor and puts in back on the plate and serves it to the unsuspecting patron.
These kinds of things do happen.
Much less germy to eat at home.
Soon robots will deliver the food to us in our shelter-pods, so we never have to untether from our devices.
Ever read E.M. Forster’s “The Machine Stops”?
54
See also “Wall-E.”
10
Technology is wonderful but what quality control measures for hygiene etc will govern this industry? The place where your food is prepared could be a little hole in the wall place near a garbage dump or worse.Who is to know?
49
The BBC recently tried the oversight done by Uber Eats in the UK; there seems to be none: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-48762211/shocking-fake-takeaway-sold-on-uber-eats
4
@Camlin and the hygiene for the person and car delivering it - (seen it in person and thought from the smell of the individual delivering, I don't know if I would want food from them)
4
Are these establishments regulated? In NYC is the Dept of Health inspecting them?? Do they have the same rating system as restaurants? Can anyone from the NY Times comment or follow up?
130
@Stephen
If they're selling food, they're regulated like any other commercial kitchen... Why would you think any differently?
8
@asdfj
It’s not clear to me that they would have to be regulated or inspected. What would stop me from selling my homemade whatever out of my own apartment via one of these apps?
21
@asdfj
"If they're selling food, they're regulated like any other commercial kitchen... Why would you think any differently?"
This is NY. A guy who attempts suicide is not on suicide watch.
9