How often do you use restaurant ordering services? (DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, etc.)

xp sorta

can't afford this

Used to be plenty of places around did their own delivery, back in the 90s/early 2ks (well, pre Menulog et al). We'd often get pizza/pasta/chinese. From local places, not chains. But, I do live in a big foodie city too.

But no, I no longer use Menulog and wont use Uber/grubhub/wtf ever. Even when I did use menulog I'd only use it for the ease of ordering and speciifcally pick restaurants that said they had their OWN drivers. Why? Because to be blunt I dont trust gig economy drivers/delivery ppl not to get lost/be late/eat my food.

Anyway its all moot now, given one evening of medium pizzas and a box of chips between me, my bf and the kids can end up costing us $70.

I don't. I actually don't pick up food at all - restaurants are expensive here, so either I cook, or I want a full restaurant experience where I am sitting. It's also out of principle against laziness / "convenience" and because those delivery jobs suck. Easier of course because I live super central in a small town.

And yeah, I get mad at excessive wrapping at the supermarket, so a kilo of plastic to eat one lunch or dinner is anathema.

i do this whenever i want whoch is rarely

i probably use Just Eat about once a week because i'm a terrible person

I remember thinking delivery sounded very decadent back in 2003: Where the hell my Chinese food at?🕸

easy knowing who comes from money

wow uncalled for! Not my fault you grew up in the middle of nowhere/hanging from the stern of a fishing boat

fond memories of my dad thinking that ordering a takeaway was the height of fall of the roman empire decadence

mind you he also thought kebabs were some kind of enemy within immorality so

was he wrong

jury out

^ responsible for croissants being straight now

no eu didnt

I've never done this. But then I've never had food delivered directly from a restaurant either.

I imagine this thread is showcasing contrasts in urban vs. exurban/suburban/rural disadvantages more than anything else.

― citation needed (Steve Shasta), Thursday, April 4, 2024 1:31 PM (yesterday)

eh i live in flushing and the number of fantuan/hungrypanda riders you see whizzing around... ed otm about the international chinese students.

i answered in my own personal capacity, which is never - i call it in and pick it up. but back when i was working in midtown my job would pay for seamless for working late hours and i'd get it almost every night - billing/reimbursement was all built into the seamless platform so it didn't make sense to call in orders. whatever happened to seamless, anyway?

there was this japanese bento box service in midtown serving japanese expats, mostly at the japanese banks - think they had a website or something, two choices a day. you'd make your selection the day before or in the morning or w/e and then pick it up at lunchtime. good stuff!

One thing that's interesting about this thread is that the decision to order delivery really comes in two distinct forms, which feel really different to me: "order from a restaurant via app vs. going to the restaurant and eating there" and "order from a restaurant via app vs. eating something I have at home"

some of the restaurants around here seem to be perpetually empty, nobody eating in, you wonder how they stay in business! then you see the steady stream of delivery guys walking in and out and it's like, oh that's how.

it’s a treasure trove of regional Chinese food, a lot of places don’t even have storefronts.

this is a good tip, i never thought about the ghost kitchens that must exist near me - time to get on the app!

Most restaurants everywhere look half empty ime.

xp idk, some of these ghost kitchens seem a little off

https://i.imgur.com/OnGEGW5.png

Holborn/the British Museum area has tons of regional Chinese places doing roaring Hungrypanda business. UCL, Soas, LSE, Kings and CSM/UAL all have tons of wealthy international students.

I suppose I would like ‘the apps’ better (and use them) if riders were not constantly telling people that their working conditions suck and amount to bogus self-employment.

If I had my way, street-facing retail space would be required to prioritize renting to businesses that actually have a reason for customers to come in and out. Not really sure if we have ghost kitchens near me though. I usually look places up separately before ordering from them.

eh i live in flushing and the number of fantuan/hungrypanda riders you see whizzing around...

― 龜, Friday, April 5, 2024 6:27 AM (one hour ago)

are these restaurants/services unsavvy enough to use Doordash/UberEats/GrubHub as a front/middle end (per OP)?

i went to a popeyes near me to eat there after going to a B&N and it was a little crazy how long it took us to get our food because everyone working was feverishly filling online orders. i mean it makes sense if you are driving and you just call them five minutes before you get there. but we didn't do that and we paid the modern day price for it. the local mcdonalds here is nuts like that between delivery services and the drive-thru. last time i was in there i heard the manager say she was going to go postal because of all the doordash orders and then she smacked her forehead on the food warmer because she was running so fast.

I'm amazed that "go postal" is still in use

she was pretty old. it was era-appropriate for her.

xp to steve i dunno! have never downloaded doordash to see what's available around me

one thing i hate are what i call skimmers - people who create a website based on a restaurant in the area and SEO it - it sits there routing orders from the web to the restaurant while taking a cut. the restaurant just sees online orders coming in i guess and doesn't know they're coming from a website that's impersonating their brand. often happens with immigrant owned places not savvy enough to have their own web presence. sometimes you'll google a place and it has 3 different websites that all purport to be the official one. just sucks. i think doordash was actually running this scam itself back in the day.

Yelp as well, also google has done it in the past, not sure if they still do.

I do this 1-2x a week probably. mostly when I’m working that day and am too tired to cook. the politics are questionable on balance but it’s great for lazy people with disposable income. modern life!

Doordash fucked me again. 3rd time. I ordered a Falafel Non-Pareil with Aeolian Cheese Bernaise sauce, major side of tenderized Purple Potato Jardiniere in Cocotte, minor side of Garnish Gnocchi. $100 tip. Guy was 4 hrs late and he saltburned my Civil War vet Great Uncle's grave

— The Heart of 2024 (@tupacdurex) April 8, 2024

I used'em in 2020 four or five times, stopped whe I realized I could get it faster and without fees by driving.

These days if I want to eat a restaurant meal I just go to the restaurant (I live solo).

i mean it makes sense if you are driving and you just call them five minutes before you get there.

There’s a company out there called mavi.io that allows you to order through the dashboard and uses the car’s gps to time your order being ready with your arrival.

just sucks. i think doordash was actually running this scam itself back in the day.

This is how door dash bullied restaurants onto its platform. I do recall though one pizza place they were doing this to where door dash were offering a discount over what the pizza place was selling pies for. The restaurant started putting in orders and getting paid more than it was shelling out.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/18/21262316/doordash-pizza-profits-venture-capital-the-margins-ranjan-roy

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I used to order for myself a cornucopia of items from a restaurant because I hated paying a $30 delivery charge/restaurant fee/tip for just nothing, and then would have to eat a mountain of food for a week which became very tiresome.

More recently I'm just ordering from delivery services when I have visitors and want to provide a dinner without cooking or having to go out at night. It's maybe a few times a year

Too often

how much are delivery fees in america? here it’s usually around 2$ with a 5$ minimum order.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/18/21262316/doordash-pizza-profits-venture-capital-the-margins-ranjan-roy

Ah there's the sanctimony that was sorely missing from the thread

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Lol only here would I have seen these results

I ordered a pizza using the Slice app last night. No delivery fees. Seems legit?

yeah Slice is legit, I've never used it but a few places I almost bought from use it

whoa these results, tracks with the discus I guess