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People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

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Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#111

Post by throwthrowcatch »

MaintenanceMode wrote: post #4

It's disheartening that there's so much due diligence required just to conduct the most basic transactions right now. I have a narrow list of vetted restaurants, where I understand the costs and to the business, the delivery model, the safety (food handling and Covid precautions), and I only take out from these particular places. I tried a new place recently, only to find out I had been duped by Grub-hub, even though…

I wonder if Shopify + Delivery by Instacart/Postmates could help here (atleast for the listing part). If anyone is listening and personally knows a restaurant owner that had this done to them, they could convince them to go this route. Just my two cents.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#112

Post by milesskorpen »

cortesoft wrote: post #104
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is restaurants need a 3rd party platform. They aren't in the tech industry and they aren't going to hire a developer to build their own system unless its a global franchise. What we really need is for someone to build an open source / one time cost / subscription platform that gives restaurants the ease of using a premade system without the expense of having a per transaction fee.

What makes Grubhub/doordash/etc so valuable to consumers, though, wouldn't be replicated by a premade system like that, though, no matter how good it was. The killer feature is that it is a single market place. I go on the app, I can search through dozens of local restaurants, all with a consistent interface. I can place an order in a couple of clicks at a brand new restaurant I have never tried, and I dont have to e…

I think the challenge here is that all the competitors are exceptionally well funded venture backed companies that are fighting to be the winner who takes it all. We don't know what this market would look like without the flood of exceptionally venture money to finance the engineers and discounts and all.

Sustainable delivery would probably more bifurcated. I could imagine a range of food types that are delivery-centric (think pizza & Chinese) in areas with cheaper rents & smaller (or non-non-existant) dining rooms, and more delivery-optimized (high margin, easy to transport) food, with their own delivery drivers - and that a lot of other venues wouldn't do delivery, or would partner w/ a service like Lyft or Postmates when necessary, and it'd be expensive.

I think this would be a healthier place to be.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#113

Post by cortesoft »

milesskorpen wrote: post #112
cortesoft wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes Grubhub/doordash/etc so valuable to consumers, though, wouldn't be replicated by a premade system like that, though, no matter how good it was. The killer feature is that it is a single market place. I go on the app, I can search through dozens of local restaurants, all with a consistent interface. I can place an order in a couple of clicks at a brand new restaurant I have never tried, and I dont have to e…

I think the challenge here is that all the competitors are exceptionally well funded venture backed companies that are fighting to be the winner who takes it all. We don't know what this market would look like without the flood of exceptionally venture money to finance the engineers and discounts and all. Sustainable delivery would probably more bifurcated. I could imagine a range of food types that are delivery-cent…

It might be healthier for the restaurants, but it doesn't seem better for consumers. I want a solution that still lets me only have a single portal I have to interact with to order my food.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#114

Post by rickpmg »

radley wrote: post #103
rickpmg wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Food for thought (no pun intended) The value that GH added here was that they were higher up than any of the restaurant's competitors, too. So, absent of GH, that pizza sale, instead of going to GH, might have gone to a competitive pizza place. So the restaurant has to evaluate-- it is better that I get the order through GH, or that I don't possibly get the order at all, and it goes to a competitor?

That makes no sense. If I do a search for a restaurant by name, I'm not going to spontaneously pick a competitor because Grubhub wasn't there.

The parent didn't say how they found the new place... by name, or by searching for pizza [cityname]. You are right if it is the former.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#115

Post by jnettome »

maest wrote: post #24
rickpmg wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I tried a new place recently, only to find out I had been duped by Grub-hub So you found a new restaurant, the restaurant found a new customer, and grub-hub is cut out of the (future) picture. Didn't grubhub earn that commission in this case? I have no love (or hate) for grub-hub... but it seems like a business hired a salesperson on commission, knowing full well the parameters of the deal, and then gets upset when…

There is no proof GH added value here. Allow me to share a related story: In some places in Eastern Europe, for a while, you could see these people stand in front of empty, free parking spots in the street. As soon as they would see a car approaching they would wave their hands and signal you to park there. To be clear, these people were not afiliated with city hall or other public institutions in any way. If you dro…

Same here in Brazil.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#116

Post by splonk »

yedava wrote: post #82
mark-r wrote: post #34

So how do you avoid calling a 3rd party when Google won't show you the correct phone number?

Most restaurants have a website. Their real phone number will be listed there.

Just try to make sure you've found the real website and not one of Grubhub's autogenerated fake sites. They all look pretty similar so you'll be able to identify them after you've seen a few, but it's easy to mistakenly think you're at the real site the first time.

https://www.eater.com/2019/6/28/19171476/grubhub-seamless-cy...

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#117

Post by lapnitnelav »

MattGaiser wrote: post #19
MaintenanceMode wrote: post #4

It's disheartening that there's so much due diligence required just to conduct the most basic transactions right now. I have a narrow list of vetted restaurants, where I understand the costs and to the business, the delivery model, the safety (food handling and Covid precautions), and I only take out from these particular places. I tried a new place recently, only to find out I had been duped by Grub-hub, even though…

The due diligence is because the restaurants offer a terrible experience. Most still do not have an independent online ordering function. They want me to call. Most still haven't set up meaningful profiles on Yelp and other review sites. So I would need to root around to find contact information. That is in addition to needing to give my credit card over the phone, not knowing how long the order will take, and needin…

Yelp tends to be yet another scam in the same vein. It's fair to leave them out.

And even though your points are right, I am not sure those providers should charge as much. It's killing the golden goose in the long term, especially now.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#118

Post by bhargav »

cortesoft wrote: post #104
Polylactic_acid wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is restaurants need a 3rd party platform. They aren't in the tech industry and they aren't going to hire a developer to build their own system unless its a global franchise. What we really need is for someone to build an open source / one time cost / subscription platform that gives restaurants the ease of using a premade system without the expense of having a per transaction fee.

What makes Grubhub/doordash/etc so valuable to consumers, though, wouldn't be replicated by a premade system like that, though, no matter how good it was. The killer feature is that it is a single market place. I go on the app, I can search through dozens of local restaurants, all with a consistent interface. I can place an order in a couple of clicks at a brand new restaurant I have never tried, and I dont have to e…

I think you are calling for something like the Instacart Marketplace for restaurants. These already exists SkipTheDishes.com is one of them; they primarily do delivery.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#119

Post by rahimnathwani »

a_e_k wrote: post #81
tomc1985 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I beg to differ. None of the places I've placed orders with (and I've been doing it a lot what with quarantine) have ever asked for CC over-the-phone. Most just want my name, some a phone number. Ordering usually takes less time than it would to fiddle about with a bunch of dropdowns, even if it had my customer information already saved.

Speaking of information already saved, one of my favorite pizza places has my order history keyed to my phone number. Ordering ahead usually comes down to dialing them up, giving my name and phone number and telling them I'd like the same as last time. They read it off to me to confirm, quote me a waiting time, and that's that. Start to finish, the call is probably less than thirty seconds.

It's strange that they have to ask for those details. I wonder what software they use and why it doesn't look up the customer record based on caller ID, as soon as the phone starts ringing.

Re: People think they're calling restaurants directly but Grubhub is getting a fee

#120

Post by cortesoft »

bhargav wrote: post #118
cortesoft wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes Grubhub/doordash/etc so valuable to consumers, though, wouldn't be replicated by a premade system like that, though, no matter how good it was. The killer feature is that it is a single market place. I go on the app, I can search through dozens of local restaurants, all with a consistent interface. I can place an order in a couple of clicks at a brand new restaurant I have never tried, and I dont have to e…

I think you are calling for something like the Instacart Marketplace for restaurants. These already exists SkipTheDishes.com is one of them; they primarily do delivery.

How are they different than Grubhub or DoorDash? Their website looks just like the other ones
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