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California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

leginfo.legislature.ca.gov

361–370 of 663 posts

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#361
post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand how couriers are extracting any margin from restaurants.

The courier price (in the app) isn't the same price as the one when you physically go into the restaurant. IIRC its 25~35% higher. Source - good friend is a restaurant owner.

If I buy something from you for $10 and then sell it to someone else for $15, I haven't taken anything away from you. You have your price and I have mine.

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#362
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The misrepresentation would seem to be the big thing. Someone, let's call them Joe, publishes a list of restaurants online with links to their menus and offers to deliver for the price of the order with tip plus a $10 delivery fee. And has a clear disclaimer that they're not affiliated with the businesses. That seems pretty unobjectionable. And how would the restaurant even know? [ADDED: Subject of course to any heal…

> some consumers will still tend to blame Sally's Piping Hot Burgers when their burger arrives soggy and cold A friend who manages an excellent restaurant says that this is indeed a problem. One of their signature dishes is fried chicken, and it is glorious. They optimize everything about the meal with the understanding that it's 15-30 seconds from the kitchen to the table. But those are the wrong choices for 15-30 m…

This is fair point but what stops these businesses from refusing to do food pick up. Especially, if they know food won't taste good if not consumed within a few minutes. I rather resturants remove to-go option instead of blaming delivery companies.

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK, this seems more like a mixed-bag to me on account of being opt-in instead of opt-out. Absolutely I agree that businesses should be able to easily opt out of being listed on a given delivery platform if/when it causes problems for them. But on the flip side, I've observed a lot of restaurant owners not having the time, energy, or know-how to set up even basic online things that could really boost their business.…

> Not to mention, of course, any new entrants! This law will make it much harder to compete with "the next Doordash". Well of course the law will make it much harder to compete to be the next predatory, deceitful company that pretends to be small businesses! That’s the whole point of this law. Some business practices are unethical and relying on them to grow should be made illegal.

Will there be a "next DD"? It seems that they were hard pressed to make money despite the pandemic. Who wants to pick up the baton and continue losing money?

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#364

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IDK, this seems more like a mixed-bag to me on account of being opt-in instead of opt-out. Absolutely I agree that businesses should be able to easily opt out of being listed on a given delivery platform if/when it causes problems for them. But on the flip side, I've observed a lot of restaurant owners not having the time, energy, or know-how to set up even basic online things that could really boost their business.…

Now that I think about it, I think this law could also hurt competition even amongst established players, allowing them to squeeze restaurants even harder. Imagine platforms A, B, and C. Platform A approaches Daisy's Cafe offering an amazing deal on a delivery partnership, as long as the Cafe agrees not to use any other delivery companies. Daisy asks around and hears great things about Platform A, so she says yes – w…

We’re at a point with this pandemic that those who will purchase with delivery platform have likely developed some form of affinity towards a preferred vendor or two.

A bigger issue is that few restaurants will survive through the extended statewide shutdowns. Delivery is meant to be a small route of generating revenue, rather than the sole revenue stream. The overhead costs of a retail storefront and operations will destroy most restaurants, if it hasn’t already.

Separately, these delivery apps and services are terrible, unprofitable businesses. None of the platforms have turned a profit despite the once in a lifetime opportunity with all customers being locked inside... all these platforms are optimized to run on VC money as they are garbage ventures that cannot make money. The IPOs are rushed to give VC money a way out of the ticking timebomb.

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, okay, I’ve edited my post to say that “this is not a clear disclaimer”.

Please try to avoid dragging interlocutors through long threads, knowing they'll be downvoted at each step - it was extremely clear from step 1 what they meant, you didn't need it clarified over several comments to reach this conclusion.

[deleted]

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#366
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The misrepresentation would seem to be the big thing. Someone, let's call them Joe, publishes a list of restaurants online with links to their menus and offers to deliver for the price of the order with tip plus a $10 delivery fee. And has a clear disclaimer that they're not affiliated with the businesses. That seems pretty unobjectionable. And how would the restaurant even know? [ADDED: Subject of course to any heal…

I went to pickup a take out order for my wife the other day and the cashier asked if this was a personal order? I was so confused I didn't even know how to answer and just asked "personal order meaning what". She answered, "I mean you're not with door dash or something right, you personally made the order?". It was a pretty baffling exchange and maybe this misrepresentation speaks to some of that.

There’s reports of delivery sites trying to hide that they’re delivery sites when they pick up the order. Normally a DoorDasher uses a DoorDash bag (it seems), but supposedly they don’t use it inside, and then put the order in the DoorDash bag in the car. Not sure how true it is though (it could just be people not wanting to hold up the line)

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a matter of expectation more than anything. Someone who orders food from a restaurant might expect that the restaurant has recipes designed for delivery. I wouldn't expect a top quality restaurant burger when I order delivery, but I'd still be disappointed if it were a soggy mess instead of the 5-8/10 I've come to expect from decent delivery options.

I think it IS a matter of expectation, yes. If I go and pick up something that doesn't sit around at room temperature well (let's say a milkshake), and drive 20 minutes home before eating it, I'm not going to ding the restaurant for the fact it's melted. If, however, milkshakes are offered for takeout (reasonable), but then a third delivery party gets involved and starts offering them for delivery, anyone ordering it…

The quality of the food really isn't a binary state, though. I think most people get the idea that delivery food isn't going to be as good as having it at a restaurant, but they're expecting a middle ground if the item is offered for delivery.

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> some consumers will still tend to blame Sally's Piping Hot Burgers when their burger arrives soggy and cold A friend who manages an excellent restaurant says that this is indeed a problem. One of their signature dishes is fried chicken, and it is glorious. They optimize everything about the meal with the understanding that it's 15-30 seconds from the kitchen to the table. But those are the wrong choices for 15-30 m…

This is fair point but what stops these businesses from refusing to do food pick up. Especially, if they know food won't taste good if not consumed within a few minutes. I rather resturants remove to-go option instead of blaming delivery companies.

Legally the only way to acquire restaurant food over here atm is takeout or delivery. They can't just not offer it.

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#369
post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The misrepresentation would seem to be the big thing. Someone, let's call them Joe, publishes a list of restaurants online with links to their menus and offers to deliver for the price of the order with tip plus a $10 delivery fee. And has a clear disclaimer that they're not affiliated with the businesses. That seems pretty unobjectionable. And how would the restaurant even know? [ADDED: Subject of course to any heal…

This is actually the Postmates business model; they hire a delivery person to go to a restaurant, stand in line, and make the order. At no point does the restaurant know of the buyer’s existence. Well, minus the clear disclaimer, and also minus tipping people at the restaurant (tip goes to courier)

It’s probably because some restaurants have “banned” delivery app people. So, in this instance, the Postmate person can feign ignorance and act like they’re just ordering for a friend (which is a common thing).

Re: California law bans delivery apps from listing a restaurant without an agreement

#370

This is undeniably a good thing if you put yourself in the shoes of the restaurant. Imagine if someone went around impersonating your business online, leveraging the good name you have built for yourself over the decades. They create ads offering your expert development services, ostensibly competing with your existing website, but with intentionally slashed pricing and a ‘creatively’ misrepresented offering (aka gro…

It's also undeniably a good thing for customers as well. Using an unexpected intermediary in a transaction is a terrible experience. If I see a restaurant on GrubHub then I want to know that that restaurant wants orders coming through GrubHub. Otherwise, I'll be much better off calling up the restaurant directly. As it stands, I currently have to use Google Maps as my restaurant portal, using the restaurant's website or phone number to figure out how to place orders. Only if their website is or links out to a 3rd party like GrubHub do I then actually use GrubHub.

But if GrubHub only showed restaurants that were actually delegating their delivery to GrubHub, then I could use it as a portal. Right now it's not trustworthy for that purpose.

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