←back to thread

Wonder is acquiring Grubhub

(about.grubhub.com)
146 points endtwist | 2 comments | 13 Nov 24 19:12 UTC | HN request time: 0.008s | source
Show context
crmd ◴[13 Nov 24 19:33 UTC] No.42129122[source]▶
Support your local restaurants. Don’t let these vampire platform companies enshitify your city’s food scene.
replies(3): >>42129221 #>>42129294 #>>42129738 #
fragmede ◴[13 Nov 24 19:55 UTC] No.42129294[source]▶
Which is an empty platitude if restaurants won't meet customers where they are - on their smartphones. I'll use my local restaurants' app/webpage when there is one and get pick-up, but if there isn't one, I'll be real - I just use Doordash. When I've got people over and need to order food, it'll take 45 mins between everything else going on to figure out a restaurant, and then another hour to pick some food. And then someone changes their mind while on the phone with the restaurant. Orrrr (after we pick a restaurant) we just pass the phone around.
replies(4): >>42129380 #>>42129419 #>>42129760 #>>42132867 #
1. talldayo ◴[13 Nov 24 20:04 UTC] No.42129380[source]▶
Ah, but there's the catch. Resturants aren't meeting you there, Grubhub workers are. Resturaunts largely just optimize for takeout, and whether or not your food arrives warm is less of their problem and more of the Grubhub worker's issue. And as delivery drivers quit over low pay and their businesses go bankrupt, I really see no way for restaurants to support this behavior.

Additionally, you have to look at it from a pragmatic perspective. When I visit the East and West coast of the US, meal delivery is popular enough that you might think it's a booming business. Everywhere else it's pretty much dead though. In places where the cost of living isn't enough to compensate for a restaurant and their middleman (read: most of the US), you can't even find a driver most hours of the day. It's one of those nonsense businesses like Uber that seems like a great idea on paper but one that falls apart outside the Bay Area economy. Most places in America are not gentrified enough to pay peons gas money in exchange for hand-delivered McDonalds.

replies(1): >>42129625 #
2. fragmede ◴[13 Nov 24 20:29 UTC] No.42129625[source]▶
edited to be clear this is for pickup. a number of local restaurants meet me there.