Door Dash and Uber Eats (and others) lead to "ghost kitchens"

[Gil Bang 25907]

interesting development in the restaurant business

 

https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-01-30/that-canters-pastrami-takeout-you-ordered-might-be-coming-from-a-ghost-kitchen

[hayden_horn 11362]

huh. i mean, pizza delivery has been this for decades, so it's kind of funny that it is being viewed as innovative.

[Gil Bang 25907]

Edited January 31, 2020 by Gil Bang
because fuck you, that's why

[Gene Parmesan 4002]

30 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

huh. i mean, pizza delivery has been this for decades, so it's kind of funny that it is being viewed as innovative.

Exactly it's pretty rare to even see a major pizza chain restaurant that you can actually dine in at.

[immortal13 4059]

 Negged for long catting 

[justhookit 4191]

16 minutes ago, immortal13 said:

 Negged for long catting 

This. Wtf. It wasn’t too many clicks if you wanted to read it.

[BabaYaga 15286]

Why invest in an expensive brick/mortar facility designed to bring in customers when you can have a virtual shop.  That's what spawned all the food trucks.  Cut back significantly on your overhead.  

[Deej 76748]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

huh. i mean, pizza delivery has been this for decades, so it's kind of funny that it is being viewed as innovative.

But the pizza places had in-house delivery. They didn't have a middle man taking 30%.

[gsoda3 3245]

1 hour ago, hayden_horn said:

huh. i mean, pizza delivery has been this for decades, so it's kind of funny that it is being viewed as innovative.

 

29 minutes ago, Gene Parmesan said:

Exactly it's pretty rare to even see a major pizza chain restaurant that you can actually dine in at.

there are a few differences:

 

- the space is rented, not owned by the restaurant

- the space is shared between different competitors

- the startup costs are a LOT less than starting up a pizza franchise or something similar

 

it's about as slimmed down of an operation as you can get.  it'll be interesting to see the supply/demand dynamics play out.  wework tried to do this with commercial office space, but their problem was there was way too much supply.  with this, the supply's not as readily available and the demand is definitely out there.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13506]

grocery stores are experimenting with this as well. Instead of having clerks go up and down aisles designed for consumers, it's more efficient to create a warehouse-only grocery store used for deliveries.

And if you're someone like Instacart, why wouldn't you want a single warehouse that contains SKUs from all of the grocery stores you service. Kroger, Aldi, HEB, whoever delivers a storeload of items to your warehouse. Then HEB refreshes the Instacart warehouse just in time.

Opens up many possibilities for improved service.  I haven't heard of Instacart doing something like this but they should.

[Junior Miller 1502]

I don't see the problem. 

[ChuckNorrisActionJeans 2662]

22 minutes ago, justhookit said:

This. Wtf. It wasn’t too many clicks if you wanted to read it.

I for one enjoyed scrolling down to see 3 Ways Your Dog Might Be Crying Out For Help 

and 

3 Ways Your Cat Asks for Help

 

gave me paws

[elfenix 34221]

one of these, "click virtual food hall," is on shepherd here in houston.  it's in an old house.  no idea how they have enough cold space for all the stuff they serve. 

 

https://www.toasttab.com/click-robot-run/v2/online-order#!/

[Brisketexan 105039]

What I got out of this is....those chicken sandwiches look GOOD.

[crash_davis 23094]

 

[workswithseed 2086]

9 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

What I got out of this is....those chicken sandwiches look GOOD.

Okay, I'm glad someone else said this.

[HornsOverIthaca 2333]

I’m trying to post the ATHF haunted kitchen joke but it’s too damn difficult.

[Sbbruin 21825]

Yeah, the guy who founded some major tech company, not sure which, is starting a big CRE venture opening these.  It's a smart idea.  It wwon't bog down retail locations with a bunch of to go orders.  Who gives a shit if your food is made at the Panda Express on the corner or one in an industrial park, if it's the same food.

[elfenix 34221]

39 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

Yeah, the guy who founded some major tech company, not sure which, is starting a big CRE venture opening these.  It's a smart idea.  It wwon't bog down retail locations with a bunch of to go orders.  Who gives a shit if your food is made at the Panda Express on the corner or one in an industrial park, if it's the same food.

travis kalanick.  he's mentioned in the article.  founded uber.  uber asshole.

Edited January 30, 2020 by elfenix

[Sbbruin 21825]

30 minutes ago, elfenix said:

travis kalanick.  he's mentioned in the article.  founded uber.  uber asshole.

That's the guy.  He got a bunch of Saudi money to invest.  Maybe the article said that.  Didn't read it but have read in trade pubs.  I think it's a good idea.  Why pay for prime retail real estate for stuff that could be prepared offsite?

[atomheartbevo 89618]

3 hours ago, BabaYaga said:

Why invest in an expensive brick/mortar facility designed to bring in customers when you can have a virtual shop.  That's what spawned all the food trucks.  Cut back significantly on your overhead.  

Plus, with food trucks, if the location isn’t working, move on.  

[atomheartbevo 89618]

3 hours ago, ChuckNorrisActionJeans said:

3 Ways Your Cat Asks for Help

Why, do they need help down off the pedestal?

[Sbbruin 21825]

They do booze delivery, weed delivery, food and grocery delivery, hooker delivery.  I won't ever need to leave the house.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

10 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

They do booze delivery, weed delivery, food and grocery delivery, hooker delivery.  I won't ever need to leave the house.

You do all that you will sooner than later unless they offer onsite cremation services.

Edited January 31, 2020 by Judge Roybeanbag

[Deej 76748]

All this commercial real estate opening up due to online shopping and food delivery, we should see an even bigger boom of title loan places and CBD shops 

[Neonmoon 38129]

14 minutes ago, Deej said:

All this commercial real estate opening up due to online shopping and food delivery, we should see an even bigger boom of title loan places and CBD shops 

Mattress Firm needs more corners 

[Deej 76748]

1 minute ago, Neonmoon said:

Mattress Firm needs more corners 

How much money do they need to launder?

[smuggs 9350]

2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Who gives a shit if your food is made at the Panda Express on the corner or one in an industrial park, if it's the same food.

Personally I’d love the opportunity to see if the industrial park Panda Express makes me shit my pants as violently as the Panda Express on the corner.

 

[Pato del Muerto 52484]

50 minutes ago, Sbbruin said:

They do booze delivery, weed delivery, food and grocery delivery, hooker delivery.  I won't ever need to leave the house.

I hope that’s a temporary avatar change

[Modessit 5598]

Just saw this.

 

In addition to doing Amazon delivery, I also do UberEats delivery on occasion. I pick up food from a lot of places that you'd assume are upscale restaurants but are not. Here in Austin I'll get sent to a "restaurant" which is actually a kitchen in the back of a differently-named bar on east 5th. Or I go to pick up something from a Rachael Ray "restaurant" and it's actually made in a pretty fancy food truck parked next to the railroad tracks and a bus repair facility off west 3rd st. That food truck also makes food under a couple of other restaurant names. There are brick-and-mortar restaurants in north and south Austin that also operate food trucks in the downtown area.

 

Also, I put everything in heat bags in my car to keep it hot even if I don't take the bag to the door, but 99% of restaurants do nothing to keep food warm while waiting for drivers. Food sits bagged on a counter or shelf with no heat lamps. I've seen food sit for 20-30 minutes before ever being picked up and then driven 15-20 minutes or more in no heat bags. Your food could be an hour old by the time you get it. Most of the time I get to a restaurant before it's ready so it's as fresh as possible and hot as possible when I get to the door, but not everyone gives a shit.

 

And for the love of God - quit ordering ice cream when you live 20 minutes away.

 

 

[Chopper 17228]

On 1/30/2020 at 1:54 PM, Gene Parmesan said:

Exactly it's pretty rare to even see a major pizza chain restaurant that you can actually dine in at.

I don't know if this is part of a trend or not but a large Domino's franchisor just opened a new location in Santa Fe, NM not far from me. Noticed when driving by they had dine-in tables available. It was a bit of a wtf moment. They took over an old kfc so maybe they just had extra space.

[wild_turkey 3159]

but 99% of restaurants do nothing to keep food warm while waiting for drivers. Food sits bagged on a counter or shelf with no heat lamps. I've seen food sit for 20-30 minutes before ever being picked up and then driven 15-20 minutes or more in no heat bags. Your food could be an hour old by the time you get it.

This is the biggest reason I don’t have food delivered. The quality of the food seems to take a big hit when it’s packaged in styrofoam or plastic containers and then gets lukewarm on the way to your house.

I’d rather just get out of the house, sit down at a restaurant, and eat it hot off a plate.

[RMac5 1551]

When we still had our burger joint we had to quit the delivery game. The drivers would always show up late, we would have to remake the order so it would be as hot as possible. 

Not to mention how many stops the driver would make after he left our place. To many chances to drop the ball and have a customer slam you on social media.

[tx 3 putt 76859]

37 minutes ago, RMac5 said:

When we still had our burger joint we had to quit the delivery game. The drivers would always show up late, we would have to remake the order so it would be as hot as possible. 

Not to mention how many stops the driver would make after he left our place. To many chances to drop the ball and have a customer slam you on social media.

Smart thinking here 

[HRSchenker 2268]

2 hours ago, RMac5 said:

When we still had our burger joint we had to quit the delivery game. The drivers would always show up late, we would have to remake the order so it would be as hot as possible. 

Not to mention how many stops the driver would make after he left our place. To many chances to drop the ball and have a customer slam you on social media.

More businesses need to take a stand when customers lie on reviews or shit on you for things totally out of your control. With my consulting business I had someone leave me a 1 star review saying that I didn't do the job I was paid to do. Had no record of the name and the city where they claimed to live was a place where I don't do business. Left a response on Google saying "I have no record of you ever being a client of mine. No one at this business has any record associated with your name. Why would you leave a review for a business you've never used?".

I'm pretty sure it was a competitor but whatever. It's bullshit that we have to play these kinds of games. 

[Modessit 5598]

When we still had our burger joint we had to quit the delivery game. The drivers would always show up late, we would have to remake the order so it would be as hot as possible. 
Not to mention how many stops the driver would make after he left our place. To many chances to drop the ball and have a customer slam you on social media.

A lot of "late drivers" comes from drivers accepting the order and then dropping it after finding out where they have to go because they don't want to drive 20 minutes for $6. So it gets bounced around until a driver finally keeps it. I've gotten pinged, accepted, and driven 5 minutes to the restaurant only to be told, "It's about time." And then the restaurant leaves me a thumbs down about being late.

Plus the customers can be crappy trolls who are trying to get free food by claiming orders are incomplete or weren't delivered even though you gave it right to them at the correct address. They complain and Uber gives them refunds and then tells us we screwed up when we didn't. One time a lady complained because she had to come down and get her food because the code she gave me to get into the building didn't work and she couldn't figure out how to buzz me in.

[RMac5 1551]

Completely agree ^^^^^ on all of that.

We would often comp an app and soft drink to the driver while we made a new order to go out.

 

[heinhorn 16]

I know of a company in Houston that is leasing a space in an office building parking garage to open per code, what is a food truck, but is really an 18 wheeler sized kitchen in a trailer that will never move.  They will cook/prepare multiple restaurants/chains food and deliver via ubereats.  You cannot walk up to the counter and order.  Will be interesting to see how it works.  It's good revenue for the building owners.

[Larry T. Spider 1746]

Same thing with fake complaints on regular uber rides. People just scamming for free rides and uber says no less than south Austin’s mom.

[Modessit 5598]

I know of a company in Houston that is leasing a space in an office building parking garage to open per code, what is a food truck, but is really an 18 wheeler sized kitchen in a trailer that will never move.  They will cook/prepare multiple restaurants/chains food and deliver via ubereats.  You cannot walk up to the counter and order.  Will be interesting to see how it works.  It's good revenue for the building owners.

There's at least two of those in Austin. One is the Rachael Ray "virtual cafe" place. I can't remember what other restaurants also get picked up there. People inside are dressed like chefs at big restaurants. They've probably got 10-15 people inside.

[Al_4_ISU 12447]

Am I the only one disgusted by humanity's veer into Matrixesque homebodiness and introversion?

I can't stand just laying around the house.  I have to get out and interact with people.  I buy as much as I can in person in my small town so I can at least help perpetuate a functioning society for another day.  It's just a matter of time before feeding tubes and jerk off machines take over, and damn it, I'm going down swinging.

[Deej 76748]

I have HEB deliver my groceries and cook at home. I can avoid people and actually not have to worry about some chucklefuck spitting in my food.

[Lhorn 4907]

Agree to an extent with the above 2.

Mainly I feel like I’d be a loser having someone drive restaurant food to my house. Restaurants are expensive as it is and bring us one step closer to being the fat fucks on the movie Wall-E. I also don’t like the idea of assholes spitting in my food.

[MrBig 5367]

1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Am I the only one disgusted by humanity's veer into Matrixesque homebodiness and introversion?

If traffic wasn’t so shitty, I’d go more places.

[CooterBrown 18001]

Am I the only one disgusted by humanity's veer into Matrixesque homebodiness and introversion?
I can't stand just laying around the house.  I have to get out and interact with people.  I buy as much as I can in person in my small town so I can at least help perpetuate a functioning society for another day.  It's just a matter of time before feeding tubes and jerk off machines take over, and damn it, I'm going down swinging.

I can’t stand being at home more than maybe 4-6 hours at a time. I get stir crazy and have to get out and do something.

[HornOnTheBayou 8904]

10 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Am I the only one disgusted by humanity's veer into Matrixesque homebodiness and introversion?

I can't stand just laying around the house.  I have to get out and interact with people.  I buy as much as I can in person in my small town so I can at least help perpetuate a functioning society for another day.  It's just a matter of time before feeding tubes and jerk off machines take over, and damn it, I'm going down swinging.

Let's not go overboard here. I, for one, can't wait until jerk off machines take over.

[Spaulding Smails 1552]

23 hours ago, wild_turkey said:

 

This is the biggest reason I don’t have food delivered. The quality of the food seems to take a big hit when it’s packaged in styrofoam or plastic containers and then gets lukewarm on the way to your house.

I’d rather just get out of the house, sit down at a restaurant, and eat it hot off a plate.

 

This is so true.  There are a number of legitimate restaurants that cringe playing the delivery game because of the hit on quality that they see when food sits.  It affects their reviews and customer satisfaction, and they don't have any way to impact it or improve it.  When a customer picks up food from the restaurant, they see that it's hot and fresh.  So, if it gets cold or soggy on their 30 min drive home, they seem to understand that's on them.  But, when they're paying UberEats to make that 30 min drive, they somehow expect the food to be perfectly fresh and piping hot and take it out on the restaurant when it doesn't hit those marks.

[Al_4_ISU 12447]

10 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

 

I can’t stand being at home more than maybe 4-6 hours at a time. I get stir crazy and have to get out and do something.

 

If I'm inside my house for 4+ hours and I'm awake that entire time, I'm either sick or there's a really good slate of football games and I'm somehow not in the field.

[TwiceHorn 31431]

On 1/30/2020 at 2:23 PM, hayden_horn said:

huh. i mean, pizza delivery has been this for decades, so it's kind of funny that it is being viewed as innovative.

Well the new part is that they're shared by multiple vendors and apparently "developed" by investors, as opposed to owned by a single company or franchisee.

[Modessit 5598]

 

 

 

 

Mainly I feel like I’d be a loser having someone drive restaurant food to my house. Restaurants are expensive as it is...

 

I'm always surprised at what people spend just to not have to leave the house or apt. I've delivered one $1 soda from McDs. I got paid $8 to do so. How much did the customer pay for that $1 soda from a restaurant only a mile from their apt? I picked up a pizza from a place and saw that the address was pretty close. I asked the pizza place if it was in their delivery area and they said yes. The pizza was $6. The customer paid $23 to have UberEats deliver it.

 

Plus college-age people are the worst tippers, probably because they are used to the instant gratification of push a button and get what they want. Many have never worked before. Mom and Dad paid for everything. They have no problem paying $30 for $10 worth of Pad Thai but then tip $1.