Are you sure you know what you're really ordering?
There are fakes for everything ... designer goods, clothes and now ... FOOD.
If you are familiar with Abe's Pagoda in Bushwick, they are well known for their tiki-tinged Chinese fare on Wyckoff Avenue. Earlier this month, they noticed that someone was also using their NAME to sell a similar selection of spiced dishes and drinks on DoorDash.
The phenomenon of online counterfeits in the digital dining marketplace is apparently not uncommon. A well-known blowfish sushi joint had shut down during the pandemic and then, later on, discovered its name was listed on DoorDash, UberEats, and Seamless, operated by mysteriously unknown parties. Menus that appear on the app as a familiar facsimile of corner bars and bodegas but correspond to nowhere is real. In 2015, a local NBC affiliate reported that 10% of the top restaurants listed on Seamless and GrubHub in New York "had names or addresses that failed to match any listings on the city's database of restaurant inspection grades."
Another recent local experience involves accounts operating on the site ENTIRELY DISCONNECTED from the restaurant owner themselves.
Some restaurant owners
say that the fee that comes with the app deliveries are just not worth it and would rather manage the deliveries on their own.
Even as some restaurants are off the apps, orders would flow in with confused drivers showing up, waiting to pick up food that sometimes wasn't even available on the menu anymore.
As companies like GrubHub have become larger and more ubiquitous, their operations have become automated and operated by algorithms that sweep the internet for data.
“They just won’t stop. They’ll take it down for a little while and it’ll be back up like three weeks later”
As much as the apps are a convenience sometimes, in the long run, it's better to support your local businesses by calling and placing your orders directly through them! Better yet, with the warmer weather now, why not go and pay your local spots a visit? We’ve got some dandy picks for you below. Check ‘em out!
