We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Pick up the phone the next time you decide to place a delivery order. By contacting a restaurant directly, you can avoid any extra delivery fees, as well as commission the restaurant has to pay back to delivery websites. And now we have a new piece of advice: if you do call, don’t use the number listed on sites like Grubhub.
It turns out that Grubhub, along with its subsidiary Seamless, have phone numbers set up for restaurants that use their service, and these numbers are different from restaurants’ actual local phone numbers; this is so that Grubhub can make a commission off any order that originated through their website.
A lawsuit was recently brought against the food delivery service after a restaurant owner claimed several calls made through Grubhub’s assigned phone number resulted in kickbacks to the company—whether or not an order was actually made. According to a copy of the lawsuit, Grubhub makes a commission if a call simply lasts longer than 45 seconds.
When a diner uses that telephone number to place a food order (as opposed to ordering on Grubhub’s online or mobile platforms), the diner’s call is rerouted to the restaurant itself, and Grubhub does not interface with the diner at all ... Moreover, because the restaurant, rather than Grubhub, handles the telephone calls, Grubhub does not know whether the call actually resulted in a food order or whether it was another type of phone call.
As Eater reports, a number of New York restaurants are also claiming that Grubhub has long profited off these calls, resulting in a loss of thousands of dollars each year for one restaurant alone.
While Grubhub claimed in a statement that they use “statistical models” to determine if calls are legitimate orders and denied those allegations made in the lawsuit, you really don’t need these sites to order, anyway.
What can you do to support your local restaurants? It’s easy—do an online search for a restaurant’s phone number and place an order using that number. If have you have questions about an order, want to make a reservation, or have any other request, also contact them using this number.
Yes, it requires a little more effort and human interaction than you might want after work or while hungover, but restaurants you love will benefit.
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