“Only certain people within the company are able to make those changes,” Hunt explains. So if a business tries to change its address, they’ll have to go through various verification processes to ascertain that the move is legitimate. Hunt says they’re still looking into how they can prevent that in the future.Īt the moment, though, restaurants will be verified, Hunt says, both when they join the service and when any changes are made to the listing. Some restaurants, of course, have an incentive to create ghost listings in order to gain more visibility, or to use names that will make businesses appear higher up in the service’s listings. “So if something doesn’t match up, it cues an investigation right away, which can include people from our team actually going to the restaurant to verify that it exists.” She adds, “We will require some legal documents and in-person verification if necessary.” “We’re actually working to incorporate the data from the DOH to use it as a verification tool,” she says. (Also, people should really just know where their food comes from.) As such, the delivery service says it will now work more diligently, alongside the Department of Consumer Affairs and the DOH, to prevent ghost restaurants from infiltrating its listings.Ībby Hunt, the director of public relations for GrubHub Seamless, tells Grub Street that her company has since removed the identified ghost restaurants from the listings, and that they’ve implemented several new verification steps, not all of which the company is willing to disclose. These so-called “ghost” restaurants are a problem, of course, because they could be private kitchens or businesses not certified to be real restaurants, which definitely doesn’t jibe with the Health Department. The company, which also owns the Seamless and Eat24 services and is the largest food ordering platform in the US, uses an assortment of fees to collect revenue from restaurants, ranging from fees. There was speculation that Walmart and Kroger could be interested.īut GrubHub shot down the speculation, saying in a statement that "there is unequivocally no process in place to sell the company and there are currently no plans to do so.They’ll actually go to the restaurant when need be.Įarlier this week, New York’s NBC 4 released the results of an investigation that found 10 of the 100 top-rated New York City restaurants on GrubHub Seamless listed an address that doesn’t correlate with the food’s actual point of origin. GrubHub's struggles led to rumors earlier this year that the company was considering putting itself up for sale. The stock plunged more than 40% on the news. GrubHub, which also owns delivery service Seamless, shocked investors last October when it reported earnings and sales that missed Wall Street's forecasts and lowered its outlook. The new offering from GrubHub might be just what the company needs in order to compete more effectively against Uber Eats and buzzy startups DoorDash and Postmates. This is a Millennial's dream come true," said Joe Germonatta of Art Bird & Whiskey Bar in Grand Central Station in a statement. "I have staff preparing food instead of taking orders and my customers love the kiosks and transparency. The company said restaurants that have used the service so far are very happy with it, because it has helped boost sales, employee efficiency and lower costs. Rao told CNN Business in an interview that the service works on both the GrubHub app as well as Seamless, a food delivery app the company owns that is popular in New York. Ultimate has already been tested through a pilot in more than 100 restaurants in New York City and Chicago as well as on the campus of Ohio State University, according to Padma Rao, vice president of special projects for GrubHub. "Most people do not want to order in person or by calling if they have an alternative, and by integrating pickup with delivery orders our restaurant partners have a complete picture to more efficiently manage their operations," said GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney in a statement. Restaurants using the service will also have a digital display board showing how orders are being processed. Kitchen staff at the restaurants that GrubHub is partnering with will also have access to Ultimate, allowing them to see orders in real time. The Ultimate service works with the GrubHub app but also with restaurant kiosks that let people order in person.
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