How did Seamless Grubhub mix up one of SF’s most celebrated restaurants with a delivery-only ghost kitchen?
Chef Pim Techamuanvivit was managing the floor at her Michelin-starred San Francisco Thai restaurant Kin Khao last Saturday night when she answered a strange phone call from a customer asking about the status of his online delivery order. Just one problem: “We don’t do any delivery,” says Techamuanvivit. “We don’t even do takeout.”
To learn more about her restaurant doppelgänger, Techamuanvivit tried to order from it via Grubhub, Seamless, and DoorDash. Food never came: The orders would be delayed, then canceled and refunded. Techamuanvivit is still suspicious, angry, and considering a lawsuit. “Conveniently, they added the Thai restaurant with a Michelin star for the last five years,” she says. Delivery apps, she observes, stand to benefit from listing high-profile restaurants like Kin Khao without their permission, and they even stand to profit from the confusion. The more options on their platforms — virtual or real, permission given or withheld — the better.
. Starting a few months ago in some cities like San Francisco, Grubhub added restaurants without their permission based on local demand — i.e., searches — for them. If Grubhub can demonstrate public interest in getting delivery from a particular restaurant, the plan goes, maybe restaurants will actually partner up. Kin Khao was one of these restaurants, Grubhub confirms.
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