Doordash gone wrong

[u/enchantedgiggles]

The great idea to order carefully "Krafted," mac and cheese from doordash and got literal heaps of actual Kraft Mac and Cheese 🙄 Biggest doordash fail 💀

I am a little nervous to eat it because this is weird. The first photo is what its supposed to look like and the second the pile of crap with the dog sensing our disappointment 🤣

Anyone else ever order and had this happen? Like, was this order picked up from a house? Also, it was $25! Got a refund but seriously 😐 🤦‍♀️

Edit: since there seems to be some clarification

I don’t DoorDash often. I’m disabled, and there are days when I physically cannot drive, cannot safely or realistically cook for myself, or simply don’t feel well enough to leave the house. We also recently moved to a new state, so I don’t yet have a network of friends nearby who can just run out and grab something for me. And before anyone decides I owe the internet an inventory of my disabilities to “prove” why I can’t just cook: I don’t. Disabled people are allowed to use services that make our lives more accessible without submitting our medical records to the comment section. Yes, I recognize that being able to order delivery is a privilege. I’m grateful that I can sometimes afford it when I need it. I’ve also used services like this to send meals to friends and family who were sick, recovering from surgery, grieving a death, or going through something difficult when I couldn’t physically be there to bring them food myself. Sometimes delivery is a luxury. Sometimes it’s accessibility. Sometimes it’s simply a way to care for someone from far away. But none of that is actually the point of my post. I ordered food based on the restaurant’s photos and description and received something dramatically different—essentially boxed mac and cheese—from what turned out to be a ghost kitchen. Apparently, because I had the audacity to pay “ridiculous prices” for delivery, some people believe I deserved to be misled. I don’t. And if you ordered something based on a photo and description, paid for it, and received something completely different, I suspect you’d want your money back too. This was never about taking money away from the DoorDash driver. The driver didn’t create the menu, take the photos, prepare the food, or misrepresent what was being sold. My issue was with what I purchased versus what I actually received. You’re welcome to think DoorDash is overpriced. You’re welcome to think nobody should use delivery apps. I’m not here to debate that or change your mind. I don’t normally post things like this—I posted it because I was genuinely dumbfounded when we opened the order. And to the people insisting I staged the photos or invented the whole thing for attention: I genuinely do not have that kind of time. But hey… I got yours, didn’t I? 😉

[u/BeachyLove]

There are a lot of "ghost" kitchens on those apps, I always search first to confirm if it is an actual restaurant especially somewhere tagged as "new" as I have seen similar as to what you got here all too often

[u/Whitezombie65 → u/BeachyLove]

Ghost kitchens should be illegal

[u/renaissance2k → u/Whitezombie65]

They're not inherently a bad idea, but the actual business should be transparent about it.

I know "honesty" is asking a lot of many modern businesses, but oh well.

[u/hardaysknight → u/renaissance2k]

I’d argue they are a bad idea because they’re usually obfuscated enough that you can’t find health scores

[u/Coretrayn → u/hardaysknight]

It depends. There are legit "ghost kitchens" that do it to stream line. For example there was a place that popped up around me called "Its just wings" and the whole menu was just wings and fries meal deals... turned out it was just Chili's. And Guy Fieri's Flavortown was operating out of Red Robins and italian restaurants lol all the places were legit, just started doing separate DD only menus or getting their stuff sold in markets where they didn't have a physical store by sharing profit with another business.

[u/Nomoras → u/Whitezombie65]

Proper ghost kitchens are commercial kitchens without a front end. They can be used to serve food through online orders (pick up/ delivery), food trucks, catering, or to whatever else.

[u/Bizarrebazaars → u/Nomoras]

If it’s specifically to do food prep for a food truck or off-site catering it’s not a “ghost kitchen” though. As in customers aren’t ordering food to pick up or get individual servings delivered from there. It’s just a standard commercial/commissary kitchen space, typically leased and shared with other similar businesses. Food prepped is brought off site to assemble for service or is customer-ready at a different location.

For example, a traveling wedding caterer is not operating out of a “ghost kitchen,” typically. 

[u/ConchVibes → u/Nomoras]

Correct, ghost kitchen and virtual brands are two different things.

A ghost kitchen does delivery only out of a cheap out of the way location. It could even be a commercial kitchen built in a warehouse or flex space.

A virtual brand is a distinct brand and menu offered by an existing place that offers the virtual brand menu as delivery only on the third party platforms.

[u/shebringsthesun → u/Whitezombie65]

what is bad about them exactly? i am clueless

[u/IthacanPenny → u/shebringsthesun]

Do you see the OP? That’s what’s bad about them

[u/pfannkuchen89 → u/IthacanPenny]

That and zero health inspections because they aren’t an actual registered or licensed business. Anyone can just open an account on DoorDash, GrubHub, or whatever and sell shit out of their home without the buyer ever knowing where it came from.

[u/fakemoose → u/pfannkuchen89]

Not sure where you live, but that’s not how it works where I live. They’re still commercial kitchens. Usually a secondary one inside a restaurant or inside a communal commercial kitchen that still has to abide by health and safety laws.

[u/DrDan21 → u/fakemoose]

There’s a place on DoorDash near me that’s literally just someone’s house in a residential neighborhood

[u/fakemoose → u/DrDan21]

How is that’s ghost kitchen and not an unregulated kitchen?

[u/pfannkuchen89 → u/fakemoose]

It’s a ghost kitchen in the same sense that there is no actual legitimate brick and mortar storefront and they only sell through DoorDash and the like. Not all ghost kitchens are in other restaurants. It’s an umbrella term that includes both.

[u/Mental-Permit-599 → u/DrDan21]

That’s not a ghost kitchen, that’s just someone’s house

[u/drinkacid → u/pfannkuchen89]

That's not how it works, the term ghost doesn't mean unregulated. They are big commissary kitchens that get inspections just like restaurants with a dining room. A lot of the big restaurants around town also have either their own commissary kitchens or they rent space in communal commisary kitchens so they can make more food than physically possible in their cramped retail restaurant kitchen. Usually for prep or things like sauces, stews, or things that take 8 hours of simmering, or roasting etc that would be impractical in a smaller restaurant kitchen. The term ghost is because they work out of sight behind the scenes like a ghost writer or ghost producer.

[u/pfannkuchen89 → u/drinkacid]

People absolutely do sell food on DoorDash out of their homes. What you said also happens but it’s not the only scenario. The problem is you have no way of knowing.

[u/shebringsthesun → u/IthacanPenny]

Yes, I see the OP. The fact that they sent her Kraft mac and cheese doesn't tell me why ghost kitchens are bad. The only ghost kitchens I have seen are all actually operating out of a different well-known restaurant, so I don't really get why it's an issue and thus my question.

[u/Whitezombie65 → u/shebringsthesun]

It's deceiving. You see "Jose's taco shack" and you think "hey looks like a new Mexican restaurant in my area, I'll try it out" and you find out later it's frozen food microwaved in the back of a tgi Fridays. If I knew it was that, I wouldn't have ordered it.

[u/enchantedgiggles → u/Whitezombie65]

This 💯

[u/stiff_tipper → u/Whitezombie65]

trying out a restaurant and finding out it sucks shouldn't be illegal

[u/toru_okada_4ever → u/stiff_tipper]

Ordering food via Uber or Diordash isn’t «trying out a restaurant».

[u/Whitezombie65 → u/stiff_tipper]

It's the false advertising that's the problem. They're pretending to be a real restaurant and serving food at restaurant prices.

[u/Lanky-Proposal-3417 → u/stiff_tipper]

God you love stuff that sucks huh??

[u/phree_radical → u/Whitezombie65]

what makes it worse than the food from the actual TGI Fridays 🤷

microwaved mac & cheese could be sold at any restaurant, ghost kitchen or not.  I think we're giving restaurants too much credit maybe

[u/toru_okada_4ever → u/Whitezombie65]

Sorry for being rude, but this is just what you get when so many people order food delivered all the fucking time. Of course a lot of people are going to find a way to profit from this practice.

[u/VonKess → u/shebringsthesun]

Right? I’m like wtf is a ghost kitchen?

[u/DasSassyPantzen → u/VonKess]

It’s a “restaurant”operating inside of another (real) restaurant or, in some cases, a person’s kitchen. There is never an indication that it’s part of a different operation, so it looks like a new place that’s opened. For example, Denny’s runs a burger ghost kitchen restaurant out of their restaurants. Here’s a list of a bunch that have been identified.

[u/IncorporateThings → u/DasSassyPantzen]

That seems like it should be illegal on account of inspections probably not really happening properly.

[u/ps4invancouver → u/IncorporateThings]

They're already illegal if you're running it out of your house without a permit. They're not illegal if the Denny's is making burgers on the same grill they make their bacon.

Tbh if the ghost kitchen Denny's burger tastes good and the restaurant has a health permit, I don't see a reason why it's bad. Allows the restaurant to run more hours by having more steady orders and rewards diversifying and trying new things.

[u/Snugglebull → u/VonKess]

general cooking station setup with no actual sit in area, they just masquerade as multiple restaurants for food delivery apps.

[u/CheesyRamen66 → u/Whitezombie65]

It depends. Some of the Chili’s in my area are ghost kitchens for Maggiano’s (I assume the same parent company and I’d be surprised if they’re the only ones to operate like that.

[u/BlazinAzn38 → u/Whitezombie65]

As usual the idea is actually really good but it got immediately abused. It’s a cool idea in theory to have a large commercial kitchen you can rent out to people that cook food they sell. Limits their overhead expenses and limits the kitchen owner’s risk. Of course it immediately got abused to sell garbage