Article says they plan to finish 70 vestry by 2018... yeah right! — Sean on In the News: 70 Vestry Is Expected to Reap $700 Million in Sales

I like Seamless for the clarity. I probably wouldn't be very likely to switch to direct phone ordering but I would absolutely use a different online method. I usually go to Seamless with a particular restaurant or cuisine in mind so the pagination is meaningless to me. — JD on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I like to order online because I feel better that my order has a paper trail that I can follow up on. And then re-order from at a later date. Instead of boycotting, I think a good campaign would be to have all the local restaurant businesses move over to a competitor who is charging a reasonable fee. Then Seamless will be left with only the hundreds of Chinese restaurants with their 2000 5 star ratings. — DeeDee on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I use Caviar for the occasional Blue Smoke. https://www.trycaviar.com/manhattan I wonder what their fee structure is like... — DeeDee on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Taylor, you have every right to disagree with substance, of course. And one expects minor errors in texting as part of the speeded process. But if you nitpick, proofread your own work before complaining about someone else's: waist is where your torso bends; waste is the stuff you dump in the garbage and so has been used in such sayings as "wasting time". — betty on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

This was the worst article i have ever waisted my time reading - the author might want to proof read this article again and maybe have a few other people read it over before publishing it because ultimately the point the author is trying to make gets passed off and becomes irrelevant seeing that the entire article is about how American businesses operate - not just this one. There is no underlying cynical work being done to restaurants that we should be up in arms about - they know exactly what they are doing when they sign up to be apart of that company - no ones forcing them to be on the site. I recommend finding better topics with more legitimate, newsworthy material behind them before writing another pointless article and waisting readers time again. Thanks. — Taylor on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I find it fascinating that businesses pay so much extra to be placed at the top of the default sort on Seamless. Is that really worthwhile? The first thing I do when I use their app is to change the sort to 'sort by restaurant name'. If I relied on the default sort, the app would be useless to me. — Doug on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I wonder if this failure to coordinate the Franklin St sidewalk fences is related to this issue you reported on earlier: https://tribecacitizen.wpengine.com/2016/01/04/in-the-news-mangez-avec-moi-looking-for-another-space/ “The city’s plan to shut down an office dedicated to coordinating nearly a hundred ongoing construction projects in Lower Manhattan could do serious harm to residents’ quality of life, say Downtown leaders.” —Downtown Express http://www.downtownexpress.com/2015/12/29/downtowners-fear-construction-chaos-if-dedicated-dot-office-closes/ — James on Seen & Heard: Sidewalk Squeeze on Franklin

Local restaurant owner here.. I wonder what the appetite is for a coalition of local restaurant owners against Seamless. If every restaurant in the area agreed to participate in a No Seamless/Grubhub week, coupled with a joint marketing campaign to the community residents and businesses, what would happen? If we all agreed to not pay anything more than 14%, would we all appear on the first page for a given delivery radius? We're getting played here, and it's on all of our minds. Erik, fantastic article. — Local Resto Owner on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I was on Grand Street and walked into Apni Deli to check it out. I order chapati and yellow dahl. It was spicy and fresh and tasted like food an "auntie" would make. It is targeted at taxi drivers, but if you want tasty Indian vegetarian food that doesn't taste like every other Indian restaurant in the city, give this a try. — cami on Seen & Heard: Best Market Is Hiring

19 Park Place is a joke — Nicole on Seen & Heard: Inside the New Mariachi’s

The major food market under discussion is likely to be Trader Joe's as the developer had previously stated they had reached out to them. Whole Foods is working on a lease at One Wall Street. Uptown Market will be opening at 70 Pine. Market Lane is coming to the World Trade Center. — Luis Vazquez (FiDi Fan Page) on In the News: FiDi Could Be Getting a Movie Theater

I use Seamless, but I also try to call restaurants directly because I realize there is a large cost to them. Nationally the take rate for Seamless is around 14%. It might be higher in NYC where there is more competition for eyeballs, but that is fair. "Monopolies" don't get created overnight or without some competition - unless we are talking about bond rating agencies, but I digress. Seamless and grubhub were challenged before by each other (before they merged) and by delivery.com. They will continue to get challenged by everything from the phone to caviar, munchery, blue apron, maple, uber, postmates and others. It's a market. If their pricing (take rate) is too high there will be competition and the price will get competed down naturally. The reason people use it (other than corporate users who are forced) is because they provide a valuable service. It aggregates most of the available options and is much faster. I called dirty-bird this week to make an order because I couldn't figure out how to set it for pick-up on my phone and they put me on hold and the transaction took 3-5 minutes to communicate. I would have rather done it on seamless. Maybe we need the city to come in and provide a seamless like service for free. I'm sure they would do it efficiently. The government has a great track record with technology: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2015/11/why-dont-we-know-where-all-the-trains-are/415152/ — resident on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

The website is pretty difficult to navigate, but you can get delivery from some great places if you dig around. I haven't had issues with it, but it is definitely more expensive. I know several restaurant owners who like it a lot. — Muscle Milk on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I am surprised to see so many morons defending GrugHub. I guess that is why they are business. The comments have exhibited no awareness for spotting highway robbery created by monopolies. — I agree on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Postmates isn't great. They deliver for restaurants they have no contract with (which isn't a great experience for me or the restaurant). On of the side effects of that is your order has to be confirmed by a "postmate" (driver) before it actually gets placed. The first time I ever tried to use Postmates, I gave up after waiting six minutes for the order to go through (I got stuck at the "contacting postmates" spinner). Also, their website is pretty, but it's pretty bad functionally. GrubHub has its own delivery service too: https://www.google.com/search?q=grubhub+delivery+service&tbm=nws — Frank on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Uber is new. So yeah the fees are okay now. But once/if they get traction they'll be competitively priced like the big guys. — TJ on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I don't get the problem.., the restaurants have a choice. No one is forcing them to use the service. Plus,they only pay when an order is placed. So if seamless isn't doing their job then the restaurant pays 0. Plus you're not locked into the rates, you can adjust them to find something that fits your personal business needs. — TJ on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Postmates is another alternative to Seamless that is becoming more popular among restaurant owners. Instead of the restaurant employing a delivery fleet and Seamless charging a percentage of the owner, the cost is borne by the customer and the delivery fleet is independent (like Uber). — Muscle Milk on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

"We"? — Erik Torkells on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

You are a moron!!!! The revenue generated is only incremental. The restaurants are still making a lot of money! If they don't want more orders than dont pay!!! No one is holding them hostage!! We are sending them incremental volume!!!! Without GH many of them would close!! — B on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

"If the margin on delivery orders continues to shrink, restaurants will be tempted to ditch Seamless. They’ll have nothing left to lose." I am neither a user of Seamless nor a fan, however there is an element missing from the discussion of the economics here. Seamless orders can bring substantial additional business and new volume that helps to cover the fixed costs of rent and labor (if the kitchen and delivery staff are not running at full capacity.) These fixed costs are a large portion of a restaurant's overall costs. Unlike food costs, these fixed costs are difficult to adjust and reduce in the short run. If each Seamless order remains sufficiently profitable to cover the food costs and some portion of the fixed costs, it is helpful to that restaurant. This only works for restaurants if the Seamless orders bring incremental (new) business, without harming the existing business. As others have noted, to maintain overall profitability, restaurants need to motivate existing customers to order directly from them (whether by phone or through the restaurant's website) as one element of the value of a loyal customer base. — James on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

Not a fan of Seamless. But restaurants need to give an incentive to call directly or order online directly. If you give me 10% off my order for ordering directly, I would be happy to do it, but I haven't really seen that. All businesses have to adapt and change. Its easy enough to do as they send out the orders and could easily slip a flyer in the bag and then let you know online that you can order with a discount. — cami on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

I hate Grubhub and Seamless, as someone who worked for restaurants for years, it is shameful how bad their customer service treats restaurants and customers. All those hidden fees really hurt restaurants. Personally, I prefer delivery.com, they offer a good delivery service and they charge less to the restaurants. — Steven on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless

sigh... yet another example of rentiers building a parasitic business model on the backs of entrepreneurs. thanks to erik for the heads up — j on Why Restaurants Hate GrubHub Seamless