Restaurant owners concerned reputation will be marred by third-party delivery services
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MILAN, Illinois (WQAD) — What could be considered a convenience for some in the Quad Cities turned into a headache for some local restaurant owners.
The Staff at Bowlyou’s Ice Cream and Grill in Milan has been feeling the cold.
“It impacts more than, you know, the reviews, it impacts our staff financially,” said April Bowlyou.
April is one of the owners of Bowlyou’s. Over the last few months, she’s noticed people placing orders on the popular delivery app, GrubHub.
That app, which became even more popular in the last year, doesn’t have the correct menu or pricing, Bowlyou said.
“All of the negativity is falling back on the business, that we didn’t have the order correct, we didn’t have the order ready on time and delivered out on time, when in fact it has nothing to do with us,” Bowlyou said.
Bowlyou’s does not contract with GrubHub for delivery, but Bowlyou’s doesn’t have a way to contact customers when the orders through GrubHub are wrong.
“So really the only way you find out is the customer calls you back with a complaint,” Bowlyou said.
Bowlyou’s isn’t alone. Old Towne Bakery in Moline, Ill., does not use GrubHub for deliver either. But, it can be deceiving for the customer when the address and logo on the GrubHub app is correct, as was the case Thursday morning for the bakery.
Managers at Old Towne said they have seen customers place an order through GrubHub, but when a delivery driver comes to pick up the order, Old Towne does not have it. The bakery never received it, because they don’t contract with GrubHub either.
Staff at Old Towne Bakery posted a message on their Facebook page on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.
Staff at Bowlyou’s posted a similar message to their Facebook page on Saturday February 13, 2021.
Each business said they called GrubHub and requested to be removed from the app.
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