apropos of various other news I just want to mention that the ChowNow app is just as minimal-human-interaction/anxiety-friendly as the Gr*bH*b/D**rdash/S**mless apps except that restaurants pay a flat $150/month to be on the platform instead of 30% of every single order

There are lots of new co's spinning up to try to offer more ethical/sustainable alternatives to predatory delivery apps — this is just one of many! Also SO MANY restaurants have "order online" buttons on their websites — just make sure you're on their real website, not Yelp etc.

Toast is another terrific online ordering platform! Flat fee for restaurants, nice easy app for customers. https://twitter.com/periodeye/status/1336792006014722051?s=20

Tock is also great as an online ordering platform — I think they're low-commission (like 1-2%) rather than flat rate, but I could be wrong. I've heard good things about Slice, too.

So, one of the insidious aspects of delivery app culture is that diners end up making selections app-first (i.e. "I want Indian food, lemme fire up the app") rather than restaurant-first ("I want Indian food, let me see what platform my favorite restaurant is on")

This has the effect of commoditizing food (especially Asian food and other foods from non-white cultures), with diners going with whatever's comparatively closest/fastest/cheapest rather than selecting a specific restaurant for specific merits & developing a relationship

So while it's GREAT that all these new platforms are springing up and hopefully they will be successful and help preserve restaurants' margins in a horribly precarious time, the BEST thing you can do is develop loyalty not to an app or an interface, but to restaurants themselves

Pick the restaurant you want to get food from, go to their website to find out how they want you to order, and then use whatever interface they tell you to. (Though if they're on one of the predatory apps, and you have a relationship, you might nudge them to ChowNow or Toast etc)