New York City man orders from DoorDash. He finds the restaurant location suspicious—so he shows up, and realizes something shocking

Ordering food off food delivery apps like DoorDash is pretty low-effort. There’s not much thought put into searching for the perfect meal except to satisfy a craving. However, one New York man turned this innocuous task into a full-on investigation after a restaurant he’s been ordering out from had a longer-than-average wait time.

“So, I keep ordering from Meat + Rice because it’s approximately 19 minutes away from my house,” TikTok creator Scourge (@scourgebliss) says. “But every time I order it, it takes about 40 minutes for it to come.”

Curious, he decided to put on his detective hat and research the restaurant.

What Was Wrong with This Restaurant from DoorDash?

What he uncovered was unexpected.

“It’s not actually just Meat + Rice. It’s about 10 different restaurants in this one location,” he reveals. “So, I wanted to check it out.”

Then, the video cuts to his arrival, standing outside of the Williamsburg Eats building, the location where this establishment operates out of.

“This building is what you would consider a ghost kitchen. It has 10 restaurants inside,” he says. “Instead of having a dining room, these businesses only exist on delivery apps.”

Although it’s common for restaurants to tweak their food photos, he claims they rely on artificial intelligence.

“All of the pictures you see online are actually AI-generated,” the content creator says. “One kitchen can cook food for a bunch of different restaurants.” 

Afterward, the Scourage enters the building to reveal rows of lockers, a singular pick-up window with a line of drivers waiting in line and tablets mounted to the wall.

“This is how the actual inside looks. They have lockers for you to pick up your food,” he says. “Then, the delivery drivers pick up from the tablet and they have a front receptionist.”

However, this isn’t only restaurants.

“Delis are kind of doing the same thing,” he says. “A lot of people who don’t look at the addresses of where they’re ordering food at will order from  these delis, thinking they’re ordering from a regular restaurant.”

In his mind, “Most of this stuff is probably just reheated food from Sysco and most of the restaurants aren’t quality because it’s just one big restaurant.”

People Are Wary of Ghost Kitchens

Scourage’s video garnered over 429,000 views and many in the comments section shuddered at the idea of a ghost kitchen.

“This feels really dystopian,” one viewer commented.

“This is why I only order from the same 5 places,” another remarked.

“I don’t fw ghost kitchens something feels off,” a third stated.

Meanwhile, others believed this served as a reminder to look up the location you’re ordering from.

“I only order from locations I have PHYSICALLY seen! If it’s somewhere new, I’m googling it!” one commenter said.

“Been happening for yearsss. Always Google the address and look at the ratings on there too,” a second agreed.

How Do These Ghost Kitchens Operate Restaurants?

Since 2013, ghost kitchens (also known as “dark kitchens” or “virtual kitchens”) have operated as a standard restaurant minus the dining room. Instead, they rent a facility to use a commercial kitchen to deliver online orders through third-party apps.

When COVID-19 hit, these virtual restaurants exploded in popularity because of limited indoor dining and demand for food delivery. Although these typically operate as a single kitchen, they may also use it to run multiple restaurants in the same space, as Scourage noticed about Meat + Rice. 

Because ghost kitchens lack the traditional dine-in feature, they heavily rely on visual methods, such as social media and other digital advertising tactics, per Webstaurant Store. That means creating images of their menu options to attract customers. To achieve this, some have allegedly used AI to craft their food options on sites like Grubhub and DoorDash, according to 404 Media.

Next time you’re ordering off DoorDash or another food delivery app, and spot a restaurant that appeals to your taste buds, search for photos of it beforehand. If it doesn’t have a storefront, chances are it’s a ghost kitchen.

@scourgebliss Did you know about ghost kitchens? #newyorkcity #nycfood ♬ original sound – Scourge

The Mary Sue reached out to Scourage via email and TikTok comment.

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