Grubhub In The Middle
In this episode of Underunderstood, Adrianne Jeffries tries to figure out why some restaurants have all started to play the same pre-recorded greeting.
Many people use Yelp to look up contact information for local business. But late last year, Yelp quietly made a change to its app. For some restaurants, Yelp started to display two phone numbers: one labeled "Delivery or Takeout" and one labeled "General Questions."
If a user called the first number, it played a prerecorded message that said, "This call may be recorded to ensure awesomeness," before connecting to the restaurant.
If a user called the second number, they would be connected to the restaurant without hearing the recording.
Why was the first call being recorded, and the second call was not? What happened to the recordings? And who is this ensuring awesomeness for?
The funny thing is, most restaurants do not seem to realize this is happening — and it's not clear customers do, either.
Adrianne spoke to restaurant owners, Yelp, and a certain food tech company to find answers. Listen to the full episode here.
Underunderstood is a podcast that explores stories the internet missed. You can listen on their website, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or subscribe by searching "Underunderstood" in your favorite podcast app.
