I can understand that the Google Places URL link pointing to the non-official site being a problem but I have no issue with a 3rd party site who built a better ranking page for a restaurant. Many restaurants still have flash-intros, PDF menus and other annoyances that make those sites far less useful than a 3rd party site that has translated all that data into something that works consistently on my phone.
The other point I would point out is that ordering online does not require working with a restaurant. Many of these delivery services are "hacking" delivery by becoming the delivery provider. They just order on your behalf, pick up the food, and drive it to your home regardless of whether the restaurant offers that option or not.
I wrote this post originally and totally agree about the Flash sites and PDF menus being debatable for those types of websites. But these restaurants have good websites and these hijacker sites aren't more useful. The Eat Street sites have a map, order online button, and a menu...and it's not sexy. The Order Ahead App is pretty solid. But it was promoting downloading an app to order food at Bar Pintxo. But Bar Pinxto wasn't even an "available option" to order. It's driving traffic to download their app and not a bit of value to the restaurant. It's OK to build a website to promote your online ordering. It's hijacking the Google Places profile that is sketchy. These restaurants are upset when I explain what happened.
Comments
I can understand that the Google Places URL link pointing to the non-official site being a problem but I have no issue with a 3rd party site who built a better ranking page for a restaurant. Many restaurants still have flash-intros, PDF menus and other annoyances that make those sites far less useful than a 3rd party site that has translated all that data into something that works consistently on my phone.
The other point I would point out is that ordering online does not require working with a restaurant. Many of these delivery services are "hacking" delivery by becoming the delivery provider. They just order on your behalf, pick up the food, and drive it to your home regardless of whether the restaurant offers that option or not.
I wrote this post originally and totally agree about the Flash sites and PDF menus being debatable for those types of websites. But these restaurants have good websites and these hijacker sites aren't more useful. The Eat Street sites have a map, order online button, and a menu...and it's not sexy. The Order Ahead App is pretty solid. But it was promoting downloading an app to order food at Bar Pintxo. But Bar Pinxto wasn't even an "available option" to order. It's driving traffic to download their app and not a bit of value to the restaurant. It's OK to build a website to promote your online ordering. It's hijacking the Google Places profile that is sketchy. These restaurants are upset when I explain what happened.