Here’s What’s Up With The Fake Restaurants Listed On Delivery Apps In Philadelphia

Have you noticed on delivery service apps like Grubhub and Doordash that a bunch of fake restaurants appear? A Reddit user brought it to a lot of Philadelphia residents' attention in a forum questioning the validity of these so-called "restaurants."

The user posted a screenshot of a list of fake restaurants on a delivery app. The person was searching for places to order food from on Washington Ave in Philly and was presented with these restaurants that seemingly don't exist. There was a joint called  there called "Burn Burger and another called "Lightening Burger." And get this. All these places have identical menus.

So what's the deal? Because one local said that she was catfished by one of these restaurants once. She thought she was getting an ice cream store and the address listed took her to a gas station!

Well, apparently these "restaurants" are what they call "Ghost Kitchens." According to The Conversation, ghost kitchens are food prep places that don't have a storefront or any public presence at all. They have no waiters, no parking lots, or anything either. They only exist on the food delivery apps.

"They’re ghost kitchen places… a shared kitchen with multiple menus." - Reddit user.

The majority of the ones located on 12th and Washington are food trucks. But not all ghost kitchens out there are food trucks. Some small businesses had to close down their dining rooms during the pandemic, according to The Conversation. But in order to keep cash flowing, they stayed open as delivery only.

All ghost kitchens aren't terrible. I just wish the ones in Philly would pick better names.

"Still lol’ing at Chuckie Cheese operating a ghost kitchen as Pasqually’s Pizza at the start of the pandemic." - Reddit user.

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