[ghaff]

I'm not sure what the big deal is in calling if I'm just calling in to order a pizza or a sub.

That aside, at least part of the value of the aggregators is a lot of people apparently want to just go to one place and order from a variety of restaurants. Personally, I don't really get it--I just have menus from the very limited number of decent takeout options around where I live--but setting up your own site doesn't help with that.

[bsder]

> I'm not sure what the big deal is in calling if I'm just calling in to order a pizza or a sub.

Because the dude answering the phone has a non-zero probability of being completely stoned off his ass. This is not theoretical. I am sad that we didn't record the worst one we ever had--it would have made for the absolute best YouTube video even though everyone would have been saying "That's so fake."

Phone orders are very error prone. Online orders help both sides of the equation. The customer knows exactly what they are getting and can verify it; the restaurant can say "We're happy to comp you for X because we're nice people, BUT this is the receipt THAT YOU ACKNOWLEDGED saying what you actually ordered."

[Leherenn]

A lot of people simply dislike calling, no matter the reason.

[syshum]

>>I'm not sure what the big deal is in calling

Because I have no desire to talk to anyone on the phone for any reason. if I could get a personal data device with out phone calling capabilities I would choose that. The POTS phone system needs to be relegated to the dust bin of history

The flip side of that as well, is often you can successfully up sell more items via an online system than you can with a phone order system. The number of times I have "add on" to my order due to the online system having options I did not even know was available is a lot higher than the normal "would you like to add" speech that the phone person gives you which is neither compelling and almost an automatic no as most people do not even pay attention to the offer

>if I'm just calling in to order a pizza or a sub.

The number of times Humans have got my order wrong when talking them over the phone is High... the number of times the computer has gotten my order wrong with submitting it electronic is almost zero

>I just have menus from the very limited number of decent takeout options around where I live--but setting up your own site doesn't help with that.

I would love to see your data on where you believe having having your own website with electronic menus do not help

Hell even outside of COVID, if a place does not have their menu online I will not even go to it physically, I like to look at the menu's and prices before even stepping foot in the place. Gives me a good idea on if I will like it or not.

It should be standard for a place to have an electronic menu with online take out ordering, anything less is subpar IMO