[ryanwaggoner]

No, because by doing so, the delivery services are effectively injecting themselves into the middle of the relationship between the customer and the restaurant. Over time, most customers will launch the app when they're hungry in general or for a type of food, and if they don't see a specific restaurant there anymore but they do see competitors that have decent ratings, they'll just order from them.

[forgotmylogin2]

That's a lot of businesses. The local liquor store "injects themselves" between you and Budweiser when they sell you beer. It's not inherently evil or unethical to act as a middleman, especially when you provide additional value that the original business does not.

[battery_cowboy]

Yes, the unethical part is stealing the Google search results, taking the tips from the drivers instead of distributing them, etc. All the stuff you heard about over the past years. If they had an ethical business, we wouldn't be reading this article.

[MVorlm]

There's no "stealing" or theft here. Based on this article, and the comments on this thread, advertising is part of the package/contract. Restaurants can simply not partner with these services.

[battery_cowboy]

The restaurant owners aren't knowledgeable enough in this area to understand the harm from the contracts, they're not dumb, but they don't realize the power they give to the company. That's an unethical practice, to take advantage of someone like that.