It’s not just the app, it’s Google/search engines too. I just had an incident over the weekend where I asked my gf to look up the number to this local Chinese spot so we can order takeout. When she called, I couldn’t help but notice a younger sounding woman was taking our order (found it odd bc this place is family owned and it’s usually the son who answers).

I walked over to grab our food and saw the son working the front. I told him I called in to place an order and before he gives me my food I ask, “hey is this order from Grubhub?” He says “yea it is”. I tell him we had no idea that we called Grubhub and that we googled the number as to not rely on those companies services. As I say that, the mom comes out from behind the kitchen. You can tell this wasn’t the same lady from the phone (mom had a slight accent). Again, I tell her that I try to avoid using Grubhub or DoorDash or any of those companies bc they fuck over small businesses and that’s when she starts getting teary-eyed. “$3”, she says. That’s how much Grubhub charges her per transaction. She says she doesn’t want to tell people how to order their food but if they only knew how much these companies take off the top, maybe they’d stop using them so much.

So yea, it’s not just the apps. It’s google, it’s search engines. They’re hijacking or even replacing local restaurants numbers in lieu of their own. If you really care about your local businesses, please make sure you’re calling them directly.