‘Virtual Brands’ on Delivery Apps Run Amok; Remember the Name of Dan Marburger, Hero–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: Jan. 15, 2024

Indy Digest: Jan. 15, 2024

I laughed out loud when I read this recent headline from SFGate: “Single SF restaurant may be operating 70 different storefronts on DoorDash.”

An excerpt:

The restaurant is Fresco Pizza-Shawarma & Ice Cream at 1338 Polk St.—or at least that’s the name on its website, and close to what’s printed on the awning of its brick-and-mortar location. Its website has an extensive menu including pizza, salads, calzones, pasta, sandwiches, shawarma, falafel, burgers and desserts. According to its Yelp page, the restaurant was established in 2010.

Hoodline found that a large variety of search queries—“calzone,” “vegan burger,” “breakfast burrito,” “pasta” and “falafel,” to list a few—conducted on the DoorDash mobile app on a phone in San Francisco turned up storefronts associated with the 1338 Polk St. address.

Hoodline ended up finding 72 different DoorDash storefronts listed at the address. Names ranged from Alfredo’s Parmigiana House to Big Daddy’s Wings to Cake Slice Co. to Godfather’s Gluten-Free Pizzeria to Mr. Vegan’s Falafel to The Pasta Slut.

A Google search by SFGATE found that many of the 1338 Polk St. storefronts are listed on Uber Eats, Grubhub and Postmates as well.

You may have heard the term “ghost kitchens” in reference to restaurants that serve customers only online and/or via delivery apps: They make food for delivery and perhaps pickup, but you can’t actually dine in-person.

I suppose you could call what this Fresco’s place is doing—to a hilarious degree—”ghost kitchen-adjacent.” Others may call it deception. Whatever you call it, a lot of restaurants here in the Coachella Valley, primarily big chains, are doing the same thing.

A couple of nights ago, the hubby and I were tired—in the mood to neither cook nor go out—so we decided to order in. The hubby is a fan of patty melts, and a place called The Meltdown, with its menu full of burger and sandwich melts, got his attention. There’s even a website for The Meltdown.

The address for The Meltdown nearest to us is 1201 N. Palm Canyon Drive … which just so happens to be the address for Denny’s. Yep: Denny’s, both here and across the country, is running a whole other “restaurant” out of its kitchens. Oh, and if you’re hungry for a burger, and you see a place on a delivery app called The Burger Den, you should know that, too, is a “virtual brand” brought to you by Denny’s.

Perhaps you’re hungry for pizza, and you live in the Palm Desert/mid-valley area. If you get on the delivery apps, you’ll likely find a place called Pasqually’s Pizza and Wings. Well, that’s actually a “virtual kitchen brand” for Chuck E. Cheese.

If you’re hungry for wings but don’t want Pasqually’s, another option is Cosmic Wings—but that’s actually Applebee’s. In some cities, you’ll find Slo Roast Kitchen; that’s BJ’s. Tender Shack? Outback Steakhouse.

I have mixed feelings. On one hand, the whole “virtual brands” concept seems deceptive; I’d bet most of the people ordering from “Pasqually’s” have no idea those pizzas are a Chuck E. Cheese’s product—and they probably wouldn’t order them if they did.

On the flip side, “virtual kitchens” seem to be prompting both chains and independent restaurants to offer a wider variety—and that’s definitely not a bad thing.

I don’t know of any local restaurants that are currently operating “virtual brands.” Do you? If so, drop me a line.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• Remember the name Dan Marburger—because it’s the name of a true hero. The Washington Post reports: “The principal of an Iowa high school who was shot while trying to distract a gunman at the campus has died, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Sunday. Dan Marburger, principal of Perry High School, ‘courageously put himself in harm’s way to protect his students, and ultimately gave his own life to save them,’ Reynolds (R) wrote in a statement. Marburger, 56, had been in critical condition after he was shot at the school on Jan. 4. That morning, Dylan Butler, 17, opened fire before classes, killing a sixth-grader and injuring seven other people, including Marburger.”

• Awful things are happening in Texas—a state where the leaders seem to have decided that basic humanity is no longer necessary. According to NBC News: “The Biden administration told Texas on Sunday to stop impeding U.S. Border Patrol access to part of the U.S.-Mexico border that the state National Guard took over last week. In a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, obtained by NBC News, Department of Homeland Security General Counsel Jonathan Meyer said a combination of Texas National Guard soldiers, equipment and physical barriers is unconstitutionally restricting Border Patrol access to about 2½ miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. … Federal officials on Saturday confirmed a woman and two children drowned in the Rio Grande. DHS said Border Patrol agents were prevented from entering the area from the U.S. side after Texas National Guard Troops, under the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott, prevented them from responding. The Texas Military Department disputed the DHS statement, saying its personnel were made aware of a distress report but could not locate migrants who needed help in the river.”

• The Wall Street Journal headline is “Cancer Is Striking More Young People, and Doctors Are Alarmed and Baffled.” From the body of the story (subscription required): “Cancer is hitting more young people in the U.S. and around the globe, baffling doctors. Diagnosis rates in the U.S. rose in 2019 to 107.8 cases per 100,000 people under 50, up 12.8% from 95.6 in 2000, federal data show. A study in BMJ Oncology last year reported a sharp global rise in cancers in people under 50, with the highest rates in North America, Australia and Western Europe.”

• Today’s recall subject: Quaker Oats, the sequel! From CBS News: “Quaker Oats is expanding a prior recall to include additional cereals, granola bars and snacks sold across the U.S. because they could be contaminated with salmonella. The recalled products are sold throughout the 50 states, Puerto Rico, Guam and Saipan, Quaker Oats said in a notice posted Thursday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. See here for a full list of the recalled items, including those listed in an initial recall in mid-December. … The recall includes Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, Cap’n Crunch Bars and select Cap’n Crunch cereals and oatmeal, Quaker Chewy Granola Breakfast cereals and Quaker Oatmeal Squares, Gamesa Marias Cereal, Gatorade Peanut Butter Chocolate Protein Bars, Munchies Munch Mix, and snack boxes that include these products, according to the Chicago-based company, a division of PepsiCo.”

• Gov, Gavin Newsom is trying to delay an approved minimum-wage increase for health care workers. Our partners at CalMatters report: “Because of the state’s $38 billion projected budget deficit, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday said he is seeking changes to a law he signed just three months ago that set the health care industry on a path to a $25 minimum wage. The first pay increases were expected to take effect in June. It’s unclear how long the proposed changes could push back that schedule. Newsom wants the wage increases to take place when the state’s fiscal outlook is healthy. He said he signed the law, Senate Bill 525, in October because he ‘had a commitment on that trigger’ from proponents of the law, meaning that the bill’s backers had agreed to tie the wage increase to the state’s budget outlook. His administration did not disclose that agreement when he signed the law.”

• And finally … a big election-conspiracy-theory-pusher is no longer advertising on the channel that pushed a lot of those theories. The Associated Press says: “MyPillow chief executive and prominent election denier Mike Lindell said Friday that Fox News has stopped running his company’s commercials, disputing the network’s assertion that it is simply because he hasn’t paid his bills. Lindell went public by tweeting that Fox, which had been one of MyPillow’s biggest advertising outlets, had canceled him. He said in his tweet that he didn’t know why but that he suspected that the network was trying to silence him. Fox denied that. ‘As soon as their account is paid, we would be happy to accept their advertising,’ Fox spokeswoman Irena Briganti said.”

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