Is the delivery app service Postmates creating listings for fake restaurants on their app with inflated prices and then ordering that ordered food from real, existing restaurants at lower prices and pocketing the difference?

*** UPDATE 03:50 pm 10/22/19: Since I posted this, I received an email from a writer at OneZero here on Medium pointing me to a story about DJ Aoki and his new venture into the pizza business. While this explains the pizza portion of this post, my questions about this practice remain, as illustrated below. So while the focus on Postmates being the big culprit in this mystery is becoming diminished, I contend the problem is still one that needs to be addressed by the company. And, New India Oven may have some more explaining to do. Onward… ***

I ask this because recently I ordered dinner for my wife and myself from a “new” Indian fusion restaurant and discovered that the food that arrived was actually from the traditional Indian restaurant that I order from frequently. So I did some digging.

Now check this out…

Normally, when ordering Indian food, we like a local spot called New India Oven. It is located at 13444 Maxella Ave. We usually order a chicken dish, and one or two other veggie based dishes (such as saag paneer, malai kofta, or bengan bhartha). Round it out with some naan, and rice (though sometimes we make our own rice to save a few bucks) and raita or mango chutney. Hungry yet? Any combo of that and you’ve got a pretty basic, but satisfying Indian meal for any native Angeleno such as I. Here’s their listing on Postmates:

Now, sometimes, when pulling up the Postmates app, I’ll do a quick search to see what’s new or recommended, but usually just go to the spot where I wanted to go and just order. But this time, a new spot did catch my eye — Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion. Dang, that sounds like a tasty fusion idea. And since this is LA, the land of fusion cuisine, we gotta try it. Double-And, it’s super close by too! Looks like it is right near New India’s Oven. In fact, wait a minute — did they take over New India’s Oven? Because the address is the same! Check it out…

Hey man — places come, and places go. Some places even go through an update to keep up with the changing trends. Especially in Los Angeles, and double-especially in the MDR / Venice neighborhoods.

So boom, let’s give this place a try. It looks a little pricier, and the dishes look similar, but we’re willing to give it a shot.

About 30 minutes later and our order shows up and we dive in. Here is what we ordered and the price at the time. (April 2019)

Chicken Korma — $16.99 (I know, pricey)

Saag Paneer — $14.99

Naan — $5.98

Mango Chutney — $2.99

Rice — $0.00, we made our own :)

As I mentioned before, we order from New India’s Oven often, so when we started pulling out the food, we noticed it looked extremely familiar. Then we ate it, and noticed it tasted extremely familiar. In fact, I was convinced it was the exact same food. I went and looked at the menu and descriptions of what we ordered from Bombay Malaysian and compared it to New India’s. Price listed are at the time of this reporting (Sep 2019).

Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion

Chicken Korma

Flavorful halal chicken braised in a hearty curry with onions, raisins, and cashews.

$18.99

New India’s Oven

Chicken Korma

Boneless chicken cooked in cream sauce, cashews, herbs, and spices.

$14.24

Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion

Saag Paneer

Locally grown spinach and traditional paneer Indian cheese stewed with fresh herbs and spices.

$16.99

New India’s Oven

Saag Paneer

Spinach cooked with homemade cheese and cream. Seasoned with herbs.

$10.95

The mango chutney was also priced differently — $2.99 and $1.95. The naan, $2.99 and $2.75.

As you can tell, the item description is also spruced up. Instead of “boneless chicken” it’s “flavorful halal chicken” and instead of “spinach” it’s “locally grown spinach.” While I appreciate the better choice of wording in describing the cuisine I am about to order, I don’t appreciate the having to pay over $4.50 more for the effort. (Actually it’s possibly even more because if one were to order from New India’s Oven directly at their website, the Chicken Korma is listed at $12.95, not the $14.24 listed on Postmates and certainly not the $18.99 if you ordered it from Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion — the not-real restaurant.)

I called Postmates that night to inquire and see if they knew what was going on. After a bizarre conversation that left the phone rep confused, she got her manager to refund me the difference in prices. Fair enough, but I was still confused myself.

Who were the ones ripping people off? Postmates or the old restaurant?

Did the owners of New India’s Oven, in a bid to earn more money, create a fake listing on Postmates so they could be their own competitor?

Or was Postmates creating fake parasite accounts and funneling those orders to host restaurants and inflating the costs in order to pocket the difference? After all, competition in the app delivery service is fierce.

Or maybe was there a third party option? Some savvy shyster who creates fake listings and when they receive an order, just fulfill it using other place’s food. What is going on?

I decided to check to see if I could replicate the main issue. That being: two different restaurants with similar cuisine listed at the same address but with different prices. It didn’t take long when I plugged in “Pizza” and found not two, but five different pizza joints listed at one address — 1301 Ocean Front Walk. Chubby Pie, Pizzaoki, Thick N’ Tasty, and Gio’s NYC Pizza.

And just now, while researching the names of those above pizza places, I discovered another address with at least three different pizza places attached to it: 11736 Washington Pl. There you have, Lorenzo’s of New York Pizza, Froman’s Chicago Deep Dish Pizza and another Chubby Pie. Are you kidding me? Well, let’s check prices shall we…

At 1301 Ocean Front Walk a large cheese pizza ranges in size and price from a 12 inch at $14.99, a 16 inch $17.85, a 16 inch at $18.30, an 18 inch at $21.30, and then a no size listed for $$17.75.

Now all these places have different pictures for their pizzas, they all look different, but I have no idea which is the actual occupier of 1301 Ocean Walk Front. But damn, they have a lot of options don’t they? Maybe that’s good! But if my Indian food experience is anything to go by, it’s probably all the same.

We actually used to order from a pizza place at 11736 Washington Pl. address a lot. It used to be an express version of a local Italian restaurant called Cantanlini’s Salerno Beach Restaurant. They had a limited but tasty menu of pizza and pasta from the full service version for take-out and delivery only. A few months ago, my wife noticed they closed shop. But tonight, I decided to take a break from writing this to drive past this address and see what was going on there. Here is what I saw…

The sign that was Cantanlini’s has been flipped around.

And low and behold, in the window are four pizza box tops, of some of the names of the Pizza shops listed above. Notice these aren’t actual signs, they are literally ripped off pizza boxes in the window. Most likely to signal to the clueless drivers that, yes, the address you were sent to pick up a pizza for one of these businesses is located here.

(And apparently the cook on duty felt like closing shop early tonight and posted this bogus notice to drivers that they had equipment malfunction. After I snapped this photo, he came out and took down the sign as I was getting back into my car.)

Prices here for a pepperoni pie — a 10 inch deep dish from Froman’s is $22.50 and $20.00 for one from Lorenzo’s with no size listed, but I can’t imagine it’s less than 10 inches and a 16 inch for $19.85 from this Chubby Pie, which I think is the sign being blocked by the red pizza sign. (I wonder if there is room here for a Pizza by Alfredo, or Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe. Dunder Mifflin fans take note.)

Bingo, we can confirm that multiple listed pizza businesses are using one address and serving different pizzas. But so what? When it comes to this example — which is most likely also happening at 1301 Ocean Walk Front — as long as you are getting the pizza you ordered for the price listed, it doesn’t matter really that there are multiple recipes under different brands at one location, all being prepared by the same cook. Or does it? Does that bother you? While this isn’t the bait and switch that seems to be happening with my Indian food, this all seems rather — off.

So now what’s going on? Who are the culprits? Postmates, the actual restaurants listed at these addresses, or a third party parasite?

The Postmate’s customer service rep on the phone didn’t know anything. But would she really be in on a scam like that? Probably not, she’s making minimum wage and probably gets a bonus if she logs the fewest calls ending in refunds, discounts or credits. I’m not ready to indict Postmates… yet.

Now back to what sparked this whole mystery — the fake restaurant, the so-called Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion.

How do I know Bombay is not real? Because the next day following my order, I went driving past it to see if the name changed at 13444 Maxella Ave. It didn’t, the restaurant there is still New India’s Oven. Looking just the same as has been for the past 20 years or more.

Then last week, my wife and I got a rare night out away from our magnificent offspring for dinner and a movie. We went to New India’s Oven, because it is right near the theater we were going to and my wife had a craving for Indian food. I thought perfect, now I’ll get to investigate this mystery even further. (By the way, we saw The Peanut Butter Falcon and it was awesome, highly recommend.)

Once we ate our delicious meal, I took the chance to confront the manager/owner on duty about my delivery experience. I asked him if he changed the name of the restaurant, or lists it differently online? He said no. But he was pretty aware of what was going on. In fact he took it upon himself to say that his restaurant fulfills orders for that place and they charge much more for the food. Double in-fact, he even charges them below his own menu price because that is how the app service is set up. I imagine it’s a “bulk” type discount and the fact that these apps have dramatically increased business for restaurants that otherwise find it difficult to maintain a delivery service of their own.

So, at least according to New India’s Oven — we have confirmation that “someone” has created a restaurant with the name Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion with its own menu language and price points, who accepts orders through Postmates, then turns around and places the same order with New India’s Oven at discounted prices, delivers their food and pockets the difference. The definition of a middle man. Except, there is no need for this middle man, because all one would have to do to get that same food, is order from the original place right in the same app. What this is, is a digital hijacking and straight up fraud. And whoever is behind it are assholes who should be exposed.

One major clue that these assholes are working with or even for Postmates, is that I’ve not seen Bombay Malaysian Indian Fusion listed on the other food delivery apps like Uber Eats or Door Dash. However, Chubby Pie and Froman’s Chicago Deep Dish Pizza are listed on Door Dash. But as “newly added”, no ratings, and marked “currently closed”. Even though I just drove by the Washington Pl. location and the cook was working. No doubt, these places are lying in wait ready to spring on unsuspecting home-diners all over the area.

None of this may be illegal — I’m no lawyer — so fine, but from my perspective, this is all unethical and people should be aware it’s happening. If Postmates owns the pizza shops at 1301 Ocean Walk Front and 11736 Washington Pl., shouldn’t people know who is making their food? If they are sited for health code violations, or some complaint, or worse, who does that go to? Who is responsible? Does the public have a right to know who the owners of a food business are?

I don’t know the answers to these questions.

If any tech-news journalists wish to follow up with me or simply share this post — you are free to do so. Please share far and wide. I’m just a hard working guy with a family who hates getting ripped off and wants to warn others. Please dig deeper and find some whistleblowers — this may just be the tip of the iceberg.

In the meantime, if you want to order from a local restaurant, look up their website and order direct, or better yet — call them! You bound to get the best price, have someone take care of special orders and requests, and get to know them yourself. As someone who worked in the food industry as server for many years, regular good customers were treated well with comped food or drinks every so often, and always with speedy attention.