SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A Springfield restaurant owner said he was the victim of a food delivery scam.
He calls it a case of impersonation – where someone else listed his menu on apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash. Not just the menu either. The address and phone number have also been listed, but under a different name.
“They rip us off because the money is supposed to go here, and that’s how it goes,” said Chameleon Cuisine owner Yoni Vargas. “And we always send food, but we don’t get anything in return.”
Vargas said the restaurant spent weeks fulfilling orders for free before realizing someone else was offering its menu on food delivery apps.
“The big flag was when they had our address and they had our menu,” Vargas said. “One of the Uber drivers was able to show me enough information that I looked it up online and it didn’t exist. Some of these places don’t exist.
It all started with a taco, then a wing, and now a company called Salt & Rye. A quick search revealed that Salt & Rye was also operating on DoorDash under what appear to be stolen menus – in at least 10 other cities across the United States.
“I was like, ‘Okay, if we can find what’s on this tablet and you can’t find the phantom orders coming in, where does that money go?'” Vargas said.
Vargas said Chameleon Cuisine lost hundreds of income, cooking meals they never got paid for. Now they only process orders that can be verified through their POS.
“At this time, we are not placing orders on those that appear in our system,” Vargas said. “Sometimes I feel bad because I’m like, ‘Hey, you order a product, you should get it,’ and that’s disappointing. But I tell myself that we cannot survive with this. We just can’t, even with one order per day. It adds up.
Vargas said he is contacting Uber Eats and DoorDash in hopes they can resolve the issue. Until there? No chance.
His advice for anyone ordering food online is to always check a restaurant’s address before ordering on delivery apps, and if possible order over the phone or directly through a business website.
