Imagine being in the middle of an exciting conversation inside a coffee shop, club, or restaurant with your friends or relatives. Then, all of a sudden, someone blurts out a statement that made you cringe, and made you want to leave the restaurant in no time. That’s exactly how this popular American magazine feels with regards to food delivery apps. Well, actually, they’re that “someone” who broke into the conversation.
In one of their recent stories, The Atlantic condemned the existence of food delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, and foodpanda, among others, saying that they literally “ate the restaurant.” What does that mean? Read on.
“Delivery apps are feeding our craving for convenience,” The Atlantic stated. Do you agree or not?
Things are only just getting more and more exciting in the world of food delivery apps when you’d read stories like this.
Rafaela Jinich, the correspondent who came up with the article, started the piece this way: “When did dinner stop being an occasion and become just another transaction? The convenience of delivery apps has quietly hollowed out one of America’s most beloved rituals, Ellen Cushing writes. What began as a clever fix for busy eaters has transformed how we dine: Nearly three out of every four restaurant orders are now eaten somewhere else. Dining rooms sit half empty while chefs design dishes that can survive the journey to the customer’s home, and some waiters stand behind counters instead of beside tables.”
Whoa, that’s like a big eye-opener. Sure, the existence of food delivery apps has made dining-in just another “normal” transaction. No matter how restaurants do their best to design their interiors to be enticing, here comes the diners who prefer having their food delivered to their homes or offices.
You couldn’t blame them, though. The convenience that food delivery offers is limitless, boundless. Who wants to brave traffic with a hungry stomach when you could have your cravings in just a few minutes?
“The rise of DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub has changed not just the economics of restaurants, but also their purpose,” Jinich continued.
The Atlantic also mentioned the concept of “convenience maximalism,” which has engulfed and become the description of meal-delivery apps or food delivery apps, at that. The correspondent defined convenience maximalism as “the instinct to make everything faster and easier, no matter the cost.” Meaning, even if you order a cup of coffee from a popular coffee chain in-store, thinking that taking it out is faster that when you dine-in, you’d be surprised to find out that you’d still wait several minutes, especially if it’s peak or rush hours.
Let’s set things straight. Experts define convenience maximalism as the modern push to make every task faster, simpler, and more automated. It prioritizes comfort and instant results – whether through smart homes, on-demand services, or one-tap purchases. For instance, instead of rummaging through the video shop of your favorite movie, which was popular in the 90s, you’d simply hop onto your Netflix account to find that movie.
While convenience maximalism reduces the effort and frees up the time, it could likewise increase the dependence on technology and might diminish patience, surprisingly. At the end of the day, convenience maximalism is shaping a shared lifestyle “where effortlessness becomes the expected norm.”
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