Graphic by Carolyn Chen ’25/The Choate News
By Maia Shah ’27
Recently, the online food delivery company DoorDash has listed local Wallingford restaurants on its platform without their permission, leading to confusion, upset customers, and tarnished reputations. Knuckleheads and Tap & Vine, two restaurants in the heart of downtown Wallingford, found themselves listed for food delivery on the DoorDash app without registering themselves.
In several recent instances, customers have placed orders via an online menu, paid a delivery fee, and even tipped their “dasher,” yet never received their meal. While the menus that appeared on DoorDash seemed to be registered by the restaurant itself, in reality, the restaurants were posted by someone unaffiliated with the establishments.
Knuckleheads’s General Manager Mr. Tony Dorsey dug into mix-up after contacting Doordash support and uncovering that an individual named “Danny” had done the listing. To register a restaurant on DoorDash, one only needs the name of the establishment, a menu, and the restaurant’s information. No additional verification is needed.
Rectifying this mistake involved a cumbersome verification process to remove the outdated menu items. Still, despite making the request, Knuckleheads wasn’t removed from DoorDash; their menu was simply listed as “inactive.”
Mr. Dorsey was frustrated by the difficult process of addressing the conflict. In addition, he was bothered by the ease with which the error occurred in the first place. “We had a lot of angry customers, you know, because they thought it was us, when it wasn’t us. It was this private company,” Mr. Dorsey said.
Similar to the experience of Knuckleheads’s management, Tap & Vine, a bar and restaurant that serves classic American cuisine, was also listed without their consent.
Mr. Hector Samuel, the owner of Tap & Vine, also found the situation frustrating. “I don’t know how we ended up on DoorDash. It wasn’t something that we did. It wasn’t something that we wanted,” Mr. Samuel said. He explained that the mixup with DoorDash stirred up a lot of customer dissatisfaction.
“When they place an order with us, they get a refund for the food they ordered. But the service charge that they paid when placing the order is not refunded … And the tip to the driver still goes to the driver,” Mr. Samuel said. “So even though they didn’t get any food, they still lost money.”
Even loyal customers can be dissuaded from supporting these restaurants in the future. Meanwhile, those who contribute to the problem by listing restaurants against their wills face no repercussions.
“It’s not about being against any delivery service. They serve a purpose, and they work great for a lot of people. We just shouldn’t be forced into obliging to what they want,” Mr. Dorsey said. “We have our business, and they have theirs.” The situation has raised concerns among residents and restaurant owners regarding the responsibilities of food delivery platforms and the protection of local businesses. Following this issue, the Connecticut Attorney General William Tong sent DoorDash a cease and desist letter about the unauthorized listings.
Although DoorDash professes a zero-fraud policy, little action was taken to reimburse these two Wallingford restaurants for the damages done, and no preventative measures were taken. DoorDash has stated that it is looking into the situation, and they hope that restaurants facing similar situations will reach out.
The restaurants who have been listed without their consent remain irritated by the mixup with DoorDash. Mr. Dorsey said, “This third party did something bad, and now we look bad because of it.” They face repercussions such as smeared reputations and lower customer satisfaction for situations that are out of their hands.
