Man Shares Experience of Picking Up His DoorDash Order From Someone’s Home, Asks If It's Legal

A user has sparked curiosity on TikTok by sharing his weird DoorDash experience. DoorDash is one of the biggest food delivery services in the United States, and more and more businesses are getting creative with the service. In his video, TikTok creator lont (@1lont) said that he was sent to someone’s home to pick up his DoorDash order. He wondered if it was legal and left his viewers confused.

Cooking from home: A new thing on DoorDash?

The creator started the video by saying that he was outside a random stranger’s house to pick up a DoorDash order. This is very uncommon, which is why the creator considered it absolutely crazy. He even wondered if it was legal to do this from home and the video was subtitled, “Illegal DoorDash, food fraud, and I’m hungry.”

He then said he had to go to a different house as the listed address was wrong. At the new location, he said he found other people waiting for their orders as well, which made him feel better. He then revealed that he had the entry codes and everything and he went in knocking on the door. He said he needed to see how the food was prepared.

Finally, the creator returned home with the food. He said he felt better about it after picking up the order himself. However, much to everyone’s disappointment, he ended the video without showing how the food was. Most of the viewers were left wondering how the food looked or tasted.

Several comments demanded food reviews from the creator. Some viewers even wrote elaborate lines to show their disappointment while showing some concern as well.

One user tried to calm the situation down by sharing her own experience. The viewer said she went through the same experience but in her case, it was an apartment. She also mentioned that the food was not good.

The big question: Is it illegal?

Turns out, it is not illegal as what the user encountered was a ghost kitchen or a cloud kitchen. Ghost kitchens are kitchens optimized for third-party food delivery service in locations where demand is high. Unlike restaurants, ghost kitchens do not provide a seating space and prepare food only for take-out orders on food delivery platforms like DoorDash. Each delivery kitchen is located in areas with a high concentration of delivery demand. This business model benefits the kitchens as they save on real estate costs. Multiple restaurants can operate from the same place as well, given they meet all the requirements of the Food Standards Agency. Only then are they allowed to be available on apps like DoorDash. 

DoorDash calls them “virtual kitchens” and the delivery service has partnered with several brands since the COVID-19 pandemic. This was confirmed by one of the viewers of the video who commented that they are operating a similar service on DoorDash.

On its website, DoorDash mentioned Scaffidi Restaurant Group which partnered with the platform after all restaurants were forced to shut their doors during the lockdown. DoorDash helped the brand to quickly expand delivery operations and create a virtual kitchen model in those conditions.

You can follow lont (@1lont) on TikTok for similar content.