Submitted by fredmau5 t3_zoaoc4 in jerseycity
Comments
FelixTaran t1_j0lre72 wrote
I just googled 400 Newark and it’s literally the underpass. Are they both like, Law & Order addresses?
jcburner2020 t1_j0ls1wg wrote
Called ghost kitchens. Pretty sure 331 Central is where Wonder Bagel is located.
fredmau5 OP t1_j0lt1w7 wrote
Isn’t a ghost kitchen just when you serve food out of a non commercial space? This is literally just Wonderbagel making multiple listings under different names. It’s all just wonder bagel
drinkingshampain t1_j0lt4bc wrote
The fact that jersey city is a bagel desert is so disappointing
Substantial-Floor926 t1_j0lt730 wrote
https://www.heyforward.com/ - it’s BS being driven by companies like this. They launch multiple brands form the same restaurant to drive sales
drinkingshampain t1_j0ltd2c wrote
No, this is Wonder Bagels and whatever the other place is spamming seamless and making multiple listings. Ghost kitchens are places that don’t have a brick and mortar you can go into to sit and eat and delivery only.
jcburner2020 t1_j0ltq3r wrote
AFAIK ghost kitchens are still supposed to operate out of commercial spaces. That said, yeah, it's all Wonder Bagel. And it's not like the multiple listings have helped the ratings!
The_Nomadic_Nerd t1_j0lxhqz wrote
Can someone explain to me why Wonder Bagel would make multiple listings of differently-named places on Seamless?
drinkingshampain t1_j0lxrxg wrote
“A business, operating from low-rent or noncommercial premises, that prepares food ordered online for delivery directly to customers.”
Lowkeylowthreadcount t1_j0m04cu wrote
In the amount of time it took you to compile this, you could have driven to Teaneck hot bagel, gotten the best bagel of your life, and driven back.
CatMad25 t1_j0m1j0f wrote
The more spaces they take up on seamless the more chance of someone ordering from them! It’s a little underhanded but technically above board. Lots of places in little India are also doing this.
mooseLimbsCatLicks t1_j0m1kad wrote
The appearance of competition. People don’t like wonderbagels? They’ll try the other one.
scubastefon t1_j0m1nig wrote
Oil Barrel Bagels, my dude.
WarrenBuffetsDriver t1_j0m2e97 wrote
anonymess201 t1_j0m2nij wrote
Yeah, ghost kitchens just don't have a visitable store front where you can pick up/buy food and only does delivery.
WarrenBuffetsDriver t1_j0m2o94 wrote
The phrase he's looking for is actually Virtual Brands.
>Virtual brands are restaurants available only on third-party delivery apps. Their creators use existing restaurant kitchens to whip up orders from a menu that was designed for off-premise customers. Pizza, chicken wings and burgers are popular options because they all travel well and don’t usually require extra equipment to make.
FelixTaran t1_j0m4tfu wrote
I need a spit-take emoji for that
fastAFguy t1_j0m551o wrote
Makes no sense
NewLoseIt t1_j0m692q wrote
Also — not really this example, but in NYC a lot of hole-in-the-wall places post an “upscale” brand with higher places for delivery. I knew a place that was 30-40% cheaper for the same food if you used the less “upscale” brand option
scubastefon t1_j0m7995 wrote
Nashville Hot operates like this.
JeromePowellAdmirer t1_j0m7b8n wrote
I always search the address before ordering from one of these to find the true business
MayorAnthonyWeiner t1_j0me6tl wrote
Don’t order from here. I ordered a plain bagel with cream cheese, lox, tomato, onion, and capers. What I got was a plain bagel with cream cheese and capers. Whoever thought that was a good idea to send out deserves to be in jail.
pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j0med4c wrote
This is actually pretty common even before apps.
Places sell food under a few names, same basic menu +/- a few items. Get a few phone numbers one for each brand.
Asian places have done it for a long time. One will be Chinese, another will be American Chinese, another is some kinda fusion. 99% same menu. Let’s them market and track marketing returns better.
TooSmalley t1_j0mg8cz wrote
That’s what ghost kitchens are. There usually a rebranding of another company for delivery only services.
Pasqually's Pizza and Wings is Chuck E Cheese
the Melt Down and Burger Den is Dennys
Mysterious-Change954 t1_j0mid99 wrote
I know places in Hoboken that started serving different types of food that varied from their official menu and listed themselves on UberEats / Grubhub under a totally different name. So you think you're ordering from a Mexican place but its really a just a deli. I dont know if that qualifies as a ghost kitchen or not. But still seems shady.
Jahooodie t1_j0mj882 wrote
Yeah, alot of confusion around ghost kitchens VS this.
I like to think of it like a diffusion line, it just takes up more "shelf" space in the app or tries to entice people to order from someplace "new" that they would've never ordered from otherwise. I hate them.
superpuzzlekiller t1_j0mqmi4 wrote
Who else is craving bagel now?
WooliesWhiteLeg t1_j0muya3 wrote
A lot of restaurants operate as ghost kitchens for other brands as a way of supplementing income.
Ezl t1_j0na2oy wrote
Do you have a link? I googled but didn’t find anything and am looking for a good Nashville hot chicken place.
scubastefon t1_j0na78k wrote
Ezl t1_j0narm0 wrote
Paradise Deli, the bodega on Newark off Coles, has 3 or 4 listings in Grub Hub - one for sandwiches, one saying the specialize in Philly Cheesesteaks, etc. Funny thing is, if you’ve ever seen the place it’s not somewhere you’d ever order food from, all their GH reviews are awful (spoiled food, terrible product, etc.) and yet they push their food really hard - (misspelled) menus items plastered all over the storefront, pushing different “specials” every day, etc. It all seems so bad that they can’t be making any money from it and yet they persist.
robotmlg t1_j0nbvir wrote
It's 400 Newark St, not Ave, so I think it's Hoboken
pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j0ncxvl wrote
Yea. My former coworkers used to collect menus from places they ordered/picked up. You could browse the stack for that chunk of midtown. At one point someone noticed several had the same address. Searching on Yelp showed it was just aliases for the same place… and same deal: all crappy reviews.
Once their reputation is blown they just start a new one. They keep the existing name to not loose existing customers. Cost is basically a print order for some menus to throw in bags and a Google voice number.
Maybe this is OCD, but if I order from some place new, I put it in Google maps and see what comes up. Is it a real place?
Jape403 t1_j0nd6di wrote
The term for this is ‘virtual kitchen’ where an existing restaurant has multiple virtual concepts online. Unfortunately tons of restaurants do this
sthornr t1_j0nhqht wrote
No that's a cloud kitchen I think
lovelybitofsquirrel3 t1_j0nva4r wrote
My wife saw him at the Wonder Bagel on Central a few months ago and said he looked slimy AF
gggrumpnbind t1_j0oaygu wrote
If you have a car and are familiar w Bayonne. Check out everything bagels. It's on 22nd st on the way towards Walmart. They got the right idea, at least by the fancies of a local jew-ish dood. Haven't tried their lox if they have but they have a better deal than ShopRite on day old dozens. Two bucks. At ShopRite it's 3.50
106th t1_j0ob56i wrote
The only local (downtown) bagel I really trust at this point is Wonder Bagels on Jersey Ave and Columbus
Anyone have alt suggestions for GOOD "real" bagels in the same area (or Paulus Hook even)
Also, a new place called City Bagel is opening on Grove St. at some point "soon" -- hope their bagels are good
Economy-Cupcake808 t1_j0obmdt wrote
This is something I wish the apps cracked down on. I used to deliver for some extra cash during the pandemic. It’s a big problem in NYC, often times I would walk into a deli or corner bodega and see they have like 6 or 7 iPads behind the counter all pretending to be a different restaurant on a delivery app. They put the restaurant on the app multiple times as a way to try and game the algorithm. They should really only permit one restaurant per address.
User64929 t1_j0pdfd6 wrote
Me and now i have no idea where to get one 😂😂😂
oatmealparty t1_j0py91a wrote
Yeah it looks like it's Dunkin Donuts!
400 Newark St. https://maps.app.goo.gl/fPwqfP6FMF6B41hQ9
oatmealparty t1_j0pz39c wrote
Wing places are notorious for this, loads of those wing shops are actually just pizzerias and fried chicken places running fake wing shops. Even domino's and pizza hut do it
certifiedforgedcheck t1_j0q7273 wrote
Sprove Market has the best bagels in downtown. Idk where they source them from, but they are good, and there is never a line. Wonder Bagel is overrated.
jgweiss t1_j0up7lv wrote
yes there are like 5 or 6 brands coming from Dark Side of the Moo, which is at that address. good spot, my wife wont order it since finding a hair in a salad.
jgweiss t1_j0upaf5 wrote
i have not tried it, but am looking to try Twinz hot chicken in journal square. bonus it's halal if you want/need that!
[deleted] t1_j0upmzi wrote
[deleted]
scubastefon t1_j0uppi8 wrote
What are the other brands aside from DSotM and Nashville?
jgweiss t1_j0uppw0 wrote
> Even domino's and pizza hut do it
fwiw that is likely solely done by the franchise owner, and corporate likely doesnt promote that tactic
jgweiss t1_j0v1ll2 wrote
not sure, i just often see that address, 52 bowers st, come up on seamless
Ezl t1_j0vuuuw wrote
Huh!
Really good reviews, pics look promising, tiny menu so they have focus…
Thanks! I kinda sorta heard of them but the name seems so…generic and unrelated to much of anything, I guess…I never would have looked into them but they seem promising.
acornrevolver t1_j0wisl8 wrote
Unfortunately this isn’t new. Check out a Portland Oregon article specifically about this: https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/12/14/two-men-running-a-ghost-kitchen-in-northwest-portland-advertise-76-distinct-restaurants-on-food-delivery-apps/
“…business by numbers” apparently. I find it dishonest.
fredmau5 OP t1_j0lr2lj wrote
There is a bagel conspiracy going on in Jersey City and I think it goes all the way to the top. Pretty sure Steven Fullop is in bed with Big Bagel.
Seriously though, 3 listings at 332 central and 5 listings at 400 Newark.