Google has been sued by a group of restaurants in Florida. The restaurants claim the technology company created unauthorized pages to record food orders instead of directing them to the restaurant's website.
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Google is using “bait-and-switch” tactics to trick customers into ordering takeout or delivery through “new, unauthorized and deceptive websites,” according to the lawsuit filed on behalf of Left Field Holdings, a restaurant company that operates Lime Fresh Mexican Grill franchises. On those pages, customers are explicitly asked to order from food delivery companies like GrubHub, DoorDash or Seamless.
“Google never bothered to obtain the necessary permission from restaurants to sell their products online,” the lawsuit states. “Google intentionally designed its websites to appear to the user as being endorsed by the restaurant, when in fact they are not — a tactic Google uses to increase orders and clicks.”.
In a statement to Ars, Google disputed “the mischaracterizations of our product” and said it would defend itself against the lawsuit. “Our goal is to connect customers with restaurants they want to order food from and make it easy for them to do so through the Order Online button,” spokesperson José Castañeda told Ars. “We provide tools for merchants to indicate whether they support online ordering or if they prefer a specific provider, including their own ordering site. We do not take a cut of orders or integrations for this feature.”
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Google acquisition
The “Order Online” button appears to be the result of a Google acquisition known as “The Ordering App,” a website that was originally marketed to restaurants. “The Ordering app is an online ordering platform, powered by Google, designed specifically for restaurants to help customers seamlessly order from their Google Business Profile,” the product’s Salesforce page states. While the Ordering App was originally set up to take a percentage of sales, Google has waived that feature “to help restaurants impacted during the COVID-19.”
It's not clear when the Ordering App or the "Ordering App" button changed or if it ever changed, but the lawsuit alleges that at some point Google decided to market it to food delivery companies instead of restaurants.
Before the “Order Online” button appeared, Google search results pages for restaurant queries looked like many others—a list of organic results accompanied by text ads. Then, in 2019, Google began rolling out the new button, which appears prominently on what the company calls a Business Profile, a collection of information about a business that appears alongside search results.
When users click the “Order Online” button, they’re taken to a page that often contains links to food delivery companies, along with their logos. The restaurant’s website also gets a link, albeit a small, generic “website” button. Businesses that have completed the “Order Online” setup with Google can also direct customers to their own online ordering services. However, because many restaurant ordering sites are run by third parties, these links may not contain the name of a restaurant. In the case of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Flour Bakery, for example, the option to order directly appears as “thelevelup.com.”
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If restaurants haven’t completed the setup, Google appears to create a page anyway. It’s unclear how this happens, though it’s possible that a restaurant’s appearance on a delivery app is what triggers it. However, this isn’t always a sign of a business relationship between the restaurant and the food delivery company. Several food delivery companies have been sued for adding restaurants without their consent.
Food delivery app fees
If the restaurant has a relationship with the food delivery company, a fee is charged. These fees can be so high – 15 to 30 percent in many cases – that the restaurant has no hope of making a profit on the order.
However, the lawsuit says, because of the way Google's "Order Online" feature is designed, it limits restaurants' chances of accepting orders directly.
Given the number of restaurants in the U.S., lawyers representing Left Field Holdings are seeking a class action lawsuit, saying they believe there are “tens of thousands” of potential plaintiffs.
Source of information: arstechnica.com
