I genuinely thought a bunch of new businesses were opening locally and wanted to support them for their longevity, it's only reading this that I realise they're all just brands. It's incredibly deceptive and they absolutely shouldn't be legally allowed to get away with it.

Sometimes those are the chains directly... More often they're just ghost kitchens. Someone else owns the brand, and has an already established kitchen make the food for delivery apps, and they take a cut from the sale.

Many ghost kitchens aren't even normal restaurants you would drive to, they're just commercial kitchens in generic business space that make food for a dozen or so ghost kitchen brands.

Pagliacci Pizza?

Pizzerias in Italy have been delivering for ages without apps. I don't understand why everybody uses apps now.

Of course cooking is preferable, but it's not possible everyday for everyone. Everyone's situation is different.

Food to go is a good option on days when cooking is not convenient/possible. You can order by calling the restaurant directly over the phone, go pick it up and see the restaurant and its owner/employee face to face, so you'll see if that's a chain. There's no delivery nor app fee. It encourage walking and support nearby restaurants.

Most of the time. It's cause I'm drunk and would happily go pick something up but won't get in a car to drive because, well, drunk.

But I also always check the address to see if it's a ghost kitchen or not.