Last January, chef and restaurateur Pim Techamuanvivit discovered that her San Francisco restaurant, Kin Khao, had been listed on Grubhub, Seamless, and Yelp for delivery orders without her knowledge. It was a high-profile and extreme example of the trouble with third-party services: restaurants stand to lose control of the guest experience.
This was just over a month before the pandemic closed restaurants and reshaped the way we dine. It was ten months before delivery service DoorDash’s $72 billion debut on the public stock market, and a year before California law would expressly prohibit delivery companies from listing non-partnered restaurants on their platforms.
A lot has changed in a year, including, understandably, Techamuanvivit’s stance on offering food for takeout and delivery. The original Kin Khao location, on the ground floor of a downtown hotel, remains closed for now. In September, Techamuanvivit opened a second location of Kin Khao featuring a menu of takeout-friendly favourites like chicken wings, khao soi, papaya salad, and a fried chicken sandwich. Guests can order for delivery via DoorDash or directly from the restaurant via its website.