Melbourne burger shop serves food for more than a dozen online restaurants
An eagle-eyed customer revealed in a Reddit post that the 'Burgur' venue on Berwick's main drag shared the same address as more than a dozen other offerings on Uber Eats.
Some of those delivery-only shops have names which appear similar to established brands such as 'Shack Shake', 'IN OUT BUNS', 'Mad Taco' and 'Mad Mexican'.
Others virtual restaurants have titles some Reddit users suggested might have been created by AI, including 'CHICKEN', 'Mr Chips Man' and simply 'Burrito'.
Many of the businesses sell similar fare – variations of burgers, Mexican, ice cream, shakes and loaded fries.
One local was confused about where their food was coming from after trying to attend one of the businesses, Melt Shop, only to find that the address led them to Burgur.
'We found a great shop via Uber but we wanted to check the store but it says pick-up unavailable,' she wrote on a Berwick community Facebook page.
'Does anyone know where the Melt Shop is?
'It's saying on Uber 44 High Street Berwick shop 10 but we went there it was a Burgur store and it doesn't (have) what's on the menu compared to Uber MELT Shop.'
When news.com.au called the store on Thursday, a staffer confirmed the shop had one kitchen and 'lots of names' on Uber.
News.com.au understands all of the businesses operating out of the High St venue are legitimate and compliant.
Uber, in a statement, said it 'gives restaurants across Australia the flexibility to choose how they partner with us, while continuing to meet our standard requirements and community guidelines'.
'A virtual restaurant allows chefs and business owners to utilise the space they already have in their kitchens, to try cooking new cuisines and reach new customers with online-only brands,' a spokesperson said.
Virtual restaurants, sometimes called ghost kitchens, have become common on online food delivery websites, and some outperform physical restaurants.
Dr Andy Lee, from the University of Queensland's School of Business, said types of ghost kitchens varied – some were rented out and others were shared by multiple businesses.
He said the rising reliance on online businesses was supercharged during the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to a growth in delivery-only restaurants.
The model offers the ability to set up a business with less staffing and fit-out costs, and also the ability to completely change a menu or branding with ease, Dr Lee said.
'If they start their business with Italian food, but the demand is not that good, then they can change to, let's say, French cuisine if they can do it,' he said.
'But in the traditional restaurant, they cannot do it easily because they have to change their interior and they have to do the different marketing strategy.'
Dr Lee said one kitchen operating under multiple names online could also create an 'illusion' that a customer was choosing between different shops.
'We just believe the food that we got from 'A' shop is going to be different from 'B' shop,' he said.
'We just don't know. There's so much anonymity behind the dish.'
One Reddit user spoke about a seperate operation in the suburb of Mulgrave, saying they had stopped using Uber Eats after they 'got stung' several times.
'Ordered one of the worst burgers of my life. 'Won't buy from them again' I thought,' they said.
'Ordered from what I thought was a different burger joint a week or so later. Then watched as the driver collects from the same damn place.'
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