Featured Image Credit: ABC 7
Topics: News, US News, Food and Drink
Kit Roberts
A takeout customer has been warned not to eat their food after a driver was caught helping themselves to the food they were meant to be delivering.
At some point, all of us have probably unknowingly had a delivery driver or waiter surreptitiously snaffle a couple of fries out of an order.
Obviously, this isn't something to be encouraged, but let's be realistic. Given the long hours on the go with no break, it's understandable that it sometimes happens.
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But this incident went far beyond just a couple of fries.
Martin Luzanilla is the CEO of Mexihan's Hibachi Grill in Long Beach California, and caught one driver helping himself to a whole order.
Luzanilla explained that he had seen surveillance footage of a Grubhub driver spending several minutes eating food from a customer's order.
He said: "I noticed that he was untying the bag and started chowing down on the food."
The incident unfolded in the parking lot in front of the restaurant.
Naturally, Luzanilla went outside to confront the driver about him eating the food.
He explained: "I went outside and I was like 'What the hell are you doing?' And he's like, 'Oh, this is my lunch.' So I said, 'I'm sorry. If that's your food, I'm very, very sorry'."
But unfortunately it seems that the food was not in fact the driver's lunch.
The restauranteur continued: "So I came back in, I reviewed the cameras and it was actually a customer's food that he was enjoying."
Horrified, Luzanillo tried desperately to reach the customer to warn them that their food had been tampered with.
Luckily, he was able to get through to them to deliver the warning. By way of apology, he also said that he wouldn't be using the same delivery service anymore.
Luzanillo explained: "I just said 'I'm actually making your food right now for you guys and I'll be personally delivering it to you'."
It was lucky that they did catch the driver, because if not, then it would be the restaurant that took the heat if an order came up short.
Luzanillo said: "Grubhub hits us back and says 'Hey, you know what, this customer didn't get enough shrimp, or this customer didn't get his fried rice, or this customer didn't get his garlic noodles - well, of course! Your drivers are buffeting on their food!
"So who pays for it? We do."
In statement to ABC, Grubhub said: "The vast majority of our orders are completed without incident or complaint, and when things don't go as planned, we work hard to make things right. Upon hearing of this situation, we took immediate action and suspended the driver from our platform."
UNILAD has reached out to Grubhub for comment.