My wife was feeling really hungry and wasn't very inspired by what was in our fridge or pantry. I cannot cook for the life of me (especially while I'm hungry) and so we agreed on ordering from DoorDash. Since the pandemic worsened last winter, we've been trying to order from local "mom & pop" restaurants more to support local businesses and also try new things.

She told me about a restaurant called Chicken Sammy's and had me sold on a California chicken sandwich with guacamole. I've been losing weight and counting every calorie and pick my meals very carefully. I was very excited about a new local restaurant that specialized in chicken sandwiches; envisioning something like Graze or Frost Me Sweet. Paying $13.50 for a chicken sandwich felt a little steep but I'll pay anything for good local food.

When the food finally arrived, I was shocked to see a Red Robin bag. Don't get me wrong, I like Red Robin. For many years my family made an annual Red Robin outing for birthdays (my birthday plus my sister's and mother's birthdays are in November) and I always looked forward to it. But on this particular day, I really wanted local food.

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If you look up Chicken Sammy's on Google, the only relevant information you'll find is their DoorDash profile. This is also the same thing with "Fresh Set" which also has an eerily similar menu.

(Screenshots from DoorDash)
(Screenshots from DoorDash)
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My wife told me that one time she was looking around for wings and found Applebees had been listing their food under a different name that sounded "more local." It turns out that Chuck E. Cheese is also doing this along with Applebees and who knows who else. One Redditor says this trend has actually been going on for a while.

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This kind of practice is known as "doing business as" and the process varies from state to state. Getting an "alias" for your business can be free or cost as much as $100.

I order Red Robin when I want Red Robin but today I was looking for some local food. If you come across a restaurant on DoorDash or UberEats that you haven't seen around town or heard of from friends or social media, do a quick Google search to see if you can find an address. If not, you could look at other options or order anyway.

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