By News.com.au
A single shopfront in Melbourne鈥檚 outer suburbs serves food for 17 different restaurants being advertised on delivery apps.
An eagle-eyed customer revealed in a Reddit post that the 鈥楤urgur鈥 venue on Berwick鈥檚 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 鈥淪hack Shake鈥, 鈥淚N OUT BUNS鈥, 鈥淢ad Taco鈥 and 鈥淢ad Mexican鈥.
Others virtual restaurants have titles some Reddit users suggested might have been created by AI, including 鈥淐HICKEN鈥, 鈥淢r. Chips Man鈥 and simply 鈥淏urrito鈥.
Many of the businesses sell similar fare 鈥 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.
鈥淲e found a great shop via Uber but we wanted to check the store but it says pick-up unavailable,鈥 she wrote on a Berwick community Facebook page.
鈥淒oes anyone know where the Melt Shop is?
鈥淚t鈥檚 saying on Uber 44 High Street Berwick shop 10 but we went there it was a Burgur store and it doesn鈥檛 (have) what鈥檚 on the menu compared to Uber MELT Shop.鈥
When news.com.au called the store on Thursday, a staffer confirmed the shop had one kitchen and 鈥渓ots of names鈥 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 鈥済ives restaurants across Australia the flexibility to choose how they partner with us, while continuing to meet our standard requirements and community guidelines鈥.
鈥淎 virtual restaurant allows chefs and business owners to utilize the space they already have in their kitchens, to try cooking new cuisines and reach new customers with online-only brands,鈥 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鈥檚 School of Business, said types of ghost kitchens varied 鈥 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.
鈥淚f they start their business with Italian food, but the demand is not that good, then they can change to, let鈥檚 say, French cuisine if they can do it,鈥 he said.
鈥淏ut 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.鈥
Dr Lee said one kitchen operating under multiple names online could also create an 鈥渋llusion鈥 that a customer was choosing between different shops.
鈥淲e just believe the food that we got from 鈥楢鈥 shop is going to be different from 鈥楤鈥 shop,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e just don鈥檛 know. There鈥檚 so much anonymity behind the dish.鈥
One Reddit user spoke about a seperate operation in the suburb of Mulgrave, saying they had stopped using Uber Eats after they 鈥済ot stung鈥 several times.
鈥淥rdered one of the worst burgers of my life. 鈥榃on鈥檛 buy from them again鈥 I thought,鈥 they said.
鈥淥rdered 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.鈥