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Local Businesses Voice Concerns Over Third-Party Delivery Services

Scooper's was built based on the contruction of a 1962 A & W resutrant. The drive-in machines stopped working a few years ago.
Stephanie Serrano
Scooper's was built based on the contruction of a 1962 A & W resutrant. The drive-in machines stopped working a few years ago.

Earlier this month, KUNR published a business profile by our contributor the Northern Nevada Business View about a third-party restaurant delivery service known as DoorDash. That story received a lot of negative attention regarding some of the business’ practices. In response, KUNR’s reporter Stephanie Serrano took a deeper look at the company and the local food industry to find out more.

Shawn and Collin Richards’ parents opened Scoopers in 1980, where the two helped their father and mother run their family drive-in. Now, nearly 40 years later, the two brothers run the restaurant and it’s their kids who help out.

Shawn says the business has deep roots and has built close ties with the community over the years.

“You see generations of customers, people you don’t even know say I used to come here when I was at the elementary school, or I used to come when I was in high school. My grandfather brought me here every day in the summer when I visiting. These are full-grown adults now and now they’re bringing their kids.”

Recently, the family-run business ran into a problem when they noticed their logo and menu on a website for a new delivery service in town named DoorDash. Using an incorrect menu, the company was offering delivery service to customers without their permission.

According to Shawn’s brother, Collin, “dashers”-- the companies delivery employees -- also do not identify themselves during pick up.

"There are businesses that use DoorDash and if it is successful for them than that's fine. This community is building quickly on the food industry. There are restaurants opening all through Reno and Sparks. Most of them [are] locally owned and a lot of these people put a lot of time and money into [their] business, and if people have a bad experience due to a delivery system, that’s going to put a bad taste in somebody's mouth.”

Third-party delivery systems like this do not allow local business who depend on repeat visitors to control the customer experience.

KUNR reached out to DoorDash and they did provide a written statement saying their business model has provided restaurants with an influx of customers and revenue.

“For those not interested in being on DoorDash for any reason, we immediately remove them from the platform upon their request," said the statement.

As for Scoopers, they’re working on removing themselves from the service; which just received a $4 billion market valuation.

Stephanie Serrano (she/her/ella) is an award-winning multimedia bilingual journalist based in Reno, Nevada. Her reporting is powered by character-driven stories and is rooted in sound-rich audio. Her storytelling works to share the experiences of unserved communities in regards to education, race, affordable housing and sports.
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