To tweak Bugs Bunny’s immortal line: “Where’s all the Grubhub, bub?”
A California Grubhub driver redefined the expression “dine and dash” after allegedly gobbling down food that he was supposed to deliver to a customer, as seen in a viral video.
“I hope he never delivers to anyone again,” Martin Luzanilla, CEO of Mexihana’s Hibachi Grill in Long Beach, where the preemptive bite took place, told ABC 7.
The restaurant boss said he first grew suspicious after seeing surveillance footage of an unidentified Grubhub courier eating from a customer’s order while sitting in the parking lot in front of the Japanese-Mexican fusion restaurant.
“I noticed that he was untying the bag and started chowing down on the food,” described Luzanilla.
Outraged, he went to confront the delivery skimmer, who insisted he wasn’t getting high on his own food supply.
“I went outside and I was like ‘What the hell are you doing?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, this is my lunch,'” the owner recounted. “So I said, ‘I’m sorry. If that’s your food, I’m very, very sorry.'”
However, when the suspicious Luzanilla consulted the security footage again, it became apparent that the courier was lying.
Accompanying footage shows the delivery zero rip the plastic label off and chomp the bag with his teeth before helping himself to five dishes meant for one customer like an officer on a stakeout, KTLA 5 reported.
“[He was eating] mouthfuls; whatever didn’t fit in his mouth was falling right back onto that plate,” recalled the “pissed” Luzanilla, who called the customer a dozen times, warning him to discard the tampered order.
Unfortunately, by that point, it was too late. The tortilla thief had reportedly already delivered the order, even taking care to repackage it so as to cover all traces of his culinary crime.
Luzanilla said he had no choice but to make amends himself. “I just said ‘I’m actually making your food right now for you guys and I’ll be personally delivering it to you,'” the devastated owner recalled.
In light of the incident, Grubhub has since “suspended the driver” from the company, per a statement from a spokesperson.
They declared that the “vast majority of our orders are completed without incident or complaint” adding that “when things don’t go as planned, we work hard to make things right.”
Luzanilla said the problem extends beyond simply a customer not receiving their order, as when there’s no security footage, it reflects poorly on the restaurant and not Grubhub.
“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,” he lamented. “Well of course. Your drivers are buffeting on their food!”
