How restaurants can be found, and favored, by diners

Michele's take

The DoorDash data here confirms what I've been telling operators for years: visibility and preference are no longer won at the front door — they're won across every digital and physical touchpoint before a customer ever decides to order. For franchise networks, this means brand standards must now extend aggressively into third-party platform presentation, including photography, menu architecture, and response protocols, because that's where discovery and loyalty are increasingly being shaped. Operators who treat delivery platforms as a passive revenue channel rather than an active marketing surface will keep losing share to competitors who understand that being found and being favored are two distinct battles, and you have to win both.