How Buffalo Wild Wings Is Winning Over Grubhub Customers Duped By Applebee's

During the season of self-quarantine, we've all been encouraged to help support local businesses by ordering takeout food as often as possible, and this is one "sacrifice" for the general good that doesn't require a whole lot of arm-twisting. Delivery does have its downside, though — there are frequently issues with incorrect, incomplete, or missing orders, not to mention all those hefty fees (that don't even go to the restaurant). One thing that has been scaring customers off lately is the rise in "ghost kitchens" — no, not kitchens that are literally experiencing manifestations of long-departed chefs, but rather, restaurants that are essentially operating under an alias.

One particularly notorious instance of a restaurant haunted by a less-than-desirable alter ego is that of Chuck E. Cheese, who tried to flog off the takeout pizza that no-one really wanted by means of a stealth rebranding –- this effort was only really successful as long as nobody knew that Pasqually's Pizza & Wings was actually just CEC's nom de Grubhub. Undeterred by the flak Chuck E. Cheese received, yet another restaurant decided to open its own GrubHub ghost kitchen to sell one particular product. Applebee's, apparently unable to move sufficient amounts of chicken wings under its own name, adopted the alter ego of Neighborhood Wings.

Needless to say, once Applebee's little ruse was uncovered, customers who'd been unwittingly duped into ordering their wings took to social media to complain about it. Several who decided to tweet about their negative experience were unexpectedly rewarded, but not by an apologetic Applebee's. Instead, an unlikely white knight arrived clad in sticky red armor and riding on a winged steed — a buffalo, to be exact. If we've lost you with that tortured metaphor, the title should already have tipped you off that we're referring to Buffalo Wild Wings.

One disgruntled accidental Applebee's wing buyer tweeted their disgust upon finding out the true provenance of their "neighborhood" wings, and B Dubs responded by saying "Buffalo Wild Wings here. That is so not cool, you deserve better than sub-par wings. Send an email with a screenshot of your 'Neighborhood Wings' receipt to us at realwings@buffalowildwings.com and we'll hook you up with a gift card for some real wings." Two other Twitter users also complained about Applebee's faux-local wings, and again in both cases Applebee's tweeted a similar response. Clever marketing ploy? Well, yes, but a generous one nonetheless, and the Twitter users were pretty happy to be the recipient of such generosity since, TBH, BWW really does have much better wings.