Google “hijacked millions of customers and orders” from restaurants, lawsuit says

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Google is being sued by a Florida restaurant group alleging that the tech company} has been setting up unauthorized pages to capture food orders rather than directing them to the restaurant’s own site.

Google uses “bait-and-switch” tactics to get customers to place takeout or pickup orders through “new, unauthorized, and deceptively branded webpages, ” according to the lawsuit , filed on behalf of Left Field Holdings, a restaurant organization} that runs Lime Fresh Mexican Grill franchises. On those pages, customers are prompted with large buttons to order with food delivery companies like GrubHub, DoorDash , or Seamless.

“Google never bothered to obtain permission from the restaurants to sell their products online, ” the lawsuit says. “Google purposefully designed its websites to appear to the user to be offered, sponsored, and approved by the restaurant, when they are not—a tactic, no doubt, employed by Google in order to increase orders and clicks. ”