NPR

Uber's Online-Only Restaurants: The Future, Or The End Of Dining Out?

Uber has helped create about 800 "virtual restaurants" in the U.S. — eateries that only exist online. Uber says its delivery service helps restaurants grow, but some in the industry see downsides.
Betsy Leyva is co-owner of a Brooklyn, N.Y., bakery that has an online-only restaurant, with deliveries by Uber Eats.

It's a chilly autumn afternoon but inside a little Brooklyn bakery, it's hot. School just let out, and the store is filled with kids eyeing baked goodies. Their banter mixes with Caribbean music playing in the background.

La Gran Via Bakery is an institution in this neighborhood. It's been around since 1978 — three generations of pastry chefs making cakes, cupcakes and traditional Latin American pastries.

Which is why, when co-owner Betsy Leyva was recently pitched

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