There is no proof GH added value here. Allow me to share a related story:
In some places in Eastern Europe, for a while, you could see these people stand in front of empty, free parking spots in the street. As soon as they would see a car approaching they would wave their hands and signal you to park there. To be clear, these people were not afiliated with city hall or other public institutions in any way.
If you drove away, no biggie. If you parked, they would do a big show of moving around the car and telling you when you were too close to the curb, when you should start turning the wheel etc.
Once you were done, they would walk up to you and heavily imply they should be paid for the service they provided ("discovering" the parking space for you and helping you park). You could safely ignore them and they might cuss at you but that was about it.
My girlfriend used to lovingly call them Parking Consultants.
These GH stories have a very similar energy, with middlemen forcefully putting themselves in front of you when you follow a discovery path _that would naturally lead you to the restaurant you were looking for_ (e.g. by showing up higher than the restaurant you're tying to order from in the Google search).
Well the big problem with the consultants is sometimes they might flatten your tire or key your car if you don’t tip. So it’s as much over-eager help as it is shake-down.
The value that GH added here was that they were higher up than any of the restaurant's competitors, too.
So, absent of GH, that pizza sale, instead of going to GH, might have gone to a competitive pizza place.
So the restaurant has to evaluate-- it is better that I get the order through GH, or that I don't possibly get the order at all, and it goes to a competitor?
In some places in Eastern Europe, for a while, you could see these people stand in front of empty, free parking spots in the street. As soon as they would see a car approaching they would wave their hands and signal you to park there. To be clear, these people were not afiliated with city hall or other public institutions in any way.
If you drove away, no biggie. If you parked, they would do a big show of moving around the car and telling you when you were too close to the curb, when you should start turning the wheel etc.
Once you were done, they would walk up to you and heavily imply they should be paid for the service they provided ("discovering" the parking space for you and helping you park). You could safely ignore them and they might cuss at you but that was about it.
My girlfriend used to lovingly call them Parking Consultants.
These GH stories have a very similar energy, with middlemen forcefully putting themselves in front of you when you follow a discovery path _that would naturally lead you to the restaurant you were looking for_ (e.g. by showing up higher than the restaurant you're tying to order from in the Google search).