DoorDash virtually recreates restaurant experience for customers

DoorDash is enabling customers to make ordering in feel more like dining out.

The on-demand delivery platform is releasing a variety of free, custom-made virtual backgrounds to simulate restaurant environments such as McDonald's, The Cheesecake Factory, Chili's Grill & Bar, Panera Bread, Buffalo Wild Wings, Outback Steakhouse, Cracker Barrel, Baskin-Robbins, and Auntie Anne’s. 

Customers can download the backgrounds from the DoorDash website and then follow their specific video conference platform’s instructions to add them to their video chat. Some restaurant partners, including Panera Bread, Cracker Barrel, and Buffalo Wild Wings, are sharing their in-room playlists to better recreate the experience they typically have in stores.

The virtual dining experience will be extended via custom Snapchat filters in the coming days, so customers can send snaps that appear to be from inside the restaurant of their choice. No order is required to download or use a virtual background. DoorDash will add more backgrounds in the coming weeks.

“The most important aspects of going to dinner with your friends and family, going on a date, or a post-work happy hour are good food and great company,” said a DoorDash spokesperson. “Now, you can achieve both of these inside the comfort of your own home. All it takes is ordering in your fave delicious meal and getting all of your friends to agree on a time to schedule a call.”