What is it about?
Food delivery apps use AI-powered recommendation systems to decide which restaurants users see first. While these systems help customers find meals quickly, they may unintentionally favor large restaurants with more reviews, higher sales, and larger advertising budgets. Smaller restaurants and new businesses often struggle to gain visibility because they lack the historical data and resources that algorithms reward. This article explains how recommendation systems can reinforce existing market advantages, creating barriers for small businesses. It also discusses ways platforms and policymakers can make these systems more transparent and fair, so that digital marketplaces provide more equal opportunities for all restaurants.
Featured Image
Photo by Grab on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Food delivery apps play an increasingly important role in how people choose where to eat and how restaurants reach customers. If recommendation algorithms consistently favor larger businesses, small restaurants and new entrants may have fewer opportunities to compete, even when they offer high-quality food. Understanding these hidden effects is important for creating a fairer digital economy. The findings can help platform companies improve their recommendation systems and support policymakers in developing regulations that promote transparency, competition, and equal opportunities for small businesses.
Perspectives
As AI increasingly shapes consumer choices, it is important to understand not only how recommendation systems benefit users, but also how they affect businesses. Our study highlights the need to balance platform efficiency with fairness for small businesses. We hope these insights encourage researchers, platform designers, and policymakers to work together to develop more transparent and inclusive recommendation systems that support innovation while giving small and new restaurants a fair opportunity to compete.
Assoc. Prof. Imam Salehudin
Universitas Indonesia
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Fitur ‘merchant’ dan resto prioritas platform makanan ‘online’: Resto besar untung, UMKM buntung, July 2026, The Conversation,
DOI: 10.64628/aan.tw665y9np.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
