QUESTION: There is a food delivery app that delivers food for a certain charge. One charge is for the food itself, and one charge is for the delivery fee. The app works with many restaurants – including Kosher ones. The app’s policy states that if an order is filled incorrectly, there is no charge for the food (but there is still a delivery fee).
Once, “Rachel” ordered an Açai Bowl from a Kosher restaurant through the app and asked them to leave out the coconut shreds. The restaurant made a mistake and failed to remove the coconut. Rachel snapped a picture of the Açai Bowl with the coconut shreds included, and sent the picture to the app. Per the app’s policy, she received a credit for her order (and then proceeded to remove the coconut herself).
Rachel started to realize that this restaurant made the same mistake more times than not, whenever the Açai Bowl was ordered. Can Rachel continue to place the same order (Açai Bowl, but hold the coconut) over and over again, knowing that this is often a path to a free lunch?
ANSWER: Although technically permitted assuming it is the app that is eating the loss each time the order is wrong and a credit is issued and not the Kosher restaurant, the restaurant will eventually catch on and this can lead to a possible Chillul Hashem (desecration of Hashem’s name). It goes without saying, that we should always strive to ensure that we are never the cause of a Chillul Hashem.
