DoorDash stops offering restaurant linked to drug trafficking — after MassLive ordered lunch

A Coca-Cola, chips and a footlong breakfast sandwich landed on a MassLive reporter’s doorstep on Wednesday afternoon. It wasn’t the glossy New York-style sandwich pictured on DoorDash — but that was expected.

What was surprising is that a sandwich arrived at all. Only 24 hours before, Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni announced there had been 52 arrests in connection with three drug trafficking investigations.

One of them involved Garcia Market, which officials described as a drug trafficking front. It was also the Forest Park bodega where the DoorDash order had been placed.

Drug trafficking fronts

For two years, as people continued to order sandwiches, hamburgers and snacks from Garcia Market, officials investigated the market for possibly being involved in another kind of business: drugs.

The task force, Gulluni said, had a “highly successful” and “complicated” investigation “focused on sophisticated operations.”

“A lot of these folks have been doing this for a while, and they know how to do it and not get caught,” Gulluni told the Republican.

The investigation into the two neighboring businesses, Garcia Market at 344 Orange St. and Angel’s Used Appliances at 167 White St. in Springfield, yielded more than 12,000 grams of cocaine, 530 grams of fentanyl and 15 firearms, Gulluni said.

Parts of the investigation went across state lines into New York. And it was all centered around money.

“People involved in these kinds of investigations are making hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars on people’s destruction and death,” Gulluni said.

Gulluni believes the arrests will have an impact on the drug scene in Hampden County, deterring others from trying to do the same thing.

However, the arrests haven’t stop Garcia Market completely.

Calls for shut down

Mayor Domenic J. Sarno began calling for the closure of the bodega Wednesday night after an inquiry from MassLive.

“Mayor Sarno States Garcia’s Market Take Down Warrants a Shut Down!” a press release headline read.

Sarno particularly called the market a “den of iniquity” that he will task his legal staff to hit with a cease-and-desist order to stop ongoing business.

“I spoke with both District Attorney Anthony Gulluni and Police Superintendent Larry Akers earlier today to commend them and our State Police law enforcement officials for their continued brave and dedicated efforts to shut down this major drug and gun operation,” Sarno said. “As you know, I have no patience nor tolerance with these poison dealing, gun-toting violent offenders and their business fronts are not welcomed here in Springfield.”

The business has also since been shut down on DoorDash.

MassLive alerted DoorDash to the restaurant’s operations and use of fake photos Wednesday afternoon. By Thursday morning, DoorDash confirmed the bodega was removed from the platform.

“We have deactivated Garcia Deli from our platform, and encourage anyone who becomes aware of potential fraudulent activity to reach out to our Support team as we strive to promote a safe environment for the DoorDash community,” a DoorDash spokesperson told MassLive in an email.

The store did not have accounts on GrubHub, Uber Eats or Instacart.

Bacon, egg and cheese reviewed

Overall, the bodega had 3.7 out of five stars. MassLive would’ve rated the $8.99 bacon, egg and cheese slightly lower at a 2.7.

It wasn’t bad. But you’re not missing anything by not being able to order it. Hot Table is better.

The reviews were wide ranging, which included 50 public reviews on DoorDash.

“Amazing steak and cheese grinder especially the price for how big it is,” Jose V. wrote, giving it five stars.

“Highly disgusted, what a disappointment, after reading such positive reviews. I didn’t recognize the bacon as it was shredded chopped up in small pieces and rubbery instead of crispy??? … Hopefully I caught the cook on a bad day, but I won’t order again,” Cindy C. wrote, giving it one star.

“Bread and egg was good, but there was more chunks of bacon lard than bacon meat. AND I MEAN CHUNKS. … Food was hot,” James G. wrote, giving it two stars.

The reviews weren’t wrong either. There were chunks of bacon lard and the bacon was in small pieces. This probably would’ve felt like a completely acceptable sandwich if normal bacon had been used.

Additionally, while the sandwich is not as beautiful as the photo the store used on DoorDash, a photo of the actual sandwich likely still would’ve attracted customers. Again, it wasn’t terrible.

Instead, Garcia Market used a photo widely shared on the internet, including on Reddit, of a completely different sandwich.

Taking photos from other places was common marketing for Garcia Market‘s sandwich options on DoorDash, including its Tripleta Sandwich, a chicken sandwich and its hamburger.

However, it appears to have taken its own photos of drinks, which were placed in front of a roll of paper towels (a paper towel was also included in the order).

This type of fake marketing isn’t allowed on DoorDash.

An option at the bottom of each restaurant’s page gives users the option to report a restaurant for using fake photos, which then gets reviewed by DoorDash.

DoorDash protections

The area around Garcia Market and Angel’s Used Appliances drew an inordinate level of police attention over the years, with 12 calls about people with guns, two calls for gunshot victims, 24 activations of the city’s gunshot detection technology and 46 calls from the public about gunfire.

For unsuspecting DoorDash drivers, there are safety measures in place.

“We take the safety of our entire community extremely seriously, and have put robust safeguards in place to help prevent bad actors from abusing our platform, including enhanced real-time monitoring technology and multi-layer verification processes for merchants,” a DoorDash spokesperson wrote in a statement.

Some of the safety measures built into DoorDash’s system includes a “SafeDash Check-In” for if an order is taking longer than expected, safety reassurance calls to quickly connect to an ADT agent if needed and an emergency assistance button to silently request emergency assistance.

DoorDash also uses Samdesk to alert drivers to real-time incidents. If something happens near a restaurant, operations will be suspended in that area.

“This includes canceling any active deliveries so Dashers can avoid the impacted area and stay out of harm’s way,” DoorDash said in a statement to MassLive. “We will also proactively check-in on Dashers near any impacted area to make sure they are okay.”