In the pandemic, I wanted to support struggling mom-and-pop restaurants instead of big conglomerates. So I went out of my way to order from places with names I didn't recognize, both to try them out (you never know if "Alberto's Tacos" has the best taco you've ever had in your life) and to make sure that tiny places could stay afloat.
I still remember the first time this came to bite us in the ass. We ordered from this cute little shop called Thrilled Cheese. They had cute little sandwiches... that both looked and tasted horrible. I was wondering how on earth they had stayed in business with food like that and so I looked up their address from the app.
It was an IHOP. Specifically, an IHOP that we purposely avoid because it's a terrible IHOP that got a "B" from the health inspector and once gave us food poisoning.
Now we have to triple-check that the little family-owned place is really a little family-owned place. Too often it turns out that it's an Applebee's or an IHOP or a Denny's or something. (We did discover some great local restaurants though. Shout-out to "I Heart Pancakes" in Santa Ana, CA - best pancake place ever.)