Bored Panda got in touch with the person behind Takeaway Trauma and even though they want to remain anonymous, they agreed to tell us more about the project. "I'm a big takeaway fan and found myself going to order a delivery and thought I’d check the reviews of a particular establishment. After checking the good reviews, I thought I better check the bad ones also," the creator of Takeaway Trauma recalled its origins.
"I came across the most hilarious reviews and was genuinely crying with laughter. Without really thinking about it, I screenshotted the reviews just for my own personal use to send to friends, etc. People seemed to find them funny so I thought, let's try and curate these and create a page out of it!"
Looking at the images, one can't help but think that people could use a nice gulp of empathy before throwing accusations on the Internet. The creator of Takeaway Trauma shares this belief. "I think people should be more forgiving; people in general are so impatient and want things instantly," they said, adding that we live in a 'now' culture where everyone wants things straight away and wants them to be perfect. "As soon as these high standards aren't met, the natural human reaction is to complain."
"I think a lot of the time, people give too much stick to takeaways, however, with that being said, some of the images of takeaway food I’ve seen really do look awful, so I think you can only really determine it on a case by case basis."
When they first started Takeaway Trauma, they would salvage reviews from TripAdvisor, Just Eat, and all of the main takeaway platforms. Now, however, the account has gotten so big that other people send them in. "I think takeaway reviews and takeaway culture will forever be a growing market so I won't be running out of content any time soon."
The numbers agree. In 2019, the global market for online-ordered prepared food delivery was estimated at $94 billion and it is expected to grow at about 9 percent a year, reaching $134.5 billion in 2023.
The submissions that end up in Takeaway Trauma's inbox still have to get manual approval, though. "I only post ones that I find funny," the creator of the account said. "If they don't resonate with me, I don’t think they’ll resonate with other people."
So far, they are not only funny but also are excellent proof that Wendy's PR team definitely has admirers in the corporate world as well.
