Grubhub pilots on-demand delivery for self-delivery restaurants

Dive Brief:

Grubhub is rolling out an On-Demand Delivery feature that allows self-delivery restaurants on the Grubhub Marketplace to request a driver for a $5 per-order fee, the company said in a press release Thursday.
Operators can switch back and forth from self-delivery and third-party delivery using the feature, which is being tested in markets including Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Denver.
In 2021, Grubhub added a “supplemental delivery” feature for operators with in-house delivery to expand geographical boundaries on the marketplace to reach more customers using Grubhub drivers.

Dive Insight:

Grubhub’s latest feature is similar to one DoorDash began offering in 2021 that allows partner restaurants to toggle back and forth between in-house delivery and a DoorDash driver.

Shifting between delivery types has been particularly helpful for chains like Papa Johns that employ their own drivers. The pizza delivery chain uses third-party aggregators to support stores during peak hours. This strategy helped Papa Johns grow same-store sales while other competitors like Domino’s struggled to increase delivery comp sales in the past few years.

Grubhub’s option will be helpful for restaurants that don’t have the budgets to expand their own delivery fleets.

"Whether a restaurant could use extra support to keep up with demand during peak hours or cover for a driver who called in sick, we want to give restaurants even more help to run their business and deliver a great experience to customers," Liz Bosone, vice president of restaurant success at Grubhub, said in a statement. "We've heard from our restaurant partners that they welcome the convenience of this feature and like having alternate fulfillment options that don't require hiring additional staff.”

In addition to self-delivery features, Grubhub has expanded merchant features this year.

In May, the company updated its Grubhub for Restaurants portal with customer insights, self-serve requests and self-serve photo access. And three months earlier, it added various features to its Direct platform. This offers commission-free branded ordering for independent restaurants, including integration with Google Business profiles, a $0 delivery fee per order and allowing customers to use Grubhub credentials to check out.