Grubhub Sees Traction From Partnerships as Parent Swings to Profitability

Restaurant aggregator Grubhub, the third-most popular in the United States, is looking to gain on its competitors by leveraging partnerships with major companies, and so far, these collaborations appear to be working.

On a call with analysts Wednesday (Oct. 19) discussing parent company Just Eat Takeaway’s third-quarter 2022 financial results, company executives noted that the early results of the U.S. aggregator’s recent collaborations are promising.

In the past several months, the aggregator has partnered with both Bank of America and Amazon, offering the former’s cardholders and the latter’s Prime subscribers free year-long subscriptions to its Grubhub+ delivery subscription, as well as teamed up with Gopuff earlier this month to enable orders from the popular quick commerce firm.

Read more: For Grubhub, Is Two Partners in Two Months Too Much?

Grubhub Marketplace to Offer Gopuff Locations, Delivery

Regarding the Gopuff partnership, Just Eat Takeaway Chief Financial Officer Brent Wissink told analysts, “The trajectory seems positive, and I think we’ll see that and other similar partnerships expand as we march at a faster clip into grocery generally and other adjacencies in the U.S.”

Additionally, Just Eat Takeaway CEO Jitse Groen said the Amazon partnership shows “encouraging early results,” noting that, while it is “not a silver bullet,” it is “supporting [Grubhub’s] business.”

Grubhub trails behind the top two delivery services in the U.S. Research from the July edition of PYMNTS’ ConnectedEconomy™ study, “The ConnectedEconomy™ Monthly Report: The Rise of the Smart Home,” which drew from a May survey of roughly 2,700 U.S. adults, found that 43% reported having ordered from an aggregator in the previous month. Plus, more than half of those consumers did so once a week or more.

See more: New Data Shows Convenience Drove Smart Home Upgrades for 83M Consumers in 2022

But earlier this year, only 41% of consumers who order from restaurant aggregators reported using Grubhub, per the March/April edition of PYMNTS’ Digital Divide series, “The Digital Divide: Regional Variations in U.S. Food Ordering Trends and Digital Adoption. This share was considerably lower than the 71% who said the same of DoorDash and the 48% of Uber Eats. With the strong performance of these partnerships with popular businesses, Grubhub may be driving up its market share.

Read more: New Research Shows That Regional Dining Quirks Matter in Tailoring Restaurant Offers

But it might not be enough. Groen noted that the company, together with its advisers, “continue[s] to actively export the partial or full sale of Grubhub,” despite already setting Amazon up with the possibility to acquire a 15% stake in the aggregator.

See more: Amazon’s Budding Grubhub Partnership Could Grow to 15% Stake

Overall, Just Eat Takeaway achieved profitability in the quarter due to cost reduction efforts, including a hiring freeze, ahead of when expected, marking the most profitable first quarter since 2020.

Data from the latest edition of PYMNTS’ Provider Ranking of Aggregators, which leverages a proprietary combination of publicly available information as well as app usage data, has Grubhub ranked at No. 4 and Just Eat at No. 5, and each would be one spot higher if grocery aggregator Instacart weren’t included in the ranking. Additionally, Canadian subsidiary SkipTheDishes comes in at No. 9. DoorDash and Uber Eats hold the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively.

Read more: DoorDash Holds Lead in Latest Aggregator Ranking