DoorDash and UberEats pushing GrubHub out of Restaurant Delivery

GrubHub is letting 400 employees go as its US market share declined to a low of 7.6% in May 2023, down from 20.7% in May 2018. The restaurant delivery service, which includes New York-centric Seamless, was one of the first movers in the US, gaining widespread popularity with office workers in major cities.

However, rivals DoorDash and UberEats made inroads into the restaurant delivery market, a trend that accelerated during the pandemic. DoorDash in particular leveraged promotions and their app to drive industry leading customer retention even as total new customer growth stalled. As of May 2023, DoorDash accounted for over half of all restaurant delivery dollars, followed by UberEats with over 23%. GrubHub and Seamless now account for slightly more restaurant delivery sales than white label delivery service Olo–which grew during the pandemic as restaurants looked for more ways to process delivery orders. 

The restaurant delivery market has consolidated since pre-pandemic, with venture backed DoorDash and UberEats becoming the dominant players. DoorDash and UberEats are now an essential part of the national restaurant ecosystem, even benefiting from government stimulus spending. The two leading platforms continued to grow their share even as the total restaurant delivery decelerated to 3% YoY growth in June 2023, down from over 150% during the pandemic.