The US food delivery market is growing rapidly. Uber Eats and Grubhub (including its subsidiaries) have become household names in most cities across the country. These two companies are challenging the dominance of DoorDash, another popular food delivery service. The market is so fiercely competitive that Amazon Restaurants has shut down its operations. In this Uber Eats vs Grubhub comparison, let’s check out which service is better.
American consumers spend an estimated $400 million a month on food delivery orders. According to Second Measure, Grubhub along with its subsidiaries, has a 30% market share while Uber Eats took in 20% of the US food delivery spending. However, Uber Eats leads the pack in terms of the number of food delivery orders.
Uber Eats vs Grubhub: User interface
Both apps have made ordering food from your nearby restaurants as easy as a few taps on your smartphone screen. In terms of functionality, both apps do what they are supposed to do. But the app design and user interface of both Uber Eats and Grubhub is not that clean and intuitive.
Uber Eats and Grubhub also allow their customers to order food from their websites. Unless you have disabled notifications, both apps will bombard you with app notifications and emails to grab your attention and get you to order food. The apps also notify you about special deals and discounts.
Cities covered
Grubhub is present in over 2,200 cities across the country. But some of its strongest regions are New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston. In contrast, Uber Eats operates in over 300 cities across North America. Cities were it has the strongest presence include Miami, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Washington, DC.
Most major cities have both services. Among smaller cities, you can expect one or the other in your area. To check whether Grubhub is available in your city, head over to its website and enter your zip code. For Uber Eats, go to its website and type in your location to find out whether it delivers food to your location.
Uber Eats vs Grubhub: Costs
Grubhub is free to use, but restaurants may charge a delivery fee. Grubhub and its subsidiaries such as Seamless offer a discount of $7 on your first order, and the first delivery is free of cost. Uber Eats charges a delivery fee, which varies depending on the time of the day. Uber Eats also offers a discount to first time users.
It’s difficult to determine which service charges a higher delivery fee. Sometimes Grubhub’s delivery costs are higher while other times Uber Eats charges more. But Uber Eats is more transparent about the delivery costs than Grubhub. It lets you see the cost of delivery right under the restaurant listings. Grubhub users can’t see the delivery cost until they are on the checkout page.
Uber is reportedly testing a combined subscription plan for rides, food delivery, bikes, and scooters.
You can also pay tips to delivery drivers. It’s up to you how much you want to tip, but it’s recommended that you tip $5 or 20% of the bill, whichever is higher, assuming you had a great experience. Uber Eats lets its customers tip drivers up to 30 days after a meal was delivered. Drivers get 100% of the tips.
Of course, you can choose to tip drivers in cash. But drivers prefer when you pay them via the app. Grubhub gives its customers the option to tip via the app or in cash. Some customers select the ‘tip in cash’ option only to stiff the driver.
Food delivery
Both services do a pretty good job at getting the food from restaurants to your doorstep while it’s still hot. Uber Eats allows you to track the location of your delivery driver. Grubhub doesn’t always offer this feature because it sometimes outsources food delivery to restaurant employees.
Occasionally, your order from either service could get delayed. But delays are more common on Grubhub than Uber Eats. Also, Uber Eats offers $0.50 off if you opt for slower delivery. Uber Eats prohibits its drivers from opening the orders to ensure that your meals are delivered exactly as they were handed to the driver.
Grubhub began its journey as an online alternative to paper menus, and it has built strong relationships with restaurants over the years. Restaurants can use Grubhub drivers if they don’t have their own delivery drivers. Grubhub allows you to track the estimated delivery time for your meal.
Restaurant network
Grubhub has associations with more than 115,000 restaurants across 2,200 cities in the US. It has teamed up with Taco Bell and KFC chains. Grubhub is also integrated with Yelp, allowing customers to order food from Grubhub’s restaurant network through Yelp.
Uber Eats has signed deals with McDonald’s. Though it’s no longer McDonald’s exclusive delivery partner, Uber Eats offers delivery service from more than 10,000 locations of McDonald’s in the US. The McDonald’s partnership gave Uber Eats a huge pool of customers, but the average ticket size is relatively smaller. Uber Eats has also partnered with Starbucks.
Conclusion
Grubhub is available in far more cities than Uber Eats, but the latter is more transparent about delivery costs. Also, Uber Eats offers relatively faster deliveries. The food delivery market is so competitive that things could change in weeks or months. Companies are coming up with new strategies every day to gain an advantage over their rivals. What makes things even more challenging for them is that most customers are not loyal to a specific service.
