After years of speculation and prospective sales opportunities, Just Eat Takeaway is finally selling Grubhub. While the buyer — Marc Lore’s New York City-based hotshot startup, Wonder — may come as a bit of a surprise, as many were hoping DoorDash would scoop up Grubhub like Uber did to Postmates, the acquisition is a fit for multiple reasons.
Under Wonder’s ownership, Grubhub can re-focus on New York City and other surrounding markets. The acquisition also provides a much-needed shakeup to the delivery industry, which had been predictably dominated by just a couple of players in recent years.
Wonder to purchase Grubhub in Q1 2025
As previously reported, virtual food hall company Wonder is slated to acquire Grubhub in Q1 of 2025. This could signal a monumental shift for the restaurant delivery industry. Grubhub has long been the less popular third-place, third-party delivery company.
According to recent data from mystery shopper company Intouch Insight, Grubhub lags behind the much larger Uber Eats and DoorDash companies (the latter of which owns more than two-thirds of the delivery space), in terms of speed of service and customer satisfaction.
As Branded Hospitality cofounder Michael Schatzberg noted in a previous interview, while once upon a time, “Grubhub owned the New York City market when they were Seamless,” these days, Grubhub lacks the resources to compete nationally. Since Uber splits its focus between ride-sharing and food delivery, DoorDash has become synonymous with delivery instead.
Under Wonder ownership, however, this competitive landscape could change. Over the past couple of years, Wonder has become a local wunderkind, attracting the attention of investors and raising nearly $1 billion over the past few years. On top of that, the company announced another $250 million in capital from new investors.
Billing itself as a virtual food hall with brick-and-mortar roots, Wonder is not really in the same category as other third-party delivery companies. But the Grubhub acquisition could shift that operational dynamic. Like Grubhub, Wonder has New York City roots, but the company has also attracted national attention, not just from investors, but also for its 2023 acquisition of the Blue Apron meal kit company.
With the backing of Wonder’s financial resources, Grubhub stands to become more of a competitor to Uber Eats and DoorDash, both of whom have confidently outperformed Grubhub in recent years. This potential delivery segment shakeup can only be good news, as more competition would enliven an industry that has become fairly predictable.