Grubhub announced this morning it has partnered with Shake Shack to become the burger chain’s nationwide delivery partner.
Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti told CNBC that the company picked Grubhub for its nationwide program thanks to the NYC-based delivery service’s wide reach, as well as its technology: “We decided Grubhub was the best partner overall. With their national footprint and the way we are going to integrate on the tech side — we have a really good opportunity to give the best guest experience,” Garutti said.
Some of that technology includes direct integration of Grubhub into Shake Shack’s POS system, as well as more precise order timing and tracking via Grubhub’s Just In Time technology.
The deal with Grubhub follows comments Shake Shack made less than a year ago suggesting delivery didn’t really suit its brand, according to Bloomberg.
But times change fast in restaurant tech. Third-party food delivery apps will hit 44 million U.S. users by 2020, according to new forecasting, and QSRs are a key part of this growth. And last week’s news that DoorDash announced its acquisition of Caviar for a cool $410 million only underscores how big a business food delivery has become in the last several months alone.
Grubhub has received its own share of headlines recently — not all of them glowing. In June, the company was part of an oversight hearing in Manhattan that called into question third-party delivery services’ controversial fee structures for restaurants. Grubhub has also had numerous accusations lobbed its way since then over cybersquatting and unfairly charging restaurants for phone orders. The company has denied the accusations and recently put out a blog post addressing its “treatment of restaurant partners.”
The Grubhub partnership with Shake Shack will start in four locations total, in Manhattan, Chicago, New Jersey and Connecticut, with plans to expand to more locations over the next nine months.
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