Grubhub: 30M Active Diners Boost Top Line Growth

Online and mobile food ordering marketplace Grubhub reported a 53 percent increase in revenue to $494 million for the quarter that ended Sept. 30, according to a press release.

That’s a step up from $322 million from the same time last year, according to the release.

Grubhub reported in the release that food sales grew 68 percent to $2.4 billion, up from $1.4 billion last year. There were 30 million active diners in the quarter, an increase of 41 percent from the 21.2 million the year previous, and there were 668,600 “daily average grubs” in that time, a 46 percent year-over-year increase.

The company reported net income of $15.2 million, or 16 cents per diluted share, according to the release. That was a decrease from the $24.7 million net income from the previous year.

Founder and CEO Matt Maloney said in the release that the company had worked to support restaurants and diners all year through the pandemic.

“Connecting restaurants and diners is more important than ever given the challenges our restaurant partners still face because of the pandemic,” he said, according to the release. “Since March, we have supported our restaurant partners with hundreds of millions of dollars through increased marketing support, reduced commissions, and bonuses and personal protective equipment for drivers. Earlier this month, the Just Eat Takeaway.com shareholders overwhelmingly voted in favor of the proposed acquisition of Grubhub, which is on track for completion in the first half of 2021.”

The acquisition he spoke of has been in the works all year, going forward for $7.3 billion in an all-stock deal. The deal would allow the European food delivery service giant access to the U.S., where Grubhub is based.

The deal was a blow for Uber, which had been assessing plans to buy Grubhub itself. Antitrust concerns would have likely roiled that deal, though, as it would have given the combined company around 55 percent of the U.S. market.

By contrast, the Just Eat Takeaway deal will take up around 24 percent of the U.S. market.