This message was sent to all Grubhub employees at 7:00 am CT on Monday, June 12th, 2023. 

Hi everyone,

When I joined the Grubhub team a few months ago, I wanted to dedicate time to understanding our business and market, and crystallize how we could best position ourselves to succeed.

Over the last few months, I met with Grubhub teams to learn about the business from the ground up; I spoke to restaurants and diners to understand their needs – and challenges – when using our service; and I spent substantial time with the leadership team looking into our opportunities for growth.

There is no doubt whatsoever that we have a solid foundation in place and an immense opportunity ahead of us – but it is also clear that we need to make some tough decisions in order to maintain our competitiveness, deliver the best possible service for diners and our other partners, and be successful for the long-term.

As a result, today we have made the very difficult decision to reduce headcount at Grubhub by around 15%, leading to the loss of roles for approximately 400 of our passionate and talented teammates.

This is really tough news to share, and I know it will come as a shock to you. I wanted to be the first to let you know our reasons why, explain how we will support everyone through this transition and what happens next, and talk about the future of our business. 

Why we made this decision

We operate in a highly competitive and constantly evolving industry, and we need to continually look at whether we are set up in the right way to deliver for our diners, restaurants and delivery partners. While our business has grown since our 2019 pre-pandemic levels, our operating and staff costs have increased at a higher rate. 

Rightsizing the business for where we are now – which includes ensuring we have the right resources and organizational structure focused on the right priorities – will allow us to be more agile, make bolder bets and take advantage of all of the opportunities on our doorstep. 

What happens right now

Employees who are impacted by this decision will be notified over the next several hours. While I acknowledge that this is extremely difficult, our focus will be on prioritizing people’s wellbeing and supporting them in their next steps and future success. 

To those who are leaving, I want to sincerely thank you for your hard work and dedication to the company. This is by no means a reflection on anyone’s efforts, and Grubhub would not be the business it is without your contributions.

To those who are staying, I know today will be hard for you, too. We will come together in the next few days to talk more about the news and our future together in more detail. In the meantime, please talk to – and look out for – each other.

Looking to the future 

The hard decisions we are making now will enable us to take advantage of the significant opportunity ahead of us.

From everything I have learned in the last 15 years in the online food industry and over the past few months at Grubhub, I have so much confidence in our ability to succeed. Grubhub is an incredible marketplace with tens of millions of customers, hundreds of thousands of restaurants and a strong logistics network operating from coast to coast.

We disrupted the restaurant industry and changed the way Americans order food forever, and that innovative, entrepreneurial and competitive spirit is part of our DNA. I’ve seen it over and over again as I’ve met with so many of you. I’m certain that with the right strategy, relentless execution and a commitment from all of you, Grubhub’s future is bright. 

– Howard