News Category: Restaurants

The Greg Hill Foundation’s Restaurant Strong Fund & Grubhub Distribute $1.25 Million From The Restaurant Strong Grant

BOSTON, MA – The Greg Hill Foundation’s Restaurant Strong Fund and the Grubhub Community Fund are pleased to announce $1.45 million in grant opportunities have been distributed to over 130 restaurants across four cities.

On Friday, June 16th, The Restaurant Strong Fund announced the recipients of the 2023 Restaurant Strong Grant. This grant provided restaurants the flexibility to utilize the funds in a manner that best suited their individual needs. Please see enclosed list of all restaurant recipients.

Grants ranged from $5,000 to $25,000 were awarded depending on need and growth opportunity showcased in the application. The program aimed to alleviate financial burdens and assist these establishments in adapting to the changing landscape of the restaurant industry. Recipients were able to allocate the grant towards providing opportunities that impact revenue growth and giving areas including, but not limited to: updating technology/equipment necessary to enhance day-to-day operations, marketing & public relations services, staff training programs, incentivized wages, or maintenance/updating of current infrastructure.

The Campaign will be limited to restaurants that have only one location with 50 employees or less within Boston, Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia. A portion of grant funds were dedicated to supporting diverse, women owned, minority owned, and LGBTQIA+ owned businesses.

The Restaurant Strong Fund remains committed to making a positive impact in the communities it operates in, and the successful completion of the 2023 Restaurant Strong Grant is a testament to that commitment. By supporting local restaurants in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and Chicago, The Restaurant Strong Fund aims to contribute to their growth, helping to restore the vibrancy and resilience of these remarkable cities.

ACCEPTED RESTAURANTS

Boston

$25,000
Blunch, MDAB LLC DBA, Mo’rockin Fusion, Reunion BBQ, Tawakal Halal Café

$10,000
Caffe Dello Sport, Cafe Iterum LLC, Casarecce Restaurant, Sufra Mediterranean Food, Sunset Cantina

$5,000
Basile – Fine Italian Kitchen, Brassica Kitchen and Cafe, Bukowski Tavern, Chickadee, Crispy Dough Pizzeria, LA Hacienda Restaurant, Paddy O’s of Boston, Samurai Express Japanese Restaurant, Seabiscuit, Villa Mexico Cafe

Chicago

$25,000
Boulevard Bistro, Bubble & Brew, Decadent Dessert Bar & Bistro, Dear Margaret, Dirty Tiffs Cafe, Imani’s Original Bean Pies, New Orleans Seafood Inc, Smack Dab Chicago, Tasty World Restaurant, Toro Sushi

$10,000
Baba Pita, Bocadillo Market, Drew’s on Halsted, E Ramen, Herb, Irenes, Kizin Creole restaurant, Krung Thep Thai Cuisine, Kubo, MFK., Standard Bar and Grill, Tacotlan, Twilight Kitchen, Uncle Ben’s Grill, Wild Blossom Meadery

$5,000
8A5E LLC, Ambers Food Cafe, Elevate Coffee, Evelyn’s Food Love, H&C POUR HOUSE, Indgo MRKTO, John’s Place, La Flor de Acapulco, La Michoacana Del Panda Inc, Luke’s Italian Beef, Mable’s Table, Mei’s, Mom’s Place – A Chicago Gathering Spot, Pho Loan, Port and Park Bistro, Side Practice Coffee LLC, The Cafeteria, The Comedy Clubhouse, The Jibarito Stop, Yummy Buffet

New York

$25,000
Abe’s Corner, Blu Room Bar & Lounge, Casita of Brooklyn, Concrete, Filly Luv, Miss American Pie, Ricas Pupusas & Mas, Royale, The Ryerson, Tiramisu Restaurant

$10,000
Benemon, Blueline Fry Plantain, Coffee Bay Restaurant, Come on Thai, Saigon Spice, Everything Grilled, J’s On The Bay, Kin Khao Thai, L and Z Bakery Inc, Nneji, Shogun Japan, The Daily Press Coffee House and Bar, The Halal Spot, Winemak’her Bar, Xe May Sandwich Shop

$5,000
7 Elephants, Aji Sushi House, Circo’s Pasty Shop, DokoDemo, Ethel & Annie Mae’s Soulfood Kitchen, GLACE, Italian Touch Pizza and Pasta (Staten Island), Karazishi Botan, Kombit Restaurant, L’arte della Pizza Brooklyn, Little Chef Little Cafe, Ouaga Sports Bar, Orange Caribbean and Grill Restaurant, Ortomare Ristorante Pizzeria, Palenque Colombian Food, Sze’s Garden Inc, Thailicious, The Bad Bagel, Therapy Wine Bar 2.0, Whisk & Whiskey

Philadelphia

$25,000
Ani’s Pizza Pasta and Wings, Crust Vegan Bakery, Daaiyah’s Delicious, Mawn, New Hong Kong Bakery Inc

$10,000
At Ramen MNYK, Cicala at The Divine Lorraine, Glory Beer Bar & Kitchen, In & Out Grill, New Wave Cafe, Newman’s Grill, Pizza Dot Com in Germantown, The Trestle Inn

$5,000
Antonio’s Deli, Cake Life Bake Shop, Cairo Kitchen on the Go, Farina Pasta and Noodle, Golden Crust Pizza lll, Sulimay’s Restaurant, Strangelove’s, Southwark, The Igloo

New Features in Grubhub for Restaurants Portal Help Restaurateurs Grow Their Business

When it comes to running a business, we know how important it is for restaurateurs to easily understand all facets of their operations. That’s why we originally created the Grubhub for Restaurants (GFR) portal — a place where restaurateurs receive orders through Grubhub, see their order and sales volume, run promotions, rate drivers, adjust their menu and hours and more. As restaurateurs demand more from their partners, we continuously make improvements to GFR to account for their feedback and make sure we’re providing a valuable tool for our partners.

Today, we’re excited to announce the latest updates to GFR. These were developed based on feedback from our partners, including the request from restaurateurs to segment out order and sales volume by audience, automatically request refund adjustments and easily request a photoshoot as their menu changes. 

“We want the Grubhub for Restaurants portal to be an all-in-one platform for our partners, and we’re excited to roll out new tools and insights to help them reach their business goals,” said Liz Bosone, vice president of restaurant success at Grubhub. “Satisfaction with Grubhub from our partners is incredibly important to us, and we believe that improvements like these drive incremental day-to-day and long-term value to our partners. We’re committed to continuing to address feedback from our partners and add more features to GFR that provide even better service to our restaurants.”

Customer Insights

Restaurants value providing exceptional service to their customers since they know it keeps them coming back, and in order to best serve them, they need to know how they behave. Our partners have asked us for more insights into their customers, and we’ve listened. Now, restaurateurs will see a tab within GFR labeled Insights. Within that tab, they can navigate to Customer Insights and filter their sales and order metrics by new or returning diners and Grubhub+ or non-Grubhub+ customers. 

With this addition, they can select up to a full year of aggregated data at a time and compare sales and order metrics. As a result, they are able to better understand their customers’ ordering behaviors and can strategically adjust their marketing efforts on Grubhub accordingly. This is just the first iteration of insights that we’ll be adding to GFR. As we continue to receive feedback from our partners, we’ll continue to build on this feature. 

 

 

Self-Serve Refund Requests

We always aim for things to go right during deliveries, but when things don’t go as planned — whether that’s because a drink got spilled, an item was missing or something else — it’s not clear to our partners who is on the hook for the refund — us or them. Now, restaurateurs can automatically request an adjustment directly in GFR to dispute a refund. This was previously a manual process requiring them to chat or call into Grubhub Care. This new automatic process now cuts the time spent disputing refunds from 10 minutes to 1 minute. 

Restaurateurs can dispute a charge up to 30 days after the original order date, and all they have to do is click into the specific order ID, hit the “Dispute adjustment” button and select a reason for the dispute. Once they submit a dispute, an agent will look into the refund and respond within 24 hours. With this update, we’re doing right by our partners and giving them back valuable time that they can spend running their businesses and serving customers.

 

 

Self-Serve Photoshoot Access

Having images on a menu can lead to 70% more orders and 65% higher sales for our partners, and to help drive higher photo coverage and quality on menus, we’re increasing how often we present our partners with the opportunity to book a photoshoot in the GFR portal. 

We know that menus change often, especially seasonally, and with that comes the need for different photos. Today, we’re updating the opt-out experience so that restaurateurs can snooze the banner for 30 days after they first select the “I’m not interested” button. The banner will return every 30 days after an opt-out and every 90 days after a booking. Our goal with this update is to better understand our partners’ needs and provide them with flexible options that support their business objectives.

 

To stay up to date on the latest updates in GFR, visit here.

Grubhub’s Support for New York City Council Proposal to Update Price Control

At a hearing held by the City Council’s Committee on Consumer and Workforce Protection today, Grubhub stood with independent businesses in support of Int. 0813, which would amend New York City’s permanent price control on third-party delivery apps and give restaurants the flexibility to opt into additional marketing and promotional services should they choose to do so. 

The amendment, which also safeguards access to Grubhub and other platforms at accessible low rates, ensures that small and medium-sized restaurants, especially New York City’s family and immigrant-owned businesses, can choose to pay for additional services that allow them to better compete, reach new customers and thrive. 

“Hundreds of restaurants from across the five boroughs have made it clear they support legislation that would allow them to make their own marketing decisions and better compete with big brands,” said Dave Tovar, senior vice president of communications and government relations at Grubhub. “Our restaurant partners choose to buy services like search engine marketing and optimization, loyalty and rewards programs and more through Grubhub, where they are far less expensive and more effective for reaching diners. We urge the City Council to act with urgency in passing this amendment so that restaurants can either retain their current rates or choose to explore other options that work best for their businesses.” 

More than half of the City Council currently cosponsors the bill. Over five hundred restaurants,  alongside the chambers of commerce from the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan and dozens of other civic groups, have also voiced their support for this commonsense change. 

Grubhub’s ‘Serving the City’ Program Expands to Company’s Hometown of Chicago to Provide Meals to Communities in Need and Help Close the Hunger Gap

This expansion builds on Grubhub’s larger community impact commitments to kick off the new year

CHICAGO, Feb. 27, 2023 — On Tuesday, February 21st, Grubhub officially launched the expansion of its ‘Serving the City’ program to Chicago, the company’s hometown. The program kicked off with its first event at three senior centers in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood, a historically under-resourced community on the city’s west side, in partnership with 24th Ward Alderwoman Monique Scott and local restaurants, Soulé and The Soulfood Lounge. 

With the Serving the City initiative, Grubhub partners with local aldermen to purchase 500 hot, prepackaged, culturally appropriate meals directly from local restaurants for onsite meal distribution events at housing authorities, senior centers, veterans’ residences, and other community-based organizations. The program further allows Grubhub the opportunity to act on its commitment to support local restaurants and give back to communities that need it most.  

“The impact of this project is important to me because it addresses the food insecurities we have with our seniors, and having the opportunity to feed them during a time when they possibly can’t do it for themselves. I’m so excited to let them taste delicious food from fine dining restaurants that exist within their community. Many of them are on a fixed income and might not take advantage of dining outside of their own kitchen,” said Alderwoman Monique Scott.

Soulé, one of the first sit-down restaurants in North Lawndale in decades, partners with Grubhub’s Serving the City program

Following this kickoff event, the program will continue to run throughout the year with the goal of partnering with restaurants and delivering meals to communities in need across Chicago’s 50 wards in partnership with local aldermen.

“I came from a family that inspired my love of cooking and taught me the importance of community. When I opened my restaurant, Soulé, I knew I wanted to make a difference through food. In partnering with Grubhub’s Serving the City, I’ve been able to give back and drive change in my community through what I love to do most,” said Bridgette Flaggs, owner of Soulé in North Lawndale. Soulé is one of the first sit-down restaurants that has opened in North Lawndale in the last decades – a neighborhood historically considered a food desert. 

Last year, Serving the City launched in New York City to help address food insecurity and support local, independent restaurants. The program aims to address the lasting effects of the pandemic and the increased cost of food with inflation that has impacted communities and restaurants in cities nationwide. Since July 2022, this initiative has served more than 17,500 meals to food insecure families in partnership with 40 restaurants, with the goal of serving more than 25,000 meals to communities in New York City alone. 

“It’s exciting for Grubhub to kick off our Serving the City program right here in Chicago. After the impactful year we had serving meals to communities in New York City, we knew we could make a real difference in our hometown and give back to the city we call home. We’re looking forward to expanding across Chicago to help as many people and restaurants as we can,” said Dave Tovar, Grubhub SVP of Communications and Government Relations.

According to Northwestern University economists, one in five households in the Chicago metro area experiences food insecurity, including one in four families with children. As Grubhub expands the program to address the needs of its home city, it’s continuing to prioritize alleviating food insecurity in communities in need. Beyond Chicago and New York City, Grubhub also plans to expand their program nationwide as part of a larger commitment to help close the hunger gap. Grubhub‘s other focus areas for the year ahead include supporting independent restaurants and creating opportunities for people in the hospitality industry. 

Chicago Alderwoman Monique Scott partners with Grubhub’s Serving the City program

For more information about Grubhub’s Serving the City and other community impact programs, visit https://about.grubhub.com/community/programs/.

# # #

About Grubhub

Grubhub is part of Just Eat Takeaway.com (LSE: JET, AMS: TKWY), a leading global online food delivery marketplace. Dedicated to connecting more than 32 million diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub elevates food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub features more than 320,000 restaurant partners in over 4,000 U.S. cities.

Expanding the Value of Direct for Grubhub Merchants

Since our founding in 2004, we’ve focused on helping restaurants drive orders online and build up their digital presence — an effort that has taken on many forms as technology and our industry have evolved. In our early days, we served as a digital marketplace to send orders to restaurants that they fulfilled. We added our own delivery drivers into the mix over the years to give restaurants an option for delivery support if they didn’t have their own drivers. 

Now fast forward to 2021 when we rolled out Direct, a commission-free branded web ordering channel that gives independent restaurants more options for driving online orders from their own branded channels. Direct recommitted to helping merchants strengthen their digital presence, but our work isn’t finished. We continue to find new ways to help our merchants succeed online, and today, we’re excited to share our latest features coming to Direct soon. 

“A robust digital footprint is key for merchants as they look to reach more diners across ordering channels,” said Kate Green, vice president of restaurant services and innovation at Grubhub. “Our restaurant innovation team is hyper-focused on gathering and analyzing feedback from merchants and data from our platforms. We put these insights into action to further support restaurants’ goals by building products and tools that help drive their business forward. We’re excited to strengthen our offerings for merchants and to serve as an even better, more valuable partner.”

Integration with Google Business Profiles

Merchants will be able to add their Direct site across their Business Profile on Google Search and Maps and select it as their preferred ordering channel via our integration. We know running day-to-day operations is a full time job and resourcing continues to be a challenge across the industry, so we’re making it as easy as possible for merchants to promote their Direct site with just a few clicks within their Direct dashboard. With this integration, we’re putting the control in merchants’ hands to get greater visibility with hungry diners searching for restaurant options, driving more orders without commissions. According to Grubhub data during testing, we found that on average, Direct merchants who list their Direct site on their Google Business Profile receive nearly 20x the orders compared to those who don’t list their Direct site on their Google Business Profile.

$0 delivery fees for restaurants on Direct orders

Direct has always been marketing commission-free, but in the coming weeks, we’ll begin waiving the delivery fee (previously $1.99 per order) paid by Direct merchants that use Grubhub couriers to deliver Direct orders. Cultivating deeper relationships with our restaurant partners is invaluable, and we’ve built our business by helping restaurants grow theirs. It’s these efforts and technology that allow us to serve restaurants by providing tools to reach new diners and grow their business. 

Guest checkout for Direct

Direct is all about enabling merchants to drive more commission-free orders and reach even more diners. With Guest Checkout, diners will be able to order from a merchant’s Direct site without creating a Grubhub account. This removes a barrier to placing an order at checkout, making it easier for new diners to order while helping restaurants generate more sales.

Commission-free ordering and integrations that allow merchants to market to diners are just two components of our Direct product suite. We also know just how powerful a loyal diner base is for our partners. To generate this loyalty, merchants first and foremost need to be where their diners are. Today Direct is a branded website, but as we look to the future, we’re testing additional branded channels that will enable merchants to add more touchpoints with their diners. Stay tuned and up to date with the latest Direct advancements here.

$1.5 Million in New Grants Will Support LGBTQ+-Owned and Allied Restaurants

National LGBT Chamber of Commerce Teams Up with Grubhub For Another Year of Grants to Aid in Growth and Development

Washington, DC — America’s LGBTQ+-owned restaurants and bars serving food will once again find a vital lifeline this year stemming from the ongoing partnership formed by the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), the business voice of the LGBTQ+ community and certifying body for LGBTQ+-owned businesses nationwide, and Grubhub, a leading U.S. food-ordering and delivery marketplace.

Today the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce opened applications for the NGLCC Community Impact Grant Program, a program made possible by a grant from the Grubhub Community Fund. The grants are expected to range from $10,000 to $25,000 and funds can be used for things like updating security and security protocols, updating/purchasing new equipment, community involvement, marketing and PR services, updating digital/e-commerce presence, purchasing product, staff training programs, employee pay and/or staff incentivized wages, COVID-19 recovery, and maintenance/updating of current infrastructure.

“We often say at NGLCC that if you can buy it, an LGBTQ+-owned business can supply it,” said NGLCC Co-Founder & President Justin Nelson. “That is especially true of the LGBTQ+-owned restaurants and establishments across America who kept our communities and first responders fed throughout the pandemic and have been so active in the recovery. We’re proud to again partner with Grubhub, with the support from the Grubhub Community Fund, in offering grants to support businesses throughout the nation this round with an even wider scope of opportunities for grant utilization to help them succeed.”

“NGLCC has been an incredible partner to Grubhub, and it was a no-brainer to renew this program which has supported so many LGBTQ+-owned businesses across the country,” said Dave Tovar, Grubhub’s senior vice president of Communications and Government Relations. “We’ve heard so many stories of how independent restaurants have used these grants to do amazing things for their business and in their communities, and I’m excited to see what new and exciting things come out of the next group of grant recipients.”

Once again, under the innovative grant program, the NGLCC has set a goal to allocate 30 percent of the funds to businesses owned by people of color and transgender and gender expansive (TGX) individuals. Between now and March 2023, NGLCC will roll the grant program out regionally, with applications for East Coast establishments launching on January 24, 2023 through February 14, 2023. Applications for the Central US will open in February 2023, and those for the West Coast will roll out in March 2023. Restaurants wishing to learn more about applying for grants should visit nglcc.org/ghgrant.

The NGLCC’s network of more than fifty Affiliate Chambers across America will once again help amplify this grant opportunity to support local restaurants. Those local chambers will again benefit from this initiative’s Affiliate Chamber Fund. In addition to supporting local efforts to share the grant opportunity, this fund has and will continue to enable any establishment that receives a grant that is not currently a member of an NGLCC local affiliate chamber to have one year of membership paid.

For more information on the Community Impact Grant Program regarding restaurant eligibility requirements, timelines, how to apply, and more, please visit www.nglcc.org/ghgrant.

# # #

About NGLCC

The National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC) is the business voice of the LGBT community and is the largest global advocacy organization specifically dedicated to expanding economic opportunities and advancements for LGBT people. NGLCC is the exclusive certification body for LGBT-owned businesses, known as Certified LGBT Business Enterprise® (Certified LGBTBE®) suppliers.
www.nglcc.org @nglcc

About Grubhub

Grubhub is part of Just Eat Takeaway.com (LSE: JET, AMS: TKWY), a leading global online food delivery marketplace. Dedicated to connecting diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub elevates food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub features more than 365,000 restaurant partners in over 4,000 U.S. cities.

Announcing Grant Recipients of AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund: 73 AAPI-Owned Small Businesses Win Grants of Up to $100,000

Grants supported by the Grubhub Community Fund and distributed by National ACE have been awarded to entrepreneurs across the country to boost AAPI small business recovery

CHICAGO and WASHINGTON, DC – Grubhub, a leading food-delivery marketplace, and the National Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE) announced that 73 Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI)-owned  restaurants have been awarded grants of $25,000, made possible with a grant from the Grubhub Community Fund. In addition, three finalists were awarded $100,000 grants each live on-stage at the AAPISTRONG Annual Conference in September.

The AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund is intended to provide relief to AAPI small business owners in the restaurant industry, amidst an extended period of unforeseeable and unprecedented economic and social volatility. In 2022, the restaurant industry has been hit hard with staffing difficulties, supply chain delays, and inventory shortages.

Krizzia Yanga, owner of the restaurant Bonifacio said, “From factory shutdowns to a scarcity of commercial truck drivers, COVID has affected not only the prices and supply of domestic products, it also made imported products nearly impossible to acquire. As an AAPI restaurant with ingredients that are imported from the Philippines and other Asian countries, the travel restrictions, staff shortages in the logistics industry, and rising cost of transportations have made it difficult for us to maintain fair prices and stay true to cooking authentic Filipino flavors.”

Above: Krizzia Yang, Owner, Bonifacio, Columbus, Ohio

Bonifacio was one of the AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund finalists, and received $100,000 from the fund. “We are the first full-service and longest standing Filipino restaurant in Columbus and while we have made a name for ourselves and introduced many in our community to Filipino food, it continues to to be a challenge to compete with the larger restaurant groups and chains that Columbus is inundated with, especially in a time of increased xenophobia and anti-Asian sentiment.”

Christy Lang, the owner of Smoove Ice Cream based in New York City said, “We started our business during the pandemic, so unfortunately, we didn’t qualify for any government assistant programs since our operating date was after January 2020.  Tourism has been a big part of the Chinatown small businesses, and with travel restrictions, our business has been hit dramatically in 2020 and 2021. Some big challenges that we are facing currently are inflation, supply chain disruption, and labor shortage.”

The AAPISTRONG Restaurant Fund is here to help restaurants respond to ongoing challenges such as paying employees’ wages, expanding operations, or repairing damage to the restaurant caused by discrimination or bias.

Another finalist from Hawaii, Robynne Maii, is doing everything she can to combat food insecurity on her island. “We are concerned about food security in Hawaii. If the boats stopped coming to our islands, the state would have about a two week food supply. This is scary and concerning. When we opened Fête, it was important for us to source as many products as we could, locally. 90% of our produce, eggs, meat, poultry, and seafood is sourced locally. By honoring how we source, we send a clear message to our community of where we stand. We support other local businesses to help sustain the economic flow,” said Maii.

Above: Chef Robynne Maii, Fête, Honolulu, Hawaii

These grants are designed to help AAPI-small business owners, their employees, and the communities they serve as they face continued challenges after emerging from the pandemic including inflation, decreased revenue, economic volatility, and labor shortages. They also provide an opportunity for small business owners to give back to and uplift their communities.

Roongkant Preechathammarach, a $25,000 grant recipient, shared: “I ended up donating about 500 meals to healthcare workers to various hospitals in Manhattan. I always offer 5 to 7 different opinions out of excitement to share and satisfy all these health care heroes working so hard! This month, we catered a Meals-On-Wheels event held in Tribeca serving 800 people.

Above: Roongkant Preechathammarach, owner, Lil Chef Mama, New York, New York

A national survey released by National ACE and Reimagine Main Street in May 2022 found that about 40 percent of AAPI respondents lacked confidence to fund an unplanned $5,000 business expense, and over half lacked confidence they could fund the initiatives that would propel their small business to the next level, such as a marketing campaign, increasing payroll, or purchasing property or equipment.

“Our AAPI-owned restaurants have experienced severe losses throughout the pandemic and even worse, are victims of hate, discrimination, and bias at their place of business,” said Chiling Tong, President and CEO of National ACE. “Grubhub’s ongoing commitment to AAPI-owned restaurants is demonstrated by the support they provide annually to National ACE. The contributions from Grubhub and its diners will provide hope for AAPI restaurant owners that have not been listened to or provided for.”

“Restaurants play a vital role in their communities, and Grubhub is committed to helping them have a positive impact on the people they serve,” said Dave Tovar, Grubhub’s senior vice president of Communications & Government Relations. “This grant program, which is made possible through our Grubhub Community Fund, helps alleviate some of the financial strain restaurants have experienced over the last several years – allowing them to market and grow their business and invest in new technologies. We are proud of how our partnership with National ACE for the last two years has helped AAPI-owned restaurants thrive.”

Grubhub is serving the restaurants that are serving New York City

The Nourish Spot opened in Jamaica, Queens with the goal of introducing healthy food options to the local community. Today, owners Dawn and Jade partner with Grubhub to make sure people know about The Nourish Spot, not only in Southeast Queens but across New York City.

Grubhub partners with restaurants like The Nourish Spot to help them expand their reach. From providing marketing services to setting up online store fronts, Grubhub is there to help restaurants find new customers and serve their local communities.

 

Learn more about how Grubhub gives back to the communities where we operate.

 

Grubhub and Bloomin’ Brands Expand Partnership with More Restaurants

Diners can now order from Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, and Bonefish Grill, with Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and Tender Shack coming soon

 

CHICAGO, Sept. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Grubhub and Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. (NASDAQ: BLMN) announced today they are expanding their partnership to bring all of Bloomin’ Brands concepts to the Grubhub Marketplace. All Bloomin’ Brands concepts will be available on Grubhub for pickup or delivery, adding to the select Carrabba’s Italian Grill locations already available on the platform.

More than 1,700 listings will be available across the country, including more than 1,000 restaurant locations and 700 virtual kitchens. Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill, and Aussie Grill are currently available on Grubhub, with Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and virtual chicken tender brand, Tender Shack, becoming available soon.

“We want diners to come to Grubhub and be blown away by the number of choices to order from,” said Liz Bosone, vice president of restaurant success at Grubhub. “We’re excited to build on our relationship with Bloomin’ Brands and expand our restaurant supply. Our 32 million diners across the country now get access to all of Bloomin’s well-known and delicious portfolio of brands, driving even more orders and providing more earning opportunities for our delivery partners.”

“This amplified partnership allows us to continue to expand our omni-channel off-premises approach and bring our well-known, favorite brands to even more guests,” said Sheilina Henry, Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Off-Premises Dining at Bloomin’ Brands.

To celebrate the partnership, several offers are now available for new and existing diners exclusively through Grubhub for a limited time. New diners can receive up to 40% off orders of $40 or more at Outback Steakhouse and $15 off orders of $40 or more at Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Bonefish Grill. New and existing diners are able to receive $5 off orders of $15 or more at Aussie Grill.*

To order from any of Bloomin’ Brands portfolio restaurant concepts through Grubhub, download the Grubhub app or go online to www.grubhub.com. And for more information on how to join Grubhub, please visit get.grubhub.com. Both pickup and delivery are available at participating locations.**

*Terms and conditions apply to these promotions. See full terms below.
**Participating locations include all company-owned restaurants

https://grhb.me/OutbackSteakhouse
https://grhb.me/Carrabbas
https://grhb.me/BonefishGrill
https://grhb.me/AussieGrill

About Grubhub
Grubhub is part of Just Eat Takeaway.com (LSE: JET, AMS: TKWY), and is a leading U.S. food ordering and delivery marketplace. Dedicated to connecting more than 32 million diners with the food they love from their favorite local restaurants, Grubhub elevates food ordering through innovative restaurant technology, easy-to-use platforms and an improved delivery experience. Grubhub features more than 320,000 restaurant partners in over 4,000 U.S. cities.

About Bloomin’ Brands, Inc.
Bloomin’ Brands, Inc. is one of the largest casual dining restaurant companies in the world with a portfolio of leading, differentiated restaurant concepts. The Company has four founder-inspired brands: Outback Steakhouse, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Bonefish Grill and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar. The Company owns and operates more than 1,450 restaurants in 47 states, Guam and 15 countries, some of which are franchise locations.  For more information, please visit bloominbrands.com.

SOURCE Grubhub Inc.

Why Price Controls Are Bad For Restaurants

Originally Posted on 07/16/2021
Updated on 8/24/2022 to include data showing depressed growth for restaurants impacted by price controls

Grubhub was founded in Chicago in 2004 to help restaurants grow. Since then, we have worked hard to build a business that generates more orders for restaurants at a low cost to them, helping make even the smallest independent restaurant competitive with much larger establishments that have enormous marketing budgets.

While the general idea behind price controls is that they enable restaurants to access delivery, marketing and other services at artificially low prices, the actual impact is far different. Price controls create strict limits on what local restaurants can do to promote their business, find new diners, engage regular customers and send more orders out their doors.

That is why we continue to fight price controls in court. We complied with them during the pandemic, effectively conveying hundreds of millions of dollars to restaurants as they were forced to close their doors to dine-in customers. Now, many cities, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Minneapolis, are shifting toward reasonable compromises: in San Francisco, we recently withdrew our litigation after the city passed an amendment to its cap allowing restaurants to opt into rates higher than 15 percent if they chose additional services. Unfortunately, others – including New York City – have so far let strict permanent caps remain in place.

Understanding How Grubhub Helps Restaurants Grow 

Grubhub provides delivery services to restaurants that opt to use them, but the heart of Grubhub’s business — and the value we bring to restaurants — is the marketing support and visibility we provide to increase orders for restaurants. And that is how our fees are structured — to give restaurant partners options so they can find what works best for their particular business.

  • Restaurant partners that use Grubhub Direct or our Direct Order Toolkit products have powerful tools to grow their businesses without any marketing fees.
  • Restaurant partners that opt to use the Grubhub Marketplace to generate orders from our network of 32 million diners select a negotiable marketing package that generally ranges from 5 to 15 percent per order based on the level of marketing and support that makes sense for their business.
  • Restaurant partners that choose to use Grubhub’s drivers (vs. their own, in-house delivery staff) to complete orders pay Grubhub a market standard delivery fee.

We spend hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing annually to generate orders for our restaurant partners. In fact, in New York City prior to the pandemic, thousands of restaurant partners opted into some of these services that offered them more marketing options—with many of them opting to pay Grubhub more than 15 percent of the order price. When all of the costs and expenses of running our business are accounted for, we make approximately 1 percent of total food sales as profit — and that was before temporary price controls significantly impacted our ability to operate a profitable business.

The services Grubhub provides are akin to what companies like Google offer to promote small businesses. Or at a more basic level, we are similar to a company that sells billboard space to the local hardware store. Grubhub gives independent restaurants access to promotional ability that was previously unavailable to them because of the expertise and scale required.

Permanent price controls eliminate our ability to offer many of these services to restaurants, because the cost to our business would become too high. 

Restaurants Impacted by Price Controls Are Getting Left Behind 

In June 2021, one year after New York City first implemented a cap on commissions for third-party delivery apps, Grubhub’s data showed that restaurants impacted by that policy were not participating in the city’s post-pandemic economic recovery at the same rate as other businesses.

In fact, restaurants impacted by the cap – in other words, those whose contracted rates with Grubhub were adjusted down in order to adhere to the new regulation – saw their order volumes grow at just 6 percent over that year. Meanwhile, restaurants not impacted by the price control, or those whose contracted rates were already at or below the 15 percent threshold, saw their orders grow nearly 75 percent faster, at a rate of almost 80 percent. 

While surely an unintended consequence of its legislation, the New York City Council’s choice to make price controls permanent has hurt the very restaurants, including small and family-owned restaurants, that it intended to protect. That’s because independent restaurants, unlike large chain restaurants which have their own resources, often rely on platforms like Grubhub for marketing and promotions. Price controls have limited the accessibility of those services. 

The effects of the price control trickled down to hurt both Grubhub’s drivers and restaurants’ own drivers, as well. While tips for restaurants and drivers grew by nearly 60 percent between June 2020 and 2021, restaurants that were impacted by the cap and drivers who deliver from these restaurants saw no significant growth in tips, likely because orders to those restaurants grew just slightly. 

Ultimately, price controls are exactly the wrong thing to do when restaurants need more support, visibility and order volume than ever. Grubhub serves restaurants, and we will always stand up for them and work hard to protect their ability to grow and thrive.