Private Equity/ Venture Capital – Finalists
Frustrated with how hard it was to find good restaurants that deliver, Chicago-based software engineers Matt Maloney and Mike Evans founded GrubHub Inc., a venture-backed online service that organizes restaurant delivery information and enables customers to order food online.
GrubHub began compiling information for restaurants in Chicago in 2004 and since has grown at a tremendous rate. As of March 2012, the company reported having a meaningful presence in more than 300 cities nationwide. GrubHub is now the nation’s leading online and mobile ordering platform connecting diners with restaurants that offer food for delivery or pickup. GrubHub features more than 13,000 online ordering restaurants and is also the parent company of Allmenus, which lists about 250,000 restaurant menus online.
Diners who order through GrubHub’s free website or mobile applications can pay with cash, credit or PayPal, and every order is supported by the company’s 24/7 customer service.
Many takeout and delivery restaurants are independently owned and run. GrubHub’s service increases restaurants’ daily order volume and manages their customer service for a nominal percentage of each order, thereby allowing restaurant owners to focus on their operations.
GrubHub launched its first iPhone app in 2009 and its Android app in 2010, both developed in-house. Mobile orders made up less than 2 percent of the company’s revenue in 2009; that figure increased to 10 percent in 2010 and 20 percent by the end of 2011. With more and more people searching for restaurants and ordering food online and via smartphones, GrubHub is planning new mobile and online products to capture the substantial opportunity for continued growth in the restaurant online ordering sector.
How to reach: GrubHub Inc., www.grubhub.com
