Sales through third-party delivery services totaled $5 billion for the first two quarters of 2018, a 55% leap over their collective intake for the same period of 2017, according to research aired by Technomic at FSTEC.
If Grubhub, DoorDash and the other services were one company, that volume would make them the restaurant industry’s third-largest operation ranked by sales, or roughly the same size as the Subway sandwich chain, noted Sara Monnette, VP of innovation for the researcher.
But that business is not distributed equally, Monnette noted. The dominant force in that fast-growing marketplace is Grubhub, with a 52% market share, she revealed. Uber Eats is a distant second with an 18% share, followed by DoorDash at 12%, Postmates at 9% and Caviar at 4%. All others share the remaining 5%.
But that doesn’t mean those market shares hold across the nation, Monnette added. Grubhub’s stronghold is the Northeast, where it commands a market share exceeding 80% in high-population areas such as New York. Postmates and DoorDash are the powers on the West Coast, according to the Technomic data, albeit with much lower shares of 32% and 30%, respectively.
Technomic is the research sister of Restaurant Business. FSTEC, a conference for the users and suppliers of restaurant technology, is presented by their parent company, Winsight.