“What this investment in GrubHub means is that we can expand to more markets and bring more options to consumers,” Evans said.
Already operating in 13 cities, GrubHub’s business model is dead simple on first glance but their execution has played a large part in their success. Consumers type their address into GrubHub’s search bar and all the restaurants that deliver to the consumer are listed. After the consumer selects a restaurant, they are presented with the complete menu and ordering is as simple as clicking on items off the menu for the selected restaurant. GrubHub earns a small fee for processing the order.
GrubHub launched in 2004 and has grown steadily since. “We want to be where there are hungry people in markets with great restaurants,” said Evans, “and when you look across the nation, there is a steady ratio of restaurants to people so we have a lot of room to grow.” He went on to add that there are over 300,000 takeout/delivery restaurants in operation around the country.
On starting and growing GrubHub in Chicago, Evans had this to say: “Chicago is the absolute best place for us to have started this business. The level of advice, quality of employees and great restaurants made Chicago perfect for what we were creating.”
GrubHub also prides itself on customer service and prides itself on working with restaurants to improve their customer service as well, resulting in a win-win-win for GrubHub, restaurant and consumer.
This funding also means we are going to be reaching out to more restaurants, more cuisines, and- more hiring. We are hiring for a LOT of positions,” said Evans, “and in some cases we need several people for the same position.”
The other big push for GrubHub is in mobile. GrubHub has an iPhone and Android app and Evans says the growth has been phenomenal. “In nine months, we have watched our total percentage of orders go from 0% – 10%. That’s $7 million dollars of sales done through our apps,” said Evans, ” and we intend to improve the apps functionality. People want to order from their phones, and we’ll continue to make the apps better to make it as easy fro consumers as possible.” GrubHub is expected to do $70 Million in sales for 2010.
When I asked where GrubHub would be expanding next, Evans laughed and said, “Sorry, that is super, super secret.”
He also expressed excitement playing a part in Chicago’s story. “It is exciting to be one of the Chicago startups to become successful, following in the steps of companies like Groupon,” said Evans. “Chicago is a great place to start a new venture, and we are going to see more Chicago success stories.”
