Food delivery is a popular service industry in the United States.
Nearly everyone has ordered food to their houses and many people do so multiple times a week.
Some people do it because they don’t like to cook; others order because they don’t have the time.
Most people do it for the sheer convenience of having dinner show up with no fuss, no clean up, and no need to venture out and deal with traffic, weather, or crowds.
As a result of the popularity of food delivery, there are several apps vying to connect hungry people with local restaurants ready to prepare food for them.
One of the most popular of the food delivery services is GrubHub.
This is for several reasons, including Grubhub’s delivery fees.
If you’d like to learn more about how GrubHub works, including its fees and how it compares to major competitors, keep reading.
This article will walk you through everything you need to know about GrubHub costs in 2020.
How Does GrubHub Work?
When GrubHub started, it was simply a local restaurant menu resource site.
It later merged with food delivery company Seamless to cement its position as a premier food delivery service.
While some people use GrubHub just to check local restaurant menus, most people place their whole food delivery order in the GrubHub mobile app or on the GrubHub website.
Many GrubHub customers love being able to order their food delivery without having to speak to anyone.
You can download the GrubHub app for your iPhone or Android and place a delivery or takeaway order up to 72 hours in advance.
To use GrubHub, you’ll need to set up an account with them, which is easy.
You have the option to sign up on either the website or the mobile app after you’ve selected your food items and are ready to check out.
If you just want to check out what’s available nearby for pick up or delivery, all you have to do is enter your address.
The GrubHub app or website will then show you your restaurant options and their menus.
If a restaurant charges extra for delivering to you or only offers takeaway for your address, GrubHub will show you those details on the search results page.
You can filter your search by cuisine, rating, price, delivery time, and features like open now, new, available coupons, free delivery, and order tracking.
If you are picking up your order, you can filter your search by distance instead of delivery time.
GrubHub also allows you to place catering or large orders at certain restaurants.
If you’re placing a catering order, it’s a good idea to do so in advance to ensure your food is ready on time and made correctly.
GrubHub encourages their users to review restaurants on their platform, which is helpful if you’d like to know the overall rating of a restaurant or if you’re not sure what to order and would like recommendations.
GrubHub accepts cash upon delivery or a credit card payment during checkout.
One of the main reasons for GrubHub’s popularity is their abundance of promo codes.
There are often coupons available for restaurants and special promo codes for those who use GrubHub to order delivery on a regular basis.
GrubHub also makes it easy for users to reorder the same food items or complete orders through their order history.
It’s easy to add additional menu items or remove menu items from the repeat order, making it easy for users to have regular orders from their favorite restaurants.
How Much Does GrubHub Cost to Deliver?
GrubHub doesn’t charge its users any delivery fees.
If there is a delivery fee on your order, it’s because the restaurant is charging one, not GrubHub.
Those fees are collected by GrubHub for the restaurant and go towards the cost of delivery supplies and delivery staff expenses.
Whether you order through GrubHub.com, the GrubHub app, or directly with the restaurant on the phone, you’ll be paying these fees.
Many restaurants on GrubHub do not charge any sort of delivery fee.
If avoiding delivery fees is important to you, be sure to select that when picking your search filters.
GrubHub vs Uber Eats Cost
Unlike GrubHub, Uber Eats charges its users a delivery fee.
Originally the Uber Eats fee was a flat $4.99, but it now ranges from $2.00 to $8.00 and is subject to surge pricing.
If surge pricing is not in effect, the determining factor for the Uber Eats delivery fee is the delivery distance.
Uber Eats does allow users to restrict their search results based on a sliding “Max Booking Fee” filter.
The delivery fee for Uber Eats is never less than $2.00 while the delivery fee imposed by GrubHub is always $0.
GrubHub vs DoorDash Cost
Unlike GrubHub, DoorDash charges its users a delivery fee.
This fee ranges from $0.99 to $7.99.
There is also a service fee of 7 percent to 15 percent on every order.
These fees make DoorDash a much more expensive and less popular food delivery option than GrubHub in cities where both services operate.
Does GrubHub Charge Restaurants?
While being listed on the GrubHub platform can be free, GrubHub does charge restaurants a percentage of each order placed on the platform as a commission.
How much any restaurant is paying for orders through GrubHub varies depending on a range of factors including whether the restaurant listing is sponsored on the GrubHub platform, whether the restaurant is using GrubHub’s delivery drivers or their own, and the city where the restaurant is located.
Does GrubHub Charge Sales Tax?
Whether GrubHub charges sales tax or not depends on the local laws.
If the local laws state that sales tax must be charged on a specific item, the GrubHub app will automatically calculate that as part of the order.
This includes partial tax situations.
For example, your local laws could state that food and alcohol is taxed when consumed in a restaurant, but food items are not taxable when delivered.
That would mean that you would be charged sales tax for eating a pizza and a beer in the restaurant, but if you ordered the same pizza and beer through GrubHub, you would just pay sales tax on the beer.
GrubHub’s system will automatically calculate the appropriate amount of sales tax in accordance with local tax laws and add it to your order.
So Is GrubHub Worth It?
GrubHub is one of the most affordable food delivery service options for hungry diners due to no delivery fees and abundant promotional offers.
If you haven’t tried GrubHub yet, you can sign up now and save $10.00 off your first order of at least $15.00 with the code DDSE05CFTVF5.
