The competition between fast food delivery startups is fierce.
And it’s only getting more competitive.
Depending on your city, there are between five and 10 different companies competing for a customer’s lunch order.
We will take a look at Grubhub vs Caviar, two of the top competitors, and see which service offers the best onboarding experience, who tips their drivers the most, which driver app is superior, and finally, who is the overall winner.
If you’re ready to see who the best food delivery startup is between Grubhub and Caviar, let’s start with a review of their onboarding processes.
Getting Started
The process for becoming a delivery driver on Grubhub vs Caviar is nearly identical.
Both delivery services require their drivers to have a smartphone, car insurance, a valid driver’s license, and to pass a background check.
The only real difference between the two is that Grubhub requires drivers to be at least 19 years or older, while Caviar enlists drivers starting at age 18.
However, Caviar does require drivers to have two years of experience before they can apply to the platform.
Both companies offer in-person and online training sessions for new drivers, where you can learn how to use the company’s app and pick up a branded T-shirt and company hat.
Once you’ve finished onboarding and make your first delivery, you’ll start to see greater differences between the two food delivery services.
- View all Caviar Requirements
- View all Grubhub Requirements
Who Does Deliveries Better?
If food delivery were a popularity contest, Grubhub would definitely be on top.
Grubhub has more orders than any other platform.
They offer delivery at more than 80,000 restaurants since partnering with Yelp — more than any other platform.
Google trends data confirms that Grubhub has more than a slight edge over Caviar in terms of popularity.
But for regular delivery drivers, it is about a lot more than just popularity.
Grubhub
Since more users are on Grubhub, drivers will typically see more demand as a result.
More orders might sound great at first, but there’s a downside.
In an effort to grow their customer base, Grubhub has no order minimums and doesn’t do surge pricing — making customers happy, but costing drivers during high demand blocks at lunch and dinner.
Caviar
Although Caviar might not have as many users as Grubhub, they do have some serious driver benefits in terms of deliveries.
Much like Grubhub, Caviar doesn’t do surge pricing, but they do have a $15–$25 order minimum.
And when demand peaks, order minimums can nearly double.
According to Caviar, “During periods of unusually high demand, we may temporarily increase our minimum subtotal in some areas.
Typically, the minimum will return to normal in 10 to 30 minutes.”
Larger orders means bigger tips, and bigger tips means happier drivers.
Who Pays Drivers More?
Who pays more, Caviar or Grubhub? The answer — Grubhub.
Most delivery drivers recommend Grubhub as their first choice because they offer a minimum hourly wage ($12.50) and have the highest demand in the most cities.
Caviar has significantly less orders, and as a result the hourly pay is inconsistent.
According to Courier Hacker, it varies as much as $7 to $20 per hour on weekends.
But there’s no single right answer for every driver.
Each market is different, and hourly pay depends significantly on the market you drive in, as well as the time of day you deliver.
Let’s further compare how each company pays their delivery drivers so you can decide which app is a better fit for you.
Grubhub
With more users than Caviar, Grubhub definitely keeps drivers busier.
However, driver pay is impacted by the fact that they let restaurants decide the delivery fee and there are no order minimums.
Also, more users means more businesses are likely to use Grubhub for large company orders on Caviar.
Grubhub pays drivers on a weekly basis.
But unlike Caviar, Grubhub does not have instant pay.
Their support docs say that they send payments each week on Thursday via direct deposit.
Your weekly Grubhub payment represents the deliveries made during the previous Monday through Sunday.
Caviar
Caviar caters to nicer restaurants and larger orders, but suffers from an overall lack of demand, even in major cities compared to Grubhub.
They’re also one of the only food delivery startups that charges a delivery fee based on your distance from the restaurant and delivery time.
So if you would rather accept a high volume of low-paying orders, choose Grubhub.
If you don’t mind the risk of waiting around for fewer large orders, try Caviar.
Caviar also makes it incredibly easy to get paid for your deliveries.
When you download the Square Cash app, you can start getting Caviar payments instantly after each delivery.
Which Company Has the Better Driver App?
As you might expect, Caviar and Grubhub each have their own dedicated app especially for delivery drivers.
But you’ll need to follow special instructions, depending on your device, to download and install them correctly.
We’ll walk you through each one below.
Grubhub Driver App
Grubhub’s driver app is only available from their website.
You can’t go to the Google Play store or the Apple App Store to download it.
Whatever the reason for that, it makes for a pretty terrible user experience.
On some devices you will need to change your phone’s permission settings in order to run the app.
How Do I Download the Grubhub Driver App on iOS?
Downloading the Grubhub Driver app on iOS is a simple three-step process once you’ve received the download link.
- Open the download link and click “Download iOS”
- Click “Install” from the pop-up notification
- Enter the email address you used to sign up and click “Get new password”
How Do I Download the Grubhub Driver App on Android?
Downloading the Grubhub Driver app on an Android device is similar to iOS.
Here’s what to do once you’ve received the download link from Grubhub.
- Click “Download Android”
- Click “Download” from the Android dialog popup
- Click “Open”
- Double click on the download package
- Then click “Install”
- Once installed, you can enter your email address and click “Get new password” to complete
The Grubhub Driver app functions similarly to any other driver app out there.
Even though the user interface feels a little dated, the functionality is nearly identical to Caviar’s driver app.
Here’s what it looks like to receive and accept your very first order as a Grubhub delivery driver:
Caviar Driver App
Just like Grubhub’s driver app, the Caviar driver app is only available on the company’s website.
The Caviar app has all the same basic features as Grubhub’s app — set availability, accept orders, turn-by-turn navigation, delivery instructions, and a payment dashboard to track your earnings.
Once you understand how the app works, it’s time to download it for yourself and get ready for your first delivery.
The app is available on both iOS and Android devices, and just in case you need them, we’ve put together step-by-step instructions for downloading each version of the Caviar delivery driver app.
How Do I Download the Caviar Driver App on iOS?
To download the Caviar Driver app on iOS you’ll need to visit a custom link since it’s not available in the Apple App Store.
Here are the steps for downloading the app.
- Visit the Caviar Driver app download link
- Once it finishes downloading, click on the app
- You’ll see the “Untrusted Developer” dialogue
- Go to Settings > General > Profile & Device Management
- Click on the “Caviar Inc.” Profile listed under “Enterprise App”
Note: the Caviar Driver app is gray, not orange like the customer app
How Do I Download the Caviar Driver App on Android?
On an Android device, downloading the Caviar Driver app is much easier than iOS.
Here are the steps for downloading the app:
- Visit the Google Play store on your Android device
- Click “Install” on the Courier Prime app
- You’ll need to set your permissions to enable the app
- Go to Settings > Apps > Caviar > Permissions
- Check all of the boxes
The Caviar app offers the same functionality of scheduling, accepting orders, and navigation as its competitors.
However, the Caviar driver app is commonly referred to as the best-looking driver app when compared to Uber Eats, Grubhub, and Postmates.
Since Caviar positions themselves as a premium food delivery option, their app design and user experience try to reflect that distinction.
Overall Winner: Grubhub
Across the internet, the consensus is that Grubhub is the hottest food delivery app right now due to seamless onboarding, guaranteed hourly minimums, and high demand from diners.
For the time being, Caviar is only available in select major cities, but may be a good backup option if you happen to live in San Francisco, Boston, New York, or Philadelphia.
If your experience in food delivery is anything like most drivers in ridesharing with Uber and Lyft, then you’ll likely have to bounce back and forth between both apps in order to get the best jobs.
But if you have the choice, Grubhub is the superior food delivery business in 2018.
