(April 2): Food delivery company Grubhub is reviving the quarter-century-old Seamless brand in New York, its biggest market, in a bid to drive growth in a key city as it lags behind rivals nationally.

Seamless, founded in New York in 1999, remains a recognisable brand in the area, even after merging with Grubhub in 2013. Grubhub plans to invest “a tonne of money” into making Seamless the preeminent ordering platform in the city, chief executive officer Howard Migdal said in an interview. That would include promotional offers such as free delivery from popular eateries in the coming weeks and months, he added.

“We’re going to continue to lean into Grubhub as a national brand, but we’re also going to invest in Seamless,” a brand that “has endured and had staying power in spite of us not investing that much in it,” Migdal said.

This move is the latest corporate shift since Grubhub was sold to billionaire Marc Lore’s Wonder Group Inc by Amsterdam-listed Just Eat Takeaway.com NV. In February, Migdal announced the company would cut 23% of its staff as part of the Wonder integration. 

Nationally, Grubhub trails rivals such as Uber Technologies Inc and DoorDash Inc, with only about 5% of US food-delivery market share, according to February data from Bloomberg Second Measure. Seamless has less than 1% share. In contrast, DoorDash commands more than two thirds of the US market. 

But in New York, Grubhub has held its own. There, it has about 22% share, while DoorDash has 26% and Uber Eats has 52%, according to February data from YipitData. (Migdal says Grubhub’s internal data suggests its share in the five boroughs is “significantly higher.”) 

All three delivery services have prioritised the New York market so far this year, as measured by ad spending on social networks owned by Meta Platforms Inc, according to Sensor Tower. Grubhub has allocated nearly 25% of its Meta ad dollars to the city’s metropolitan area.

“We completed a full brand audit when Grubhub joined with Wonder and found that there continues to be unwavering brand preference for Seamless in New York City, bolstered by our long history serving city residents and the strength of our corporate ordering business,” the company said in a statement. 

Seamless has always operated its own website and app, even after merging with then-market leader Grubhub, and later when Grubhub was sold to Just Eat. But its US market share has shrunk with the rise of DoorDash and Uber Eats. 

After Just Eat bought Grubhub in 2021, the company adopted a one-brand strategy across the country, deprioritising the more local Seamless name and ensuring the same merchants and restaurants would be available on both Grubhub and Seamless.

“In a resource-constrained environment, we had to make choices and we leaned into the national brand,” Migdal said of the strategy under Just Eat. Under Wonder’s ownership, Grubhub will focus on long-term gains versus short-term profits, he said.

Thanks in part to an improved restaurant selection and a loyalty programme tie-up with Amazon Prime, Grubhub recently became profitable and returned to growth, Migdal said, declining to provide exact profit figures as the company is no longer publicly traded. It remains a standalone business within Wonder while sharing certain technology and logistical resources.

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