Grubhub Adds CVS Amidst LA County Lawsuit
Delivery Hero nixes Foodpanda sale, DoorDash Community Impact Report
Today is all 3PD news, all the time. We’ve got one up and one down for Grubhub, some new data from DoorDash, and the latest on Delivery Hero’s Foodpanda drama. Plus, have you seen the sneak peek of the amazing speakers headed to Curbivore on March 29th?
This week’s edition is brought to you by Gridwise.
Today:
Grubhub Strengthens Convenience Offerings with CVS
Delivery Hero Officially Cancels Foodpanda Sale
Chart Time | DoorDash Community Impact Report
LA County Sues Grubhub, Alleges Deceptive Fees
3PD | Grubhub Delivers for 6,000 CVS Pharmacies
Grubhub just announced a partnership with CVS Pharmacy, as the Chicago-based 3PD looks to beef up its non-restaurant delivery options. The deal covers more than 6,000 drugstores from coast-to-coast, which is about 2/3s of CVS’ overall footprint. The two brands are framing the announcement as somehow related to daylight savings time (March 10th, watch your clocks!) as they note that “62% of respondents said they feel the effects of the time change for at least a week, and 51% said the time change makes them tired for a few days.” To combat the dreadful scourge of days getting longer, CVS and Grubhub are giving out free “Daylight Savings Essentials” on any order of $20 or more.
The Big Picture: Grubhub’s scrambling to catch up with DD and UE when it comes to taking delivery beyond prepared meals, so this deal goes a good way towards making the GH app equally useful. Paired with other recent partners like GoPuff, Rite Aid and 7-Eleven, it’s fair to say Grubhub finally has convenience fully covered; now they just need to start working on all those other categories like beauty, fashion, sporting goods, pet care, etc. As for CVS, it’s already available on Uber Eats and DoorDash / Dashmart; it also recently started offering its own same-day delivery as part of its ExtraCare Plus subscription. Also worth noting, CVS qualifies for free delivery for any Grubhub+ member.
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3PD | Delivery Hero Calls off Foodpanda Sale
Berlin-based Delivery Hero is calling off its plans to sell off its Foodpanda branded operations in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. As recently as Feb 2nd, the company felt its had nearly reached an agreement with its erstwhile buyer; the rumor mill suspects that unnamed counterparty was likely Singapore’s Grab. Putting on a brave face, DH CEO Niklas Östberg said “The strength of our APAC business has become evident during the last quarters as the region reached an inflection point in 2023. We believe the region remains strongly positioned to drive profitable growth at scale. The decision to terminate negotiations after months of discussions was taken after careful consideration.”
The Big Picture: Delivery Hero’s stock fell as much as 17% on the news, following a dip earlier this month when the news was first rumored, before rebounding slightly this morning. Its performance in the world’s largest continent has been a real drag on the company lately; while DH has managed to grow GMV in Europe and MENA, its FY 2023 results showed Asia down about 6% for the year. A Grab+Foodpanda combo would have had over 90% of the delivery market share in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, it’s suspected that worries about antitrust approval scuttled the deal as much as any change in market conditions.
CHART TIME | DoorDash’s 2023 Community Impact Report
DD released a juicy piece of content marketing this week, looking at how its platform benefits both merchants and Dashers. Among the more interesting stats, 70% of surveyed merchants say DoorDash has helped to increase profits, while 40% of Dashers say they would not choose an alternative way to replace this income were it to go away.
POLICY | LA County Sues Grubhub Over Misleading Fees
Los Angeles County has filed suit in California Superior Court, accusing the 3PD of deceptive business practices. The nation’s largest county particularly took issue with supposedly misrepresenting delivery fees, misleading promotions on free ordering, not paying all workers out of its driver support fee, ranking search results based off of marketing spend, and granting refunds without notifying merchants. The County is asking for restitution and $2,500 in fines for each time a violation occurred, and an additional $2.5k for each time the violation impacted a senior citizen or person with a disability.
The Big Picture: While Grubhub says it is “disappointed Los Angeles County has moved forward with this lawsuit and plans to aggressively defend our business in court,” the company does plan to add a link with fee disclosures to any restaurant menu in LA County. 3PDs have been on the losing end of a number of fee-related suits as of late; last year Grubhub paid $3.5 million in a settlement to Washington, D.C., and another $3.5M to Massachusetts in January. The FTC is also considering new guidance on “unfair or deceptive fees.”
A Few Good Links
Meet the Zenblen robotic smoothie machine. Burgerim and its founder barred from selling franchises. New chefs get to reimagine the Crunchwrap Supreme. Cheesecake Factory sales up 2.5% in Q4. Einride makes autonomous warehouse deliveries in TN. XPO EV trucks headed to LA ports. UPS headcount shrinks. ShipBob adds Amazon Shipping as delivery option. Instacart partners with American Cancer Society on grocery funds. Mercado Libre says AI recommendations boost sales. JB Hunt buys Walmart intermodal. Zoup! rebrands as Z!EATS (genius, just genius!) Nikola delivered 35 hydrogen trucks in Q4, as losses widen. Deliveroo Plus subscriptions up 174% YoY in UAE. Deliveroo Qatar teases top dish: Tawouk Sandwich from Malak Al Tawouk (looks good.) Cargo microhubs look promising in London, bike-based delivery expands in Glasgow. GM Cruise resuming robotaxi testing, Waymo updates software after fender bender. Transit Tech Lab Curb Activity Challenge closes soon. Flipkart loses senior execs. Wonder 2.0 pitch deck teardown. TripAdvisor integrates Tableo. DoorDash reaches settlement with CA AG, also pushes ebike safety. AMZN replaces WBA (Walgreens, not Looney Toons) on DJIA. Did you check out the Curbivore speakers yet?
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