Uber Eats & Gopuff Double Down on SNAP EBT
DoorDash ads push new verticals, Amazon turns 30, Tesla readies diner
Today we’re going biiiiig on grocery and new verticals, with Uber Eats and Gopuff making a SNAP-powered push, DoorDash throwing ad dollars into the arena and Amazon celebrating its 30th birthday. But fear not, we’ve got some exciting updates on the restaurant side of things too, with exclusive photos of Tesla’s diner and drive-thru.
This week we have extra industry coverage, thanks to our partners at Everee.
Today:
Uber Eats Adds SNAP-Enabled Merchants
DoorDash Ads Push New Verticals
Chart Time | Happy Birthday, Amazon
Photos of Tesla’s New Diner
SNAP | Uber Adds EBT for Wegmans, Gopuff and Family Dollar
Uber Eats unveiled a new crop of large grocery and convenience partners to its stable of merchants that accept SNAP EBT (aka food stamps) — Wegmans, Gopuff and Family Dollar. As with past merchants, these benefit dollar payments are handled via Forage. To improve uptake, Uber now has a SNAP icon in-app, allowing users to filter for all eligible merchants. Newly enrolled EBT cardholders now receive $0 delivery fees on their first three SNAP-eligible orders.
The Big Picture: SNAP has turned into a big business for Uber Eats, which now has quite the healthy roster of enrolled merchants: 7-Eleven, ACME, Albertson's, Andronico's, Balducci's, Cardenas Markets, Carrs, Cub Food, CVS, Dierbergs, Duane Reade, El Rancho, El Super, Fairplay Foods, Family Dollar, Fiesta Mart, Food Bazaar, Food Town, FoodMaxx, Giant Eagle, Gopuff, Harveys Supermarket, Hy-Vee, Jewel Osco, King's Food Market, Los Altos Ranch Market, Lucky Supermarkets, Market District, Meijer, Morton Williams, Pavilions, Randall's, Safeway, Save A Lot, SaveMart, Sedano's, Shaw's, Shoppers Food Warehouse, Smart & Final, Speedway, Sprouts, Star Market, Stew Leonards, Super King Markets, Superlo Foods, Tom Thumb, Tony's Fresh Market, Vons, Walgreens, Wegmans and Winn-Dixie.
This also marks an enhanced push for Gopuff; the company found that since piloting SNAP acceptance, EBT customers place roughly two more monthly orders than non-SNAP customers, and check out with 62% more items per order, resulting in 22% higher spend. Shame the OBBBA just cut food stamp spending by billions…
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INTELLIGENCE | DoorDash Ads Push New Verticals
Every once in a while we like to take a look at what sort of ads the big delivery boys are running, to get a sense of corporate priorities. Back in late 2023, DoorDash was leaning big into corporate restaurants like Pizza Hut and Wendy’s, but now the push seems squarely focused on the fast growing “new verticals” category. We suspect DD may have enticed some of its new merchants with promises of a national advertising push, since this post card’s delivery zip code is nowhere near a BJ’s Wholesale or ALDI.
The Big Picture: DoorDash isn’t just pushing those promos across postcards, but via email marketing as well. Interestingly, the digital ad gets a higher discount percentage (50% versus 40%) but a lower discount cap ($15 instead of $30) — always be A/B testing!
CHART TIME | Amazon Turns 30
Amazon.com launched 30 years ago, with the craaaazy idea of selling one million book titles. Originally a lean team of nine, the ecommerce behemoth now has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion. Since the company’s IPO in 1997, the stock has seen a return of 12,072.63% — harrumph!
EVs | Tesla’s Diner Ready for Business
Tesla’s much anticipated Diner & Drive-In — a 24/7 restaurant, theater and charging depot — is now just weeks away from opening. Over at our sister publication Ottomate, we took some exclusive photos of the now complete structure in Hollywood.
The Big Picture: Like all things Tesla, the restaurant has attracted a good deal of controversy, with the chefs attached to the project rotating in and out as association with Elon Musk grew more toxic. The diner — which a source on site said would open “in a few weeks” — fills a big gap in the EV maker’s Supercharger network, which notably lacks ports in dense Central LA. The OEM’s network growth slowed considerably after it fired much of the team responsible for it.
A Few Good Links
How Dave’s Hot Chicken grew from an LA parking lot to a billion dollar empire. HIVED raises $42M for all-electric logistics network. Uber expands GSA partnership, partners with Baidu on AVs. DoorDash donates to Texan flood relief efforts, launches Founders Socials events. 7-Eleven hopes more QSR combos will improve foot traffic. Can restaurants cash in on RTO mandates? Vallarta Supermarkets goes all-in on digital ads. Misfits Markets talks private label brands. Snack Wraps drive sales to McD’s. Amazon Prime Day draws grocery shoppers. Shopify unveils rules for agentic AI. XTEND raises $30M for drones and robots. Pappas Restaurants picks Tabit. Wildberries — the Amazon of Russia — launches food delivery service in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Qu adds features. Ciao bella Dave: Wendy’s launches in Italy and Armenia. OpenTable adds AI assistant. Aramark and ASU deepen partnership. Ionna building 3,000 EV chargers at Wawa. Yamaha partners with DHL. Deliveroo launches “milk fork” stunt that doesn’t translate across the pond, also something about soccer (sorry — football!) May Mobility bringing robotaxis to Atlanta and Arligton. Global cities add 1,200 miles of bike lanes. Truck orders fall 36%. Gopuff adds ice cream. Bolt launches Family Profiles. Growth in pharma and digital power gains for Albertsons.
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