Grubhub enters 2025 as a steady presence in a volatile industry. While it hasn’t matched some competitors’ headline growth or diversification, it closed 2024 with a stable market share, an increasingly base-heavy pay structure, and a clear commitment to food delivery as its core.
However, trip-level data tells a deeper story that reveals how those strategic choices shaped driver engagement, earnings patterns, and consumer behavior across food, grocery, and retail segments.
This analysis is based on Gridwise Analytics ‘ anonymized trip and earnings data. Unlike company reports focusing on order volume, user growth, or high-level financials, Gridwise Analytics data tracks how changes land on the road: how much drivers are earning, how long they’re working, and how shifts in platform policy impact both sides of the marketplace.
It’s a ground-level look at Grubhub’s operational model and its choices for investors, gig economy partners, and the future of delivery logistics.
Here's what we cover:
Holding Steady in a Race for Scale
Grubhub’s market share stayed at approximately 3% throughout 2024, according to Gridwise Analytics’ delivery trip data. While that figure trails behind DoorDash at 67% and Uber Eats at 30%, it also highlights Grubhub’s consistent presence in a highly competitive market.
Grubhub continues to serve a meaningful volume of food delivery orders, particularly in core metro markets. For partners and investors, this sustained foothold points to a platform that remains operationally focused and strategically stable.
A Category Specialist in a World of Generalists
Between 2023 and 2024, Grubhub’s delivery mix remained 96–97% food. Grocery and retail deliveries accounted for a small portion of the total volume.
While DoorDash and Uber Eats expanded their delivery mix to include grocery and retail, Grubhub’s streamlined focus offers operational clarity and category leadership in food. This specialization may allow for more refined logistics and consistent merchant support.
How Grubhub Drivers Are Hitting Higher Weekly Totals
In 2024, Grubhub drivers earned an average of $175 per week, up 6.6% year-over-year, a more substantial earnings increase than Uber Eats, Instacart, or DoorDash.
However, this figure is more notable in how Grubhub drivers achieved this. Grubhub drivers worked more hours on average, logging 12.4 hours per week, a 13% increase from 2023, the highest year-over-year jump in work hours across all major food delivery platforms. This is despite small per-mile and hourly earnings declines.
The data tells a clear story: Grubhub’s gross earnings growth is volume-driven, not incentive-driven. Rather than relying on higher tips or bonuses, drivers are putting in more hours and likely accepting more trips to increase weekly totals. The platform’s growing emphasis on base pay suggests that Grubhub is building toward a more reliable, steady-income delivery model.
For partners and investors, that has implications: a supply base that leans into platform consistency may also offer greater predictability in availability, shift planning, and fulfillment, even if peak-time efficiency is slightly lower than on bonus-heavy platforms.
How Grubhub’s Pay Model Stacks Up Across Delivery Types
Grubhub has increasingly leaned into a pay model emphasizing stability through base pay, particularly in segments like grocery and retail, where competition intensifies and earnings structures vary significantly. Gridwise Analytics data reveals how Grubhub’s compensation mix evolved in 2024 and how it compares to other platforms.
Retail Delivery: Industry-Leading Base Pay, Leaner Incentives
Grubhub led all major platforms in base pay for retail deliveries in 2024, with 73% of driver earnings coming from base rates, up from 66% the year before. That’s a full seven percentage point gain year-over-year, well ahead of peers like Uber Eats (65%) and Instacart (47%).
However, that increase came with tradeoffs. Tips made up just 25% of retail delivery earnings, one of the lowest among primary services.
Bonuses dropped from 7% in 2023 to 2% in 2024, reflecting a reduced emphasis on variable incentives.
This signals a clear strategic shift: Grubhub is actively reshaping its retail delivery model to prioritize consistent, guaranteed income over short-term earnings boosts. This could appeal to drivers seeking steadier paydays and partners looking for a more predictable supply base in a segment that often fluctuates with seasonal and promotional demand.
Grocery Delivery:
Grubhub also made significant changes in its grocery delivery earnings structure. In 2024, 59% of driver pay in grocery came from base rates, up from 46% in 2023, a 13-point increase year-over-year.
Spark still leads the category with 68% base pay share compared to peers. DoorDash comes in at 54%, and Uber Eats trails at 57%
At the same time, Tips on Grubhub dropped from 43% to 35%, and bonuses reduced from 11% to 6%
Grubhub’s approach to grocery shopping mirrors its retail strategy, emphasizing stable, fixed earnings while gradually reducing reliance on bonuses and rider tips. Grubhub aims to create a more predictable earnings experience for drivers by shifting a larger portion of compensation to base pay.
Food Delivery:
Grubhub’s food delivery segment, still the core of its business, saw less dramatic change in 2024. Base pay edged up slightly, from 43% to 45%. Tips remained strong at 51%, showing continued customer engagement. Bonuses declined from 6% to 4%.
This stability positions Grubhub closely alongside DoorDash (44% base) and Uber Eats (45% base), but still behind Spark, which leads the segment at 63% base pay.
Grubhub’s food model remains competitive and balanced, holding steady in both earnings mix and driver engagement. This steady structure suggests that Grubhub is reinforcing, rather than reinventing, its core category. It prioritizes operational continuity and driver trust in the segment that maintains the most significant brand recognition and order volume.
Toward Predictability, With Tradeoffs
Across all three segments, Grubhub is evolving toward predictable, base-heavy pay. Retail and grocery saw the most significant shifts, with double-digit gains in fixed earnings. At the same time, bonuses and tips shrank, which may reduce peak-time incentives for some drivers, especially those who value short-term spikes in pay.
This move signals a more sustainable and controlled earnings model for investors, partners, and operators. It’s a strategic choice to stabilize workforce engagement, but one that may require future refinements to ensure it remains competitive in attracting flexible supply.
Drivers on the Move
Grubhub had the highest multi-apping rate among major platforms, according to Gridwise Analytics shift data. Over 70% of its drivers used another app within the same month.
Multi-apping is a common practice across the gig economy and reflects driver flexibility. This trend may suggest that many Grubhub drivers engage with multiple platforms to optimize their earning potential.
The Value Equation: How Price and Perks Shape Loyalty
What keeps a food delivery customer coming back and what sends them elsewhere? New survey data reveals the factors that shape loyalty, the tipping points that lead to churn, and how tightly price influences behavior.
What Drives Food Delivery App Loyalty?
The Gridwise Analytics 2025 Consumer Survey shows that lower delivery fees are the top reason users stay loyal to a food delivery app, followed closely by access to promotions and rewards. Speed also plays a role, with nearly half of the respondents citing faster delivery times as a key factor, along with restaurant variety. In contrast, elements like app design or usability had a much smaller influence on retention.
Why Food Delivery Consumers Switch Platforms
When users leave one app for another, price remains the most significant reason. More than half of the surveyed consumers said they switched platforms in 2024 due to better fees or pricing. Restaurant selection was the second most common reason, followed by loyalty programs. Fewer than one in five users switched based on the app experience, suggesting cost and convenience outweigh branding or UX.
Price Sensitivity Remains a Limiting Factor Among Food Delivery Consumers
While delivery is a routine convenience for many, rising fees still pose a significant risk to usage. According to the survey, 88.1% of consumers said they would cook at home more often if delivery became more expensive or slower. Half said they would switch to pickup to save money, while only 30.4% would continue using delivery services based on convenience alone.
These responses highlight a narrow margin for pricing flexibility and suggest that even modest cost increases could reduce order volume across platforms.
What this means for Grubhub: Consumer Expectations Are Evolving
Looking at the survey results, one thing becomes clear: today’s delivery users are highly value-driven. They choose platforms based on price, rewards, speed, and restaurant access, and they’ll readily switch or churn if those expectations aren’t met.
Looking Ahead: A Stable Platform in a Rapidly Shifting Market
Grubhub’s 2024 strategy emphasized consistency: a focused service offering, a predictable base-pay model, and operational steadiness in a volatile industry. Rather than chase aggressive diversification, the platform leaned into structure, particularly in compensating food, grocery, and retail drivers.
At the same time, industry pressures are growing. Consumers remain highly price-sensitive, drivers continue to multi-app to maximize earnings, and merchants seek more flexibility and transparency. In this context, Grubhub’s approach stands out not for rapid growth but for maintaining its position through measured decisions.
Gridwise’s trip-level data brings these trends into focus. It offers a ground-level view of how strategy shows up in earnings, hours, and user behavior, and where Grubhub may need to adapt as the market moves forward.
