Grubhub started because Matt Maloney was tired of hunting for paper takeout menus. It put restaurant menus online. Diners searched nearby restaurants, then ordered and paid on the web or an app, and at first the restaurant handled delivery. Grubhub earned a commission on each order. When it filed to go public in 2014, it had just merged with Seamless, its New York rival. It was the leading online food ordering service in the United States.

Chicago Meets Seamless

Matt Maloney and Mike Evans started Grubhub in Chicago in 2004. Their bet was that an online directory of menus with easy ordering would become the default way to get takeout. Grubhub would route hungry people to restaurants and take a commission, while the restaurants did the cooking and delivery. In 2013 it merged with Seamless, which joined the strongest positions in New York and Chicago. The company kept its headquarters in Chicago.

DoorDash Brings Couriers

Grubhub priced at $26 a share in April 2014 and rose on its first day. Then rivals such as DoorDash and Uber Eats raced in with their own couriers, and Grubhub lost share. In 2021 Just Eat Takeaway bought the company for about $7.3 billion. Three years later it sold Grubhub to Wonder at a far lower value. Wonder kept the Grubhub name.

Cover: For Sunday's Dinner, William Michael Harnett. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a still life of dinner.