Amazon will give its U.S. Prime members free access to meal delivery service Grubhub for a year under a deal announced Wednesday.
The Grubhub Plus membership — which normally costs $9.99 per month — lets customers order from thousands of restaurants with no delivery fees on most orders. Amazon Prime membership costs $139 per year.
Prime members must sign up for the Grubhub service. After one year, they will be charged Grubhub’s normal fees unless they deactivate the program.
The deal is part of a partnership between Amazon and Just Eat Takeaway, the Amsterdam-based delivery company that bought Grubhub in 2020 for $7.3 billion. Amazon has an initial option to take a 2% stake in Grubhub, which could climb to 15% if certain performance conditions are met.
The deal could give Grubhub a much-needed boost. The Chicago-based company was the U.S. market share leader as recently as January 2019, when it controlled 31% of food delivery sales, according to market research firm YipitData. But rivals DoorDash and Uber Eats chipped away at that lead by offering discounted service and rapidly expanding into suburbs. As of May, Grubhub controlled 11% of sales, while DoorDash held 57% and Uber Eats had 31%.
Grubhub was hurt by fee caps that dozens of cities put in place to help restaurants during the pandemic. It is also facing lawsuits in Chicago and Massachusetts, where officials have accused the company of deceptive practices, including advertising delivery services for restaurants without their consent.
Grubhub has denied the charges. But they have been a headache for