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Bought for $7B in '21 and sold at a 90% loss now? Wtf happened? How could a food delivery service do so poorly during COVID years? I hadn't heard of troubles at

Bought for $7B in '21 and sold at a 90% loss now? Wtf happened? How could a food delivery service do so poorly during COVID years? I hadn't heard of troubles at GrubHub before and I now plenty of folks who use it

anotherhue 2y ago
This is British empire levels of value destruction.
ruddct 2y ago
* Take a low margin, fragmented industry littered with failed businesses * Then take some cheap but kind of profitable behavior in that industry (take local delivery over phone, send your lowest paid kitchen staffer to run it) * Then layer on some of the most expensive labor on the planet (devs, PMs, tech company workers) to build a replacement for that behavior * Then treat your lowest paid workers poorly, attracting regulatory scrutiny
xnx 2y ago
> Wtf happened? Equally valid to ask why it was so overvalued 3 years ago.
- jhatax 2y ago
  Could ask the same question about $PTON. As another commentator said, “British empire levels of value destruction”.
SoftTalker 2y ago
Food delivery is for people with disposable income or who just don't think about where they are spending money. Disposable income has been in short supply for a lot of people lately. I have never once ordered from GrubHub, Doordash, or UberEats. Even during COVID. I don't understand paying a premium to receive cold, soggy food an hour or two later. In that time I can prepare an actually good meal with better ingredients, eat it while it's still hot, and clean up. For probably half the cost.
- anthonypasq 2y ago
  food delivery is for lazy people. youve managed to completely and totally misdiagnose every aspect of this situation in 5 sentences. quite impressive really
  - bruce511 2y ago
    The laziness is balanced by disposable income. When cash is not a constraint then laziness wins. Lots of (techies) are out of work. Those (non techies) who still have jobs are pinching pennies. Food delivery is such an easy cost to cut. Cooking in is an option, collecting yourself is z option, picking up on the way home is an option. So, personally, I'm not surprised demand is dropping. And I think a tightening economy is part of it.
- kube-system 2y ago
  You might not care for it, but prepared food delivery was successful decades before anyone imagined it being ordered on a smartphone.
  - bruce511 2y ago
    Food delivery won't go away, but is it really a multi-billion business? It's been around since before smart phones, but its always been pretty low volume and very low margin. It is the easiest discretionary spending to cut during a tighter economy.
    - kube-system 2y ago
      > but is it really a multi-billion business? Yes. And if you include online grocery deliver, it's a trillion dollar market. Food in general is low margin, but everyone eats.
- nojito 2y ago
  >Disposable income has been in short supply for a lot of people lately Not really true. Consumer spending and disposable income is up.

anotherhue 2y ago

This is British empire levels of value destruction.

ruddct 2y ago

* Take a low margin, fragmented industry littered with failed businesses * Then take some cheap but kind of profitable behavior in that industry (take local delivery over phone, send your lowest paid kitchen staffer to run it) * Then layer on some of the most expensive labor on the planet (devs, PMs, tech company workers) to build a replacement for that behavior * Then treat your lowest paid workers poorly, attracting regulatory scrutiny

xnx 2y ago

> Wtf happened? Equally valid to ask why it was so overvalued 3 years ago.

jhatax 2y ago
Could ask the same question about $PTON. As another commentator said, “British empire levels of value destruction”.

SoftTalker 2y ago

Food delivery is for people with disposable income or who just don't think about where they are spending money. Disposable income has been in short supply for a lot of people lately. I have never once ordered from GrubHub, Doordash, or UberEats. Even during COVID. I don't understand paying a premium to receive cold, soggy food an hour or two later. In that time I can prepare an actually good meal with better ingredients, eat it while it's still hot, and clean up. For probably half the cost.

anthonypasq 2y ago
food delivery is for lazy people. youve managed to completely and totally misdiagnose every aspect of this situation in 5 sentences. quite impressive really
- bruce511 2y ago
  The laziness is balanced by disposable income. When cash is not a constraint then laziness wins. Lots of (techies) are out of work. Those (non techies) who still have jobs are pinching pennies. Food delivery is such an easy cost to cut. Cooking in is an option, collecting yourself is z option, picking up on the way home is an option. So, personally, I'm not surprised demand is dropping. And I think a tightening economy is part of it.
kube-system 2y ago
You might not care for it, but prepared food delivery was successful decades before anyone imagined it being ordered on a smartphone.
- bruce511 2y ago
  Food delivery won't go away, but is it really a multi-billion business? It's been around since before smart phones, but its always been pretty low volume and very low margin. It is the easiest discretionary spending to cut during a tighter economy.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    > but is it really a multi-billion business? Yes. And if you include online grocery deliver, it's a trillion dollar market. Food in general is low margin, but everyone eats.
nojito 2y ago
>Disposable income has been in short supply for a lot of people lately Not really true. Consumer spending and disposable income is up.