GrubHub Will Start Delivering Food Directly To Customers

GrubHub, the Chicago-based digital platform that allowed customers to place orders online, has acquired two restaurant delivery services, Dining In and Restaurants on the Run, in a deal worth $80 million, reports Crain's Chicago.

The acquisition will allow GrubHub to begin delivering food directly, whereas it had previously only connected restaurants with customers that wanted food delivered.

GrubHub currently enables customers to place orders at approximately 30,000 restaurants, and will soon be able to offer direct delivery for some 3,000 restaurants. The delivery service was tested in select markets including Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco for the last six months, according to Crain's.

The new development is aimed to help reduce delivery costs for restaurants and consumers, and Crain's speculates that GrubHub may be positioning itself to contend with other prominent delivery services like Amazon.

"For years we've had restaurants ask if we could take over delivery," GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney told Crain's. We'll be relieving a significant burden from them."