College students aside, fewer Americans are ordering food from Grubhub.
The food delivery platform’s parent company, Dutch Just Eat Takeaway, reported in its earnings report on Wednesday (April 17) that order volumes across the business were down 6%, with orders in North America expected to reach 74.1 million in 2023. It showed a 12% decrease from 63.9 million to 63.9 million. This year it’s 1 million.
Gross transaction value (GTV) decreased by 11% in North America, but increased by 11% in the UK and Ireland. Grubhub’s business decline follows a similar decline in the previous quarter, with order volume down 13% year over year to 67 million and GTV down 15%.
Management said Wednesday that it is still considering a sale of Grubhub.
During the earnings call, CEO Jitse Groen highlighted one of the bright spots in the company’s North American business: Grubhub’s campus ordering service, which saw orders increase 28% year over year.
“This business currently accounts for 18.18% of North America segment orders in the first quarter of 2024, and we expect Campus to continue to be a fast-growing part of our business,” Groen said. “As a result, we expect it to become a more important part of the North American segment over time.”
The growth in this sector of business comes at a time when consumers are facing higher prices at restaurants, and recent government data shows that food consumed outside the home (which the Fed calls restaurant meals) are now 4.2% more expensive than they were a year ago. .
And while the majority of consumers across income and demographic levels still spend their money on restaurants and bars, according to research from PYMNTS Intelligence, there is some evidence of pressure here.
Meanwhile, Just Eat has announced that it will end its operations in New Zealand. During a question-and-answer session on the conference call, management was asked why they chose to close in New Zealand rather than neighboring Australia.
Mr Groen described the country as “a small market where we were not one of the leading players”, but noted that the closure was “of course a difficult decision for our local staff”.
“Australia is a little different,” he added. “In fact, we are quite large in Australia and one of the largest companies in the country.”
