Dive Brief:

• McDonald's USA and Grubhub/Seamless have partnered to expand McDelivery to 500 restaurants in the New York City area, according to a press release.
• The partnership will include point-of-sale integration and access to Grubhub's "Just in Time" technology that allows restaurant operators to better time order fulfillment with driver pickup.
• McDonald’s has offered delivery in the U.S. since 2017 via Uber Eats.

Dive Insight:

Exclusive relationships with third-party operators appear to be a thing of the past. Operators are partnering with more than one delivery provider to gain access to additional customers. McDonald's also entered into a relationship with DoorDash a few months ago and said it plans to expand it nationwide. With both Uber Eats and DoorDash, it will have third-party delivery at more than 10,000 locations. Access to Grubhub's marketplace will only increase the availability of McDelivery.

Much of the need to expand its delivery partnerships came from franchise operators who felt pinched by high delivery costs associated with the chain’s exclusive Uber Eats partnership. Having more partnerships allows operators to pick and choose which delivery provider they want or even start offering delivery in markets where Uber Eats was unavailable. Grubhub also offers a service that better times order fulfillment with how far away a driver is, allowing for more orders to be delivered hot and fresh, giving the provider a competitive advantage. The service is also being tested by Dunkin' and Shake Shack. 

Even restaurants that offer self-delivery have entered into the third-party space. Panera now has delivery for lunch and dinner through third-party platforms. While it plans to still use its own drivers, customers can order on DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats marketplaces. Pizza Hut also has a similar model in place with its Grubhub relationship. Others like Dine Brands, Habit Burger and Restaurant Brands International have been actively working on expanding delivery to multiple providers.

Exclusive partnerships are still happening. Chili's will only offer delivery via DoorDash as does MOD Pizza. Shake Shack has worked with multiple providers, but is moving toward a partnership with Grubhub and will stop marketing its other partnerships. While exclusivity allows for better integration of orders and less need for tech, it also limits access to customers, especially since customers tend to be platform loyal. With the mobile app delivery segment expected to grow 27.9% to $16.6 billion globally by 2023, restaurants will do what they can to get in on this growth segment.