Grubhub is waiving delivery and service fees on all restaurant orders over $50, effective February 2, 2026. The company calls it permanent. We'll see.
The timing matters. Grubhub's US market share has collapsed from 10% in 2023 to 4% today, while DoorDash commands roughly 50 million monthly active users against Grubhub's 8 million - down 20% year-over-year. Monthly active users don't lie.
The economics: Delivery and service fees average $13 on orders above $50 across the industry. Grubhub claims the waiver could save frequent users $675 annually. The company says 81% of carts are abandoned due to fees, though that figure sounds optimistic given the broader retention problem.
History suggests the challenge isn't just fees. Wonder Group acquired Grubhub for $650 million in early 2025 and already bundled free Grubhub+ (no delivery fees, reduced service fees) with Amazon Prime's 189.7 million members. That integration hasn't stopped the market share bleed. Users who committed to DashPass or Uber One aren't switching for free delivery alone - the habits are sticky.
Neither DoorDash nor Uber Eats offers permanent fee waivers on large orders. They run limited promotions or gate benefits behind subscriptions with restaurant restrictions. This is genuinely differentiated, which makes Grubhub's position more interesting: they're trading margin for volume in a market where scale determines restaurant selection, delivery speed, and dasher availability.
The real question is whether the $50 threshold captures enough orders to matter. Family orders and office lunches clear that bar easily. Solo diners don't. Grubhub expanded to 100,000+ restaurants reaching 90% of US consumers, but restaurant count means less when your delivery network is thinner than competitors'.
Worth noting: Grubhub launched this with a George Clooney Super Bowl ad and acquired restaurant rewards app Claim in February 2026. That's significant marketing spend for a company fighting for survival. Wonder Group is betting that permanent fee elimination - funded by absorption rather than passed to restaurants - changes behavior where promotional tactics failed.
The pattern is clear: this is Grubhub's third major retention play in two years. The previous two didn't reverse the slide. Scale advantages compound in delivery - better service attracts more users, which attracts more restaurants, which improves service. Breaking that cycle with price alone is difficult. We'll know in six months whether this move generates sustainable volume or just trains users to batch orders above $50.