Grubhub sees first-quarter sales boost from pandemic

Grubhub, an online and mobile food-ordering and delivery marketplace, has announced financial results for the first quarter that ended March 31, 2020. The company reported revenues of $363 million, which is a 12% year-over-year increase from $324 million in the same period last year. Gross food sales grew 8% year over year to $1.6 billion, up from $1.5 billion in the same period last year.

The company reported 23.9 million active diners, a 24% year-over-year increase from 19.3 million active diners in the first quarter of 2019. The number of daily average meals (“grubs”) was 516,300, a 1% decrease from the first quarter of 2019.

“COVID-19 has driven a significant uptick in new diners and orders from existing users as most restaurant dining rooms have been temporarily closed nationwide,” said Adam DeWitt, Grubhub president and CFO. “At current volume trends, we could be generating meaningful adjusted EBITDA in the second quarter. But … we believe the absolute best use of our cash is to support our restaurants, their employees, our drivers, and the entire takeout ecosystem through this crisis by generating as many orders as possible while funding extra safety measures for restaurants, drivers, and diners. We hope that these additional sales help make a difference to our partners in this time of crisis.”