A recent earnings report from Just Eat Takeaway, the parent company of Grubhub, has shown a decline in order volume across the business. This trend was particularly pronounced in North America, where there was a 12% drop in orders specifically. Despite this decline, Grubhub’s campus ordering offering saw an increase of 28% year over year. This segment now accounts for 18.18% of orders in the North America segment and is expected to continue its growth in the future.
This decline in orders follows a similar trend from the previous quarter, where order volumes dropped 13% year over year to 67 million and Gross Transaction Value (GTV) was down 15%. Management revealed during an earnings call that they are actively exploring the potential sale of Grubhub. However, despite this overall decline, there were still bright spots for certain segments of the business.
The growth in the campus ordering segment comes at a time when consumers are experiencing higher prices at restaurants. Recent government data shows that food consumed away from home, such as restaurant meals, is now 4.2% more expensive than a year ago. Despite this increase in prices, research has shown that a majority of consumers still spend on restaurants and bars across different income and demographic levels. However, there is some evidence of financial pressure in this area as many consumers may be cutting back on eating out due to inflation concerns or other economic factors.
In addition to Grubhub’s declining order volume in North America, Just Eat also announced that it will be ending its operations in New Zealand due to being a small market where they were not one of the leading players. On the other hand, Australia is a different situation as Just Eat is one of the larger players in that country and will continue its operations there. The decision to exit New Zealand was difficult but necessary for the business according to management during an earnings call.
Overall, while Grubhub’s order volume has declined across all segments, there are still opportunities for growth within certain segments such as campus ordering offerings which have seen an increase year over year. Additionally, while consumers may be cutting back on eating out due to inflation concerns or other economic factors
