Grubhub Review – Can You Make Money Delivering Food?

Grubhub is a food delivery service app/company that was launched back in 2004, making it one of the oldest companies in the industry. The company merged with another food delivery app called Seamless back in 2013, giving them access to all 50 states. 

Today, Grubhub is accommodating drivers from over 4000 US Cities. Grubhub is also partnered with local restaurants and major food chains, claiming to be the “largest and most-comprehensive” network of restaurant and food partners. 

This makes them a favorite amongst their customers and that’s a good thing for drivers. 

In the next section, we’ll talk about driving for Grubhub.

To drive for Grubhub, you need to meet the following requirements:

1. At least 19 years old (21 years old if you’re from Chicago and Las Vegas)

2. Have their own car (or bike in select states or market)

3. Valid driver’s license with car insurance for car drivers

4. Valid driver’s license or state I.D. for bike riders

5. Smartphone with Android 5.0 or higher, or iOS 11 or higher

6. Checking account for direct deposit

Once you meet these requirements, you can apply to deliver for Grubhub on their website. The application process takes about 3 to 5 days. 

Once you’ve applied, you’ll be asked to authorize a background check through the app. They use a third-party company called Chekr to do this. The background check covers your driving record, and criminal record if any, for the past 7 years.

You’ll pass the background check if you don’t have felonies and major driving violations. You can also be disqualified if you have too many small driving violations on you.

Once you pass the background check, you’ll need to fill out some driver paperwork and setup your direct deposit information with Grubhub so you can get paid. There’s also an onboarding process that you need to complete. This can be done online and takes about a few minutes. The onboarding process covers how to use the app, how to schedule a time to drive, and how to make deliveries. 

You’ll receive an insulated bag from Grubhub to help keep food hot or cold while you’re doing deliveries.You also get your Driver Card, which is used to pay for orders which haven’t been paid in advance. 

How Does Grubhub Work for Drivers?

There are four steps that you need to complete to deliver for Grubhub.

#1 Schedule your time slot

You just can’t drive on your own whim with Grubhub. You have to schedule your block of time with the app before they allow you to drive and accept orders. The idea behind here is that you schedule hours to make sure there’s a high volume of orders to make it worthwhile for you. 

These time blocks are on a first-come, first-served basis. This is also based on your program level, which we will talk about below. 

Here’s a snippet of the block scheduling that Grubhub has for you:

#2 Accept Orders

Once your time block has been set, you’ll also need to drive to a predefined delivery area before you can start to accept orders. You’ll see the boundaries for these delivery areas under the View Region Boundaries section of the app. 

Once you’re in the right place, you can switch your status on the app to “Taking Offers”. This will allow you to be pinged when an order comes in. You’ll have 90 seconds to accept or decline the offer. This order is offered to another driver if you don’t accept it. The 90-second window also gives you a chance to see the customer, restaurant location, and the amount of money you can earn before you can accept it. 

#3 Paying For Orders

Most of the orders are paid for by the customers through the app. You just drive to the restaurant, pick it up, and then go. However, Place and Pay orders are for restaurants who are not partnered with Grubhub for payment or ordering. This is where the Grubhub Driver Card comes in. This is a prepaid card that has money on it once the customer places an order in the Grubhub app. 

You’ll use this card to pay for the order and you might have to place the order yourself. The Grubhub pay formula accounts for the extra time you spend on the latter. 

Paying for the order using your personal credit or debit card is not advisable since Grubhub will not reimburse you for it. 

#4 Delivering the Orders

Grubhub gives you directions to your customers’ houses and you’ll need to click on “Arrive” once you’re there. You’ll also need to check the app for specific delivery instructions. This is important because Grubhub now offers contactless delivery (similar to FoodPanda, UberEats, and Grab Food). 

Customers are also very particular about you following their instructions, if any, so that’s also one thing to consider. Otherwise, they give you a negative review. 

How Much Can You Make From Grubhub?

Grubhub drivers claim to make an average of $15 to $20 per hour, including tips. Note that drivers aren’t paid by the hour but rather paid per order. This means that your earnings will vary from time to time. 

Dinner rush and holidays will be busy and will have higher order volumes compared to regular days. You’ll have less downtime in between waiting for orders. Downtime usually affects your overall hourly pay. The shorter your downtime, the more money you’ll make. This is pretty much standard across all delivery apps. 

Grubhub also made changes to how they pay drivers per order because drivers complained that the previous formula didn’t account for the time it took to fulfill orders and didn’t accurately compute for mileage. Now the new formula is based on mileage (from pick up to drop off), time waiting, and tip. Here’s the new formula now compared to the old one. 

In some markets, Grubhub offers hourly minimum pay which guarantees that you’ll earn something no matter how many orders you take. 

How Does Grubhub Pay Drivers?

Grubhub pays out via direct deposit every Thursday. This takes up to 3 to 5 business days for banks to process these payments. Grubhub driver reviews say that their payments are reflected around Tuesday the following week.

You can also opt for the instant cash out option if you don’t want to wait 5 days to get payment. However, there is a $0.50 fee for the transaction. But this fee is waived for drivers who set up a direct deposit using a Chase bank account. 

What Is The Grubhub Recognition Program?

The Grubhub Recognition Program ranks drivers from Partner to Pro. Each rank has their own corresponding perks. 

By default, drivers start out as Partners then move up to Premier. Pro is the highest rank and offers the biggest perks. 

Both Premier and Pro allow you priority access for scheduling hours and accommodate catering orders. Catering orders also pay out better. 

Here are the requirements for their Recognition Program. 

Some things to note: 

• Attendance rate is the percent of scheduled blocks you attend. 

• Acceptance rate is your percent of orders you accept.

• Block drop rate is the number of time blocks you schedule but drop. 

Grubhub bases those stats in the past 30 days, but these stats are updated weekly. New Grubhub drivers will see their ratings once they’ve finished their 20th delivery.

Grubhub is meant for people who have their own cards or bikes. These are meant for people who want to have a side hustle or want to earn money on their downtime.

It’s also worth noting that Grubhub can only accommodate residents from the USA and those with a driver’s license.

#1 Their Customers Don’t Like Them!

You’d expect something as old as Grubhub to be popular with the users, but it’s in fact the complete opposite. 

Their Trustpilot profile has an average of 1.8 stars out of 5 stars from their users because of a lot of things. Most common complaints were wrong orders placed, not following delivery instructions, and even tardiness. 

With this kind of feedback, it’d be difficult for Grubhub drivers to secure orders in their area especially if Grubhub has negative feedback about them. 

#2 Lots of Driving

Grubhub does have you driving a lot, so you’re going to be out on the road doing deliveries for a couple of hours. This puts additional and unnecessary strain on your vehicle and may put you in for some maintenance ahead of time. 

The money you make from Grubhub will also be used towards repairs and others. You also spend money on fuel, which comes out of your own pockets too.

Grubhub is definitely not a scam. They’re legitimate and provide a decent income opportunity as far as we’re concerned.

Our main issue here is that their company has negative feedback from their users, so this might affect the app’s reputation within a particular state. If you live in an area where Grubhub has a bad rep, then you’re going to have a hard time securing orders. 

On the other hand, if your area has Grubhub as one of the few options for food delivery, then you might just make some money. However, it’s not going to be a full-time income based on what I saw from their computation and their reputation. 

But if you want to check it out and apply to become a driver, then feel free to do so.