Mad Money

Billions of dollars have been 'wasted' by VCs and rivals trying to compete with GrubHub, CEO says

Key Points
  • "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer spoke to Matt Maloney, the CEO of GrubHub, about the surging popularity of mobile food ordering and delivery.
  • Maloney said that venture capital firms backing GrubHub's competitors have "wasted" billions of dollars to no avail.
Billions 'wasted' trying to compete with GrubHub, says CEO
VIDEO0:5800:58
Billions 'wasted' trying to compete with GrubHub, says CEO

Competitors trying to take a bite out of GrubHub's market share haven't been having much luck, GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney told CNBC on Thursday.

Maloney said that competitors like Postmates and Uber Eats, along with their venture-capital backers, have "wasted" billions of dollars on promotions in fruitless attempts to steal diners from GrubHub, currently the largest online food delivery platform in the United States.

"They've thrown it away, and then they pull back from the markets because you know what? It's not about the promos," Maloney told "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer. "People want to connect with their restaurants. It's about the service. And the only thing we do is we connect diners to their restaurants."

With shares up 57 percent for the year after a strong quarterly earnings report, GrubHub has been expanding its footprint, now boasting over 75,000 restaurant partners and 9.8 million users across 1,300 cities.

Maloney told Cramer he was most excited about GrubHub's partnership with online review platform Yelp and its Eat24 food-delivery subsidiary.

"We have the deepest and the broadest network possible, and now with the Yelp partnership, they have over 100 million … people every month looking. And ... 70 percent of them are looking for restaurants," Maloney said. "People want to order. And so that's where we bring our orders in and that's where you're going to see increased conversion, increased performance on Yelp."

The CEO cited a statistic that in the United States, people collectively spend some $200 billion on take-out and delivery alone.

"We're on track to do around $4 billion. So, $200 billion, $4 billion," Maloney said, drawing a comparison. "We could 10x this company and it still wouldn't even barely touch [that]."

And with the volume of delivery orders steadily rising, Maloney told Cramer he sees plenty of opportunity going forward.

"We're by far the largest in the space," the CEO said. "So there's so much room. So much room to grow."

Watch Matt Maloney's full interview here:

Billions of dollars have been 'wasted' by VCs and rivals trying to compete with GrubHub, CEO says
VIDEO7:2407:24
Billions of dollars have been 'wasted' by VCs and rivals trying to compete with GrubHub, CEO says

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