Grubhub Is Now Letting Restaurants to Opt Out of Marketing Fees

A small victory for an already struggling industry.

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Shutterstock

It's been a turbulent nine months for the restaurant industry. And while takeout and delivery have remained a valid source of income amid nationwide shutdowns, delivery services continue to charge already-struggling businesses significant commission rates. Grubhub is now easing up—albeit just a bit—on some of those fees.

On Wednesday, the food delivery platform announced a new set of features that eliminates a mandatory marketing spend. In short, it just got a little cheaper for restaurants to be on Grubhub. The app will now feature direct-order links via email and social media, as well as a customized site button and QR codes for mailers. Though businesses will still be required to fork up the cash for processing fees—as well as a delivery charge for those with Grubhub drivers—they'll have one less expense to worry about.

"As restaurants face uncertain and challenging times this winter, Grubhub is introducing a new package of marketing commission-free solutions to make it easier for restaurants to do online ordering through their own digital channels or on-premise properties," Grubhub wrote in the announcement

According to the company's chief revenue officer, Seth Priebatsch, the company is looking to make things easier on restaurants to ultimately keep them around on a long-term basis. Simply put: without restaurants, Grubhub can't survive either.

"This is one of the ways where we know we can help them monetize better traffic that they’re already getting, that’s already visiting their website or on their email list, and we want to be their partner in turning that traffic into orders," Priebatsch told CNBC.

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Megan Schaltegger is a staff writer at Thrillist.