Grubhub vs Uber Eats: What Restaurant Owners Need to Know

If you own an independent restaurant, chances are you've had a rep from Grubhub or Uber Eats walk through your door (or blow up your inbox) promising more orders and new customers. The pitch sounds great. But once you're on one of these platforms, the reality can feel very different from the sales presentation.

Choosing between Grubhub versus Uber Eats is one of the most common decisions independent restaurant owners face today. Both platforms promise visibility, convenience, and a flood of new customers. But the fees, the fine print, and the long-term impact on your business vary more than you might think.

In this article, we'll break down how Grubhub and Uber Eats actually compare on the things that matter most to you: cost, customer ownership, ease of use, marketing support, and overall impact on your bottom line. We'll also talk honestly about whether either platform is the best long-term strategy for your restaurant, or if there's a smarter way to handle online ordering.

How Grubhub and Uber Eats Actually Work

Before we get into the comparison, let's level-set on what these platforms really are. Grubhub and Uber Eats are third-party delivery marketplaces. Think of them as digital middlemen. A hungry customer opens the app, browses restaurants, and places an order. The platform processes the payment, takes a cut, and either arranges delivery or passes the order to you for pickup.

You don't own the customer relationship. The platform does. The customer's contact info, ordering history, and preferences all live inside the app, not in your POS system or your email list. That's a critical distinction we'll come back to.

The Marketplace Model

Both Grubhub and Uber Eats operate on what's called a marketplace model. They aggregate thousands of restaurants in one app, and customers choose based on ratings, price, cuisine type, delivery time, and promoted placement. Your restaurant is competing not just with similar spots nearby, but with every restaurant in your delivery zone, including big chains with massive marketing budgets.

Grubhub vs Uber Eats: Fees and Commission Structures

This is where most restaurant owners start paying attention, and rightfully so. The commission fees on these platforms can take a serious bite out of your margins.

Grubhub typically charges restaurants a commission ranging from 15% to 25% per order, depending on the plan and services you choose. If you want premium placement or marketing within the app, that percentage can climb even higher. There are also processing fees on top of the commission.

Uber Eats operates similarly, with commission rates generally falling between 15% and 30%. Uber Eats offers tiered plans. Their lower-commission plans may limit your visibility in the app, while higher-commission tiers give you better placement and access to their delivery drivers.

Let's put this in real terms. If a customer places a $40 order and you're paying a 25% commission, that's $10 going to the platform. On a dish that might have a 30% food cost ($12) and labor costs on top of that, you could easily lose money on that order. Multiply that across dozens of orders a day, and the math gets uncomfortable quickly.

Both platforms also charge delivery fees to customers, which can discourage ordering. And neither platform is particularly transparent about how fees are calculated until you're deep into the contract.

Customer Ownership and Data: Who Really Benefits?

Here's the part that doesn't get talked about enough. When a customer orders through Grubhub or Uber Eats, that customer belongs to the platform, not to you.

You typically don't get the customer's email address, phone number, or any meaningful data you can use to bring them back. You can't send them a "we miss you" email. You can't text them about a new seasonal menu. You can't add them to a loyalty program. Every time that customer wants to reorder, they go back to the app, where they might just as easily pick a competitor.

Grubhub has historically been slightly more willing to share limited customer data with restaurants, but the terms have shifted over the years and vary by agreement.

Uber Eats keeps customer data firmly within its ecosystem. You see order details, but building a direct relationship with that customer through the platform is nearly impossible.

For independent restaurants, this is a massive long-term cost that doesn't show up on any invoice. You're essentially renting customers instead of building a base of loyal regulars who order directly from you.

Marketing and Visibility: How Each Platform Promotes Your Restaurant

Both Grubhub and Uber Eats offer in-app marketing tools, but they work a lot like pay-to-play advertising. The more you spend, the more visible your restaurant becomes.

Grubhub offers promoted listings, loyalty programs within the app, and periodic deals that restaurants can opt into (often at their own expense). Grubhub has historically focused on the suburban and mid-market restaurant segment, and some owners report decent results in less saturated markets.

Uber Eats leverages the massive Uber user base, which gives it a larger potential audience in many metro areas. Uber Eats also offers promoted placements, special offer campaigns, and integration with Uber's broader app. In major cities, Uber Eats tends to have a larger customer base than Grubhub.

The challenge with both platforms is that you're paying for visibility among customers who are browsing dozens of options at once. Your restaurant becomes a commodity on a list, competing on price, photos, and star ratings rather than on the unique experience you've built. It's hard to stand out when you're one of 200 restaurants in a scroll-through feed.

Ease of Use and Operations

From a day-to-day operations standpoint, both platforms have their quirks.

Grubhub integrates with many popular POS systems and provides a restaurant tablet for managing orders. The interface is generally straightforward, though some owners report occasional issues with order accuracy and communication during busy periods.

Uber Eats also offers tablet-based order management and POS integrations. Uber Eats has invested heavily in its restaurant dashboard, which provides analytics on order volume, customer ratings, and popular menu items. Many restaurant owners find the Uber Eats interface slightly more modern and intuitive, though this is subjective.

Both platforms can create operational headaches during peak hours. Orders coming in from multiple apps simultaneously (especially if you're on both platforms plus your own ordering system) can overwhelm a small kitchen. Missed orders, incorrect items, and timing issues can lead to negative reviews on the platform, which directly hurt your visibility.

One practical tip: if you decide to use either platform, assign one team member to manage incoming third-party orders during busy shifts. This small change can significantly reduce errors and stress.

The Bigger Question: Should You Be on Either Platform?

This is where the conversation gets really interesting. Grubhub versus Uber Eats is a fair comparison, but the more important question for most independent restaurant owners is whether relying on third-party marketplaces is the right long-term strategy at all.

Here's the honest truth. These platforms can be useful for discovery. A new customer who's never heard of your restaurant might find you on Uber Eats and fall in love with your food. That has real value. But if every order from that customer continues to flow through the marketplace, you're paying a 20-30% tax on that relationship forever.

The restaurants that thrive long-term are the ones that use marketplaces strategically (if at all) while building their own direct ordering channels. When a customer orders directly from your website, you keep the full margin, you own the customer data, and you can market to them again and again at little or no cost.

Think of third-party platforms like a billboard on a highway. They can drive awareness, but you wouldn't want every customer to interact with your restaurant only through that billboard. You want them to know your address, save your number, and come back on their own.

Setting up your own online ordering system used to be expensive and complicated, but that's changed dramatically. Today, platforms like SWIPEBY make it possible for independent restaurants to offer commission-free online ordering that's just as smooth as what customers experience on Grubhub or Uber Eats, without the hefty fees and without giving up your customer relationships.

A Practical Strategy: Use Both Wisely

If you decide to use Grubhub, Uber Eats, or both, here's a smart approach that many successful independent restaurants follow.

Use the marketplace for discovery, but convert customers to direct ordering. Include a flyer or card in every third-party delivery bag that says something like: "Order directly from our website next time and get 10% off." Give customers a reason to skip the app and come to you directly.

Monitor your margins ruthlessly. Track which menu items are profitable on third-party platforms and which ones lose money after commission. Consider creating a slightly different (smaller or higher-priced) menu for marketplace orders to protect your margins.

Don't neglect your own channels. Invest in your website, your Google Business Profile, and your own online ordering system. Build an email list. Stay active on social media. These are assets you own, and they compound over time in a way that marketplace orders never will.

Negotiate your rates. Both Grubhub and Uber Eats are willing to negotiate, especially if you have strong order volume or if a competitor is offering better terms. Don't accept the first rate you're quoted.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which has lower fees, Grubhub or Uber Eats?

It depends on the plan, but both generally charge between 15% and 30% commission. Grubhub's standard rates tend to start slightly lower in some markets, but Uber Eats occasionally offers promotional rates for new restaurants. Always compare the specific offers you receive, and factor in processing fees and any marketing charges.

Can I be on both Grubhub and Uber Eats at the same time?

Yes, and many restaurants are. There's no exclusivity requirement from either platform. Just be aware that managing orders from multiple platforms simultaneously can strain your kitchen operations, so plan accordingly.

Do Grubhub and Uber Eats share customer data with restaurants?

In very limited ways. You'll see order details and general information, but you typically won't get direct access to customer email addresses or phone numbers for your own marketing purposes. This is one of the biggest downsides of relying on third-party platforms.

Is Uber Eats bigger than Grubhub?

In terms of overall market share and user base, Uber Eats has grown significantly and generally has a larger presence, particularly in major metro areas. Grubhub still has strong footholds in certain regions, especially in the Northeast. The best platform for your restaurant depends on which one is more popular in your specific market.

Can I raise my prices on Grubhub or Uber Eats to cover fees?

Many restaurants do increase menu prices on third-party platforms by 10-20% to offset commission costs. Both platforms allow this, and it's a common and accepted practice. Just be aware that significantly higher prices may reduce your order volume.

The Bottom Line

The Grubhub versus Uber Eats debate matters, but it's really just one piece of a much larger puzzle. Both platforms can put your restaurant in front of new customers, but both come with significant costs, margin pressure, and the fundamental problem of not owning your customer relationships.

The smartest move for most independent restaurant owners is to build a strong direct ordering channel first, and then use third-party marketplaces selectively as a discovery tool rather than as your primary ordering system. When you own the customer relationship, you can bring people back through email marketing, loyalty offers, and a great experience, without paying a commission every single time.

If you're looking for a simpler way to manage online ordering, marketing, and customer relationships without juggling five different tools, SWIPEBY was built specifically for restaurants like yours. It might be worth exploring as you figure out the right mix of platforms for your business.

Whatever you decide, make sure the math works in your favor. Your food is too good to give away 25% of every sale.