Grubhub, Seamless app updates add Apple Pay checkout option

AppleInsider

Apple Pay gained the support of two major on-demand food delivery services on Friday, as Grubhub included Apple's payments service as a checkout option in updates to its Grubhub and Seamless iOS apps.

With Apple Pay integration, customers ordering food through the new Grubhub and Seamless apps have access to a streamlined checkout procedure that could shave minutes off the ordering process, reports TechCrunch. As with any e-commerce service, low friction payments equal higher conversion rates.

"We're always looking for ways to make it easier for our diners to find and order the type of food they want, when they want it, from their favorite local restaurants," said Sudev Balakrishnan, SVP of Product for Grubhub. "We're thrilled to bring the ease of use of Apple Pay to our diners. It offers another quick and convenient way for them to pay for their meals, whether they're at home or on the go."

Grubhub's support is viewed as a big win for Apple's payments service, which has seen lukewarm interest from online retailers since launching in 2014.
Following a 2013 merger with competitor Seamless, Grubhub boosted sales to $2.4 billion last year, 60 percent of which came through mobile orders.

Routinely overshadowed by its NFC touchless capabilities, Apple Pay's in-app functions are equally important to the product's success. Like industry stalwart PayPal, Apple Pay not only handles transactions, but saves users time by supplying pertinent information like shipping addresses and phone numbers to retailers. Built on tokenized transactions protected by Touch ID authentication, the service is also highly secure.

While Apple's network of supporting banks and credit card companies continues to grow internationally, retail adoption has been comparatively slow. According to Apple's website, Apple Pay is currently accepted at just over 90 major chains in the U.S. Apple has not released figures on its nascent payments service, but a report this week estimates Apple Pay handled some $10.9 billion in transactions last year, most of which originated in the U.S. domestic market.

As can be expected, the company is working to build out international support for Apple Pay, with a current focus on Asia and Europe.

The latest Grubhub and Seamless app versions with Apple Pay integration can be downloaded for free from the App Store.

rogifan_new

Jay Yarrow tweeted that he's hearing Pay will be coming iMessage. If so I'll bet that's announced at WWDC.

spice-boy

I live in NYC and getting meal deliveries is something a lot of us do a few times per week on average. I notice some of my favorite take out and delivery restaurants have raised their prices a bit and I assume it had something to due with insane rents increases. I was in a Japanese restaurant getting sushi to go and I notice that a Grubhub or Seamless order had come in while I was waiting. I asked the manager what does that service cost his business and he told be 10% for every order plus 4% for credit card fees. I asked him if he had to raise all his prices to cover this "middleman" service and he admitted that he had. So just remember whenever you use of on these kind of leach services you are only raising the price of your meal (although it is hidden) for yourself and everyone else. The restaurants may not be benefitting from Seamless just Seamless is benefitting. The restaurant also has to wait up to 4 weeks to get paid from Seamless. If you want to help your favorite restaurant to stay in business call them directly if you can find their real number, a google search usually only show the "Seamless phone number". 

ericthehalfbee

spice-boy said:

I live in NYC and getting meal deliveries is something a lot of us do a few times per week on average. I notice some of my favorite take out and delivery restaurants have raised their prices a bit and I assume it had something to due with insane rents increases. I was in a Japanese restaurant getting sushi to go and I notice that a Grubhub or Seamless order had come in while I was waiting. I asked the manager what does that service cost his business and he told be 10% for every order plus 4% for credit card fees. I asked him if he had to raise all his prices to cover this "middleman" service and he admitted that he had. So just remember whenever you use of on these kind of leach services you are only raising the price of your meal (although it is hidden) for yourself and everyone else. The restaurants may not be benefitting from Seamless just Seamless is benefitting. The restaurant also has to wait up to 4 weeks to get paid from Seamless. If you want to help your favorite restaurant to stay in business call them directly if you can find their real number, a google search usually only show the "Seamless phone number". 

I don't buy this for a minute. A take-out order doesn't have the expenses of:

- Cleaning the dishes the customers used while eating in the restaurant.
- Paying for damaged dishes, missing dishes/utensils, laundry costs for the table cloths and other linens.
- Paying the servers to take the order, bring out the food, fill their glasses, check on their food and clearing the table afterwards.

Take out orders allow the restaurant to keep the kitchen/cooking staff fully utilized. Especially during off-peak hours when the patrons in the restaurant start to die down, but people are still ordering food for their late night party or whatever they're doing. It's a good way to extend the use of your kitchen instead of having staff sitting around to serve the small number of people actually IN the restaurant. Plus the fact that people eating in the restaurant will also use their credit cards, so the argument about 4% credit card fees is bogus - they'll pay that either way.

spice-boy

Hey Eric, do you think I just made this up for the hell of it? Seamless and other middle man companies such as referral companies, ask for fees and or commissions from the businesses they sign contracts with. A business owner must cover this new cost by raising prices on their product of service. My point is the consumer is oblivious to this unless of course they have a business themselves. Consumers are just happy for the convenience and never question how things work just that they do work and they believe it makes things "easier". I've lived in NYC for 35 years and only in the past few years has restaurant delivery prices gone up outside of the usual cost of living. I have spoken to other restaurant owners which have told me the same thing. 

To comment on one point you made, containers used for take out and delivery are not free and restaurants musts order them from a supplier. As for credit card fees, these vary depending on bank and the contract with the cc service. 

My point in this is that the last several years software companies are more likely to create "leach" apps and services which get in between a small business like a non-chain family restaurant and their customer than creating an app that brings something new to the world. Silicon Valley is now just filled with uninspired hacks looking to suck profits from other companies hard work. 

ericthehalfbee

spice-boy said:

Hey Eric, do you think I just made this up for the hell of it? Seamless and other middle man companies such as referral companies, ask for fees and or commissions from the businesses they sign contracts with. A business owner must cover this new cost by raising prices on their product of service. My point is the consumer is oblivious to this unless of course they have a business themselves. Consumers are just happy for the convenience and never question how things work just that they do work and they believe it makes things "easier". I've lived in NYC for 35 years and only in the past few years has restaurant delivery prices gone up outside of the usual cost of living. I have spoken to other restaurant owners which have told me the same thing. 

To comment on one point you made, containers used for take out and delivery are not free and restaurants musts order them from a supplier. As for credit card fees, these vary depending on bank and the contract with the cc service. 

My point in this is that the last several years software companies are more likely to create "leach" apps and services which get in between a small business like a non-chain family restaurant and their customer than creating an app that brings something new to the world. Silicon Valley is now just filled with uninspired hacks looking to suck profits from other companies hard work. 

Funny, none of the restaurants I order from have raised prices. Sounds like they're raising prices just because they can and blaming Seamless/Grubhub. It's a money grab, nothing more.

I suggest they stop using Seamless/Grubhub and just go back to the old way of doing take-out where people just call in their order. And I fully expect them to lower their prices back down once they do this.

spice-boy

I wonder why you are defending the business plan of Grubhub and Seamless? The money grab is from those companies since 10% of every online order it just too much for the service they provide. I never order using those services. I saw an add in the subway recently for Seamless and the tag line was something like "now you don't have to speak to anyone". This  made me realize that person to person contact is disappearing and replace with click and purchase society. This approach is more prevalent with the younger generation, 20 - mid 30's who think Facebook friends are actually friends. 

ericthehalfbee

spice-boy said:

I wonder why you are defending the business plan of Grubhub and Seamless? The money grab is from those companies since 10% of every online order it just too much for the service they provide. I never order using those services. I saw an add in the subway recently for Seamless and the tag line was something like "now you don't have to speak to anyone". This  made me realize that person to person contact is disappearing and replace with click and purchase society. This approach is more prevalent with the younger generation, 20 - mid 30's who think Facebook friends are actually friends. 

Why are you trying to blame a service that nobody's forced to use for price increases? I don't use Grubhub, but now with Apple Pay (and no longer having to give out my credit card info) then I might consider it.

Besides, this article isn't about Grubhub or their business model. It's about another company adding Apple Pay to their App.

People are always complaining about stores without NFC terminals that can't accept Apple Pay. But stores are only one possible use. Apps for shopping or other services are getting more common. And I bet Apple Pay soon works online, giving people the ability to shop safely where largest amount of fraud and identity theft occur (handing over your credit card and other details to some online company without having any idea how secure they are).

spice-boy

I use Apple pay for the simple reason it provides more privacy than a cc. 
Of course nobody (as in vendor) is force to use Seamless or Grubhub but unfortunately our society has moved to the use of these middleman companies without any thought to how they work and affect the vendors bottom line. The word free is tossed around with services like Grubhub but we all know "free" has a price. If a small business wants to stay current with the ever changing adoption of technology in our culture than they have no choice but to sign a contract with Seamless or Grubhub to survive. A restaurant must then try to cover this Seamless expense but raising its prices which means we do actually pay for that "free" app and service. I have worked for small businesses for 20 years and have run my own for 15, if you don't wish to believe what I'm saying then....

[deleted user]

ericthehalfbee said:

spice-boy said:

I live in NYC and getting meal deliveries is something a lot of us do a few times per week on average. I notice some of my favorite take out and delivery restaurants have raised their prices a bit and I assume it had something to due with insane rents increases. I was in a Japanese restaurant getting sushi to go and I notice that a Grubhub or Seamless order had come in while I was waiting. I asked the manager what does that service cost his business and he told be 10% for every order plus 4% for credit card fees. I asked him if he had to raise all his prices to cover this "middleman" service and he admitted that he had. So just remember whenever you use of on these kind of leach services you are only raising the price of your meal (although it is hidden) for yourself and everyone else. The restaurants may not be benefitting from Seamless just Seamless is benefitting. The restaurant also has to wait up to 4 weeks to get paid from Seamless. If you want to help your favorite restaurant to stay in business call them directly if you can find their real number, a google search usually only show the "Seamless phone number". 

I don't buy this for a minute. A take-out order doesn't have the expenses of:

- Cleaning the dishes the customers used while eating in the restaurant.
- Paying for damaged dishes, missing dishes/utensils, laundry costs for the table cloths and other linens.
- Paying the servers to take the order, bring out the food, fill their glasses, check on their food and clearing the table afterwards.

Take out orders allow the restaurant to keep the kitchen/cooking staff fully utilized. Especially during off-peak hours when the patrons in the restaurant start to die down, but people are still ordering food for their late night party or whatever they're doing. It's a good way to extend the use of your kitchen instead of having staff sitting around to serve the small number of people actually IN the restaurant. Plus the fact that people eating in the restaurant will also use their credit cards, so the argument about 4% credit card fees is bogus - they'll pay that either way.

I think the comparison is ordering your own take-out directly vs ordering the take-out via an app. not compared to sitting in and having a meal.

edited June 2016