When you search for “order food online” you will be greeted by 1,290,000,000 results.
With so many options for food delivery, it can get confusing.
Fewer people are going to restaurants or placing carry-out orders.
Instead, they are getting food delivered.
And instead of picking up the phone and calling restaurants, we now have the option to place the order online without any human interaction.
It’s a beautiful thing.
But the number of online food ordering services is overwhelming.
To make things simpler, we sifted through some of the most well-known services (and a few you’ve probably never heard of) to see what they are all about.
We’ve covered a lot of these services in detail, so be sure to click the links to learn more about the individual services.
We’re sure there are a lot more that didn’t make the list, so if you think we are overlooking a company that should be included, leave a comment and let us know!
We also chose to omit any grocery delivery services since they are in a little bit different category.
So without further ado, here is a quick guide to every single online food delivery service (that we could find).
Table Of Contents
GrubHub
You’ll notice when you read through this list, GrubHub is clearly one of the leaders in the food delivery space. They’ve developed a massive user base and used their large wallets to purchase many of their competitors.
While many of the companies on this list are unlikely to make it through 2018 and beyond, GrubHub seems here to stay.
Because of GrubHub’s secure place in this competitive space, we think being a GrubHub Driver is a pretty safe bet for people looking for a side gig.
You shouldn’t have to worry about the company going out of business and you suddenly losing your job.
One of the ways that GrubHub built such a massive customer base is through offering big discounts.
These GrubHub promo codes are a great way to save some money if you are using it for delivery.
GrubHub was also able to expand quickly because they built relationships with a huge network of restaurants.
At the beginning of the company, they only offered to deliver if the restaurant had their own drivers.
Now, GrubHub is started to hire their own drivers so all restaurants can offer delivery.
DoorDash
DoorDash is a venture-backed company started in 2013.
And while they are a one of the original delivery food startfups, they have used the cash provided by investors to expand to over 600 cities.
They deliver everything from McDonalds to sushi from local restaurants.
Want to learn more about how DoorDash works and how you can become a driver?
We’ve written extensively about DoorDash at Ridester.
We’ve covered topics like “How much do DoorDash Drivers (Called Dashers) Actually Make” and our detailed review of DoorDash.
If you’re looking to learn more, browse our Delivery category on the site.
Uber Eats
Uber Eats is the food delivery platform of Uber, the rideshare service.
You can learn more about how Uber Eats works, but the process is not any different from its major competitors like DoorDash and Postmates.
One major difference though is for drivers…
There are a lot of reasons to become an Uber Eats driver.
We think the best reason is that it integrates seamlessly with the regular Uber driver app.
This means that if you are approved to drive for Uber, you can deliver for Uber Eats whenever you want.
You simply have to mark that you are open to accepting deliveries in the app.
For users, you cannot order food through the regular Uber app.
You will need to download the Uber Eats: Food Delivery app or order online through their website.
Postmates
Postmates is another Silicon Valley company.
Founded in 2011, it is now available in hundreds of cities nationwide.
Unlike a lot of companies on this list, Postmates delivers more than just food.
The company also claims to deliver things like groceries or even electronics.
Want to learn more?
Check out our Customer’s Guide to Postmates.
Want to drive for Postmates (they also allow bike delivery)?
Check of the complete Postmate’s Driver Guide.
Caviar
Caviar pegs itself as a meal delivery service focused on higher-end restaurants.
This means that you can order food from nice restaurants that might not partner with GrubHub or other companies.
You can learn more about the service here.
We love the business model, especially when it comes to drivers.
Why?
Because higher-end restaurants mean more expensive orders, and (in theory) more expensive orders mean bigger tips for delivery drivers.
Not convinced?
Here are three benefits of driving for Caviar.
BiteSquad
BiteSquad is another company that seems to have a similar business model to GrubHub.
They have been buying up much smaller delivery services across the country and growing their user base.
We don’t have any experience driving for BiteSquad, but you can head to the BiteSquad driver website to learn more.
EatStreet
EatStreet is relatively new to the game, but they have a large presence on college campuses.
The company was founded in 2010 in Madison, WI and has since expanded into over 150 markets.
The company has had a lot of success targeted college towns and college students.
If you are a college student, this is a great way to make some extra money while staying close to campus.
You can learn more about being a delivery driver for EatStreet on this page.
Seamless
Seamless merged with GrubHub in 2013, so they are essentially the same company.
In fact, when you compare the Seamless website with the GrubHub website, you will see that they are almost the exact same.
They even use the same background images.
Delivery.com
Delivery.com was founded in 1995, so this company has been around for a long time.
They position themselves as a company that delivers everything from your laundry to alcohol to meals.
Last time we checked, the options for delivery were very sparse and only made up of restaurants.
So while the idea of one website that handles all deliveries is great, it doesn’t seem to be working in practice for Delivery.com
EAT24
EAT24 is another company recently acquired by GrubHub.
GrubHub purchased the company from Yelp in 2017.
Now, EAT24 is another GrubHub clone, exactly like Seamless.
Groupon to Go
Almost everybody has heard of Groupon, a site that sells discounts for just about everything.
After Groupon acquired OrderUp in 2015, the company immediately launched Groupon To Go, an online ordering platform built from OrderUp’s framework.
We’ve personally used Groupon to Go in the recent past, but now the service is nowhere to be found on the companies websites.
News stories point to a partnership with (you guessed it) GrubHub, but we’ve struggled to find any solid information here.
OrderUp
OrderUp started as a company called LionMenus before rebranded as LocalUp.
It switched to OrderUp in 2012 and was purchased by coupon giant Groupon in 2015.
OrderUp is now only available in a handful of states.
It has been replaced by Groupon to Go in most areas.
And since Groupon to Go’s future seems to be up in the area, we assume OrderUp is in the same boat.
Related: Orderup jobs available to apply for today
Munchery
The Munchery business model is a little bit different than the other companies on this list.
Instead of delivering food from restaurants, they cook the food and deliver it chilled.
It is sort of like Blue Apron, except the meals are already prepared.
It looks like quality food and it is certainly an interesting business model.
But the future of Munchery seems bleak, considering they recently ceased services in three major cities.
Beyond Menu
Now we are really getting into some of the smaller, and possibly illegitimate food delivery companies.
Beyond Menu has been accused of some pretty shady stuff by restaurant owners, so we are very skeptical of the service.
This company has also been under fire from Google for allegedly claiming to be associated with the search giant when trying to attract to restaurant partners.
BringMeThat
BringMeThat claims to be “the largest food delivery ordering app in the US.”
We are not sure if that’s true, but we think it is acceptable to be skeptical.
The app had less than 100 reviews in the app store and we couldn’t find much information about the company online.
We also found some very unhappy customer reviews on the Better Business Bureaus website.
If anyone has more information on BringMeThat, we would love to hear your opinions in the comments.
Menufy
Founded in 2009, Menufy has a presence in over 800 cities in the US.
They definitely seem to be on the smaller side, but there are no red flags and they appear to be completely legitimate.
If you’ve used Menufy, or have delivered food for Menufy, we’d love to hear about your experiences in the comments!
ChowNow
ChowNow is not like the other services on this list.
They are actually more of a technology company that allows restaurants to set up their own online ordering portals.
We figured they are worth a mention because they recently found themselves in a battle with Apple.
Mealeo
Like ChowNow, Mealeo has a slightly different business model.
From what we can ascertain, restaurants partner with Mealeo to have food delivered for them.
The perks of driving for Mealeo seem pretty sweet.
They claim you make more money per order compared to other food delivery companies.
They also have an interesting car upgrade program which we have not seen before in the industry.
It might seem like there are an endless amount of food delivery options.
But when you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that there are only a few legitimate companies.
The food delivery landscape is obviously changing very rapidly.
We expect a lot more companies to fit into the “purchased by GrubHub” or “acquired by BiteSquad” categories very soon.
We are very confident in recommending the top 6 or so companies on this list.
All of those companies offer great service, and all of them appear to pay their drivers appropriately.
Unfortunately Munchery has shutdown… Probably should add HalfPosh, Fooda, etc to the list.
I use Menufy with my Clover POS System. It is an online ordering system that is integrated with my POS. They have been my online ordering system for carryout Since Feb. 2018. They are okay but not well known. They do everything they say it will do and it is user friendly from my end as the restaurant owner. It easily integrated with my menu. They just recently partnered with DoorDash for delivery. The thing I am finding is DoorDash does not advertise for me as one of their vendors if someone is looking for delivery in my area on the DoorDash website. I am finding that the person ordering has to know my ordering website and select delivery. I am looking into seeing if I should switch to just using DoorDash so they advertise for me, or if I should stick with Menufy as partner of DoorDash. I will update soon if anyone here would find that type of information useful.