Are Third Party Delivery Apps Underperforming?

Posted on January 29 2024

It seems as if there are new headlines on a daily basis on food delivery: how Instacart is changing its payment policies or raising yet another round of financing, how ship is signing up even more retailers, or how Stop & Shop is testing autonomous vehicle delivery.

But there is about to be a huge shift in food delivery, Sandwich chain Jimmy John’s is the first national restaurant chain to take a stand against third-party delivery apps such as Uber Eats, GrubHub and Door Dash.

Jimmy John’s has a new marketing campaign in which it vows never to use delivery apps, calling them notoriously unreliable. But according to its CEO, James North, there is more to it. “We want to control the experience from the fresh prep to the handoff to the customer,” he said. The chain commissioned a poll from Boston Consulting to find out what customers thought about food delivery.

Thirty-five percent of customers who have used such delivery services say they have experienced a problem with their deliveries. Seventy-six percent hold the restaurant itself at least partially responsible for any errors. Ninety-two percent of customers expect their food deliveries within 15 to 30 minutes of placing an order, while the largest delivery services average 49-minute delivery times.

Jimmy John’s uses its own drivers and couriers. The company and its franchisees employ approximately 45,000 drivers at more than 2,800 locations.

It is the same thing we keep hearing from supermarkets, and we expect to see them follow Jimmy John’s lead.