Free lunch no menu special
Grubhub is offering to pick up the tab for lunch across New York City next week — and restaurants are yawning.
The barrage of freebies from food delivery companies — including UberEats and Doordash, as well as grocery apps like Getir, Gopuff and Gorillas — is reaching new heights, experts say.
“There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t get a promotion from one of these delivery companies,” said restaurant owner Andrew Schnipper, who owns the burger chain Schnipper’s. “They are all beating the hell out of each other to win business.”
The latest from Grubhub is a promotion promising a free lunch to anyone who wants one on May 17.
Diners won’t be able to spend more than $15 for the meal and they will still be on the hook for other surcharges, like tax and tip. If the order exceeds $15, the customer gets a $15 discount.
But restaurant owners are not expecting it to overwhelm their eateries because food delivery discounts have become increasingly common.
Schnipper said, “I presume we’ll be busier on May 17,” but he wasn’t planning to staff up or purchase more food.
Just last week, Schnipper said, Grubhub sent his daughter an offer for $20 off an order of $25 or more.
Grubhub is tying the promotion to the fact that more New Yorkers are returning to their offices, but has extended it to the five boroughs as well as surrounding areas in New York and New Jersey. That includes most counties in the Garden State, Long Island and parts of Pennsylvania.
On Tuesday, customers can log in to the app between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and submit their order using the promo code “FREELUNCH.”