More on Grubhub
YUM! celebrated the one-year anniversary of its deal with Grubhub this past February. At the time, nearly half of its 45,000 restaurants already offered pickup and delivery via online ordering. Yet the U.S. market was one it could serve better. Grubhub instantly made KFC and Taco Bell more accessible to customers, the company said.
Taco Bell just launched nationwide delivery through the third-party platform in early February. It’s now live in more than 4,000 U.S. locations and “opportunistic market expansion should increase restaurant coverage over time,” Creed said.
While too early to provide specific data, he said traffic and check benefitted from the launch. It’s allowed for real-time feedback and learnings. One thing YUM! did, why it took a year to ignite the launch, was integrate Taco Bell’s point-of-sale system directly into the Grubhub app, which means pickup is timed to the moment. Delivery is available on Taco Bell’s site, where guests plug in their zip code and are directed to Grubhub. They can also just go to Grubhub’s site or app.
Additionally, click-and-collect functionality is available on Taco Bell’s site and app, while YUM! expects the functionally through Grubhub to arrive soon. “Having launched with marketing support in February franchisees are all in on this major initiative and are very excited about delivery as an opportunity to drive incremental sales and transactions,” Creed said.
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Taco Bell turned in another strong quarter, although it wasn’t quite as robust as the last few. The chain’s same-store sales of 4 percent were its slowest in three quarters. Taco Bell did, however, enjoy stellar comps of 5 percent in the U.S. Unlike KFC, that’s where the chain makes its impact—6,611 of its 7,105 units are stateside. In Q1, 50 restaurants opened while 27 closed.