Amazon Prime subscribers now get Grubhub Plus free for a year

Outdoor Service Continues Through Winter In New York City Due To Pandemic Restrictions — Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Amazon Prime subscribers in the US are getting a new benefit as part of their subscription, the company has announced. Today, they’ll be able to redeem a free year of Grubhub Plus, the monthly subscription service that offers free food delivery on orders over $12 from participating restaurants. Grubhub Plus normally costs $9.99 a month.

According to Amazon, free deliveries associated with Grubhub Plus are available from hundreds of thousands of restaurants across over 4,000 cities in the US. After the year is up, Grubhub will automatically start charging $9.99 a month for continued access. Existing Grubhub Plus subscribers can still make use of the promotion, which will be applied at the start of their next billing cycle. Canceling Prime automatically cancels Grubhub Plus.

The deal comes just a few short years after Amazon shut down Amazon Restaurants, its own attempt to compete in the takeout delivery market. The service was live between 2015 and 2019 but faced stiff competition from the likes of Uber Eats and DoorDash.

Since then, the e-commerce giant has mainly focused on grocery deliveries but has kept a toe in the takeout delivery market through partnerships with other firms. It announced an investment in Europe-focused Deliveroo in 2019 and started offering access to its Deliveroo Plus subscription service as an additional perk for Prime members in the UK last year. As part of the deal announced today Amazon has warrants that it could exercise in the future to take a two percent stake in Grubhub, a stake that could increase to 15 percent over time.

“Amazon has redefined convenience with Prime and we’re confident this offering will expose many new diners to the value of Grubhub Plus while driving more business to our restaurant partners and drivers,” Grubhub CEO Adam DeWitt said in a statement. The company, which is owned by Just Eat Takeaway.com, says it expects Grubhub Plus subscriptions to rise as a result of the deal.

GrubHub Plus isn’t the only additional benefit Amazon is announcing for Prime members today. The e-commerce giant is also making a short teaser trailer for its upcoming TV show, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, available exclusively to Prime subscribers for 48 hours. Members can watch the teaser over on the show’s Amazon page. The trailer ends by promising yet another teaser is coming on July 14th ahead of the release of the series on September 2nd.

Update July 6th, 5:55AM ET: Updated to note Amazon’s two percent stake in Grubhub.

Correction July 7th, 8:07PM ET: The Financial Times previously reported Amazon is taking a two percent stake in Grubhub as a part of this deal. In fact, as this press release states, Amazon will receive warrants exercisable for a two percent stake, as well as additional warrants exercisable over up to 13 percent more.

Source: The Verge

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