Starbucks teams up with Grubhub on delivery

Starbucks is teaming up with Grubhub as it tries to boost sales after a challenging quarter.

The coffee chain said on Thursday that most of its beverages and food will be available through the delivery provider starting in June. Today, the partnership is live in Pennsylvania, Colorado and Illinois and other locations. By August, Starbucks items should be available on Grubhub throughout the country, the company said. Prior to the Grubhub partnership, customers could already order Starbucks items via DoorDash and Uber Eats.

Delivery has been a bright spot for Starbucks as its sales lag. But partnering with third-party delivery providers like Grubhub can be risky. If the order is late, or something spills on the way over, customers can become frustrated with Starbucks — even if those things are out of the company’s control. Next time, shoppers might just order from a competitor.

In the quarter ending on March 31, sales at US locations open at least 13 months fell 3%, compared to an increase of 12% the year before. Global revenue dipped nearly 2% to $8.56 billion in that period, coming in below analysts’ expectations. Even CEO Laxman Narasimhan called the results “disappointing.”

But delivery grew by double digits. And not only were there more orders than in the same period last year, but people spent more per order.

“Customer demand to get Starbucks delivered continues to increase, as evidenced by double-digit growth in the U.S. delivery business this past quarter,” said Meg Mathes, vice president of digital experiences at Starbucks, in a statement Thursday.

Since the pandemic, more consumers have been getting their cafe and restaurant orders to-go, via delivery or pickup.

Starbucks said that it has two-cup to-go trays and better shopping bags to protect orders while being delivered.

In addition to broadening access to delivery, Starbucks is taking other steps to try to jumpstart sales, like updating its app, offering new menu items and testing staying open overnight.

CNN’s Jordan Valinsky contributed to this report.

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