Grubhub has hired Walrus to handle creative duties as the online food ordering company looks to relaunch under new ownership and reassert itself in a crowded delivery market.
Walrus won the account following a review—first reported in Ad Age’s Agency Review Tracker—that began in May. The process was managed internally, according to a Grubhub statement.
“Clients come to Walrus when they’re at an inflection point,” Frances Webster, founder and CEO of Walrus, said in a statement. “Grubhub is there, and ready to take off, and together we landed on an idea that could launch tomorrow and keep building for years to come.”
Marnie Kain, VP of brand marketing at Grubhub, praised Walrus in a statement for its grasp of “the complexity of our business, but also our market opportunity.”
Grubhub and Walrus will launch a new brand campaign to strengthen the brand’s “awareness and loyalty and deepen diner engagement,” according to a statement.
Walrus’ appointment comes after Grubhub’s Seamless food delivery brand wrapped up a creative review earlier this year. Stagwell’s Forsman & Bodenfors won the Seamless review, which was supported by AAR Partners, Ad Age previously reported. F&B helped Seamless relaunch in New York with a campaign that included a redesigned app.
There’s no incumbent on the account; Grubhub most recently handled creative in-house, according to a brand spokesperson. The company hired Interpublic Group of Cos.’ UM as its media agency in 2022.
Grubhub is the latest in a series of new business wins for Walrus over the past year. The New York-based independent recently notched assignments with Breeze Airways and Colgate-Palmolive Co.’s Hello toothpaste brand. It gets a serious jolt with Grubhub, which increased U.S. measured media spending from $113 million in 2023 to $124 million in 2024, according to MediaRadar. Grubhub spent $35 million in the first quarter, up from $27 million the prior year.
Grubhub was founded in 2004 and was acquired by Just Eat Takeaway.com in 2020 for $7.3 billion as the European delivery giant sought to capitalize on the pandemic-driven boom in takeout and delivery. Wonder Group acquired Grubhub in January.
Wonder, led by former Walmart executive Marc Lore, is a delivery app that partners with fine dining restaurants to recreate their dishes. The company’s chefs are trained to replicate meals for delivery and dine-in. While Wonder primarily operates in the tri-state area, Grubhub has a national footprint, serving more than 4,000 U.S. cities and offering delivery of groceries, alcohol and convenience items.
The Grubhub deal follows Wonder’s acquisition of meal kit company Blue Apron in 2023.
See it in AdAge here.
