Wonder, the parent company of Grubhub, has acquired Claim, a restaurant rewards startup known for cash-back incentives that drive dine-in and pickup traffic. Terms were not disclosed, but the deal signals a push by Grubhub to deepen loyalty-driven growth for its more than 415,000 restaurant partners and nearly 20 million diners by layering personalized rewards on top of its existing marketplace.
Why Wonder Wants Claim’s Loyalty Technology
As delivery growth normalizes, platforms are pivoting to high-frequency behavior they can influence—namely, repeat dining. Loyalty tools do two jobs at once: lower acquisition costs for restaurants and increase lifetime value among diners. Industry research from firms like McKinsey and Deloitte has repeatedly found that well-designed loyalty programs lift order frequency and reduce churn, especially when personalization is grounded in first-party data.
Claim slots neatly into that thesis. Founded in 2021, the company built a rewards engine that uses machine learning to match local restaurants with customers most likely to become regulars, then measures performance through merchant dashboards. For a parent company stitching together a broader consumer food ecosystem, shifting dollars from broad ads to targeted incentives at the point of decision is a logical next step.
What Claim Brings to Grubhub’s Loyalty Strategy
Claim’s product offers cash-back rewards that diners can redeem for dine-in or pickup, while restaurants set promotions and track ROI in real time. The startup raised $20 million to date, including a $12 million Series A in 2024, and was most recently valued at an estimated $62 million by PitchBook. Backers included VMG Technology, Sequoia Capital, Susa Ventures, Lightbank, and MetaLab Ventures, underscoring investor interest in performance-based restaurant marketing.
Under Grubhub, Claim’s capabilities are launching in New York City with a nationwide rollout planned later this year. Executives at both companies frame the integration as additive: merchants get precision targeting and measurement without operational burden, while diners see more relevant, stackable savings. Claim’s co-founder and CEO Sam Obletz has emphasized the team’s focus on pairing restaurants with their “next regulars,” and Grubhub CEO Howard Migdal has pointed to a stronger, more measurable toolkit for partners.
Impact on Restaurants and Diners Across Channels
For restaurants, the promise is efficiency. Instead of blanket discounts, a pizzeria could, for example, test a 10% cash-back offer for Tuesday dine-in and only continue the incentive if it reliably drives incremental visits and higher check sizes. Because the system is data-driven, operators can iterate quickly, reallocating spend to the most responsive audiences and dayparts.
Diners should see more tailored promotions across dine-in and pickup, not just delivery. Grubhub has indicated that current Claim users may notice changes in payout mechanics as systems are unified, but the core experience—personalized rewards at local restaurants—remains the north star. In an era of rising menu prices, targeted cash-back can be a nudge that keeps customers loyal without eroding margins across the board.
Competitive and market context for restaurant loyalty
The move lands in a crowded loyalty landscape. DoorDash and Uber Eats lean on memberships and in-app offers, while restaurant tech providers like Toast and Square sell built-in loyalty modules. Dedicated platforms such as Paytronix, Punchh, and Thanx specialize in CRM and segmentation, and card-linked offer networks like Cardlytics and Upside drive cash-back through banks and gas stations. Claim’s differentiator is its focus on local restaurants and measurable, ML-driven incremental visits—now backed by Grubhub’s scale.
Trade groups such as the National Restaurant Association have noted that value-driven decisions remain a top factor for diners, even as in-person traffic rebounds. That creates a window for rewards that are both timely and accountable: restaurants want proof that discounts are winning new visits, not subsidizing behavior that would have happened anyway.
What to watch next as Grubhub integrates Claim
Three signals will show whether this bet pays off:
- Adoption by independent restaurants beyond early tech-forward cohorts
- Sustained increases in repeat visits and average order value
- Evidence that targeted incentives reduce blended customer acquisition costs on the platform
If Claim’s tools scale across Grubhub’s merchant base, expect sharper segmentation, more dine-in engagement, and tighter feedback loops between promotions and performance.
For Wonder, which has been assembling a broader food and hospitality technology playbook, Claim adds a high-leverage layer: loyalty that moves with the customer across occasions. For restaurants and diners, the takeaway is simple—smarter rewards are becoming table stakes, and the platforms with the best personalization engines will have the edge.
