Delivery

Former Bareburger CMO launches NotGrubhub

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January 27, 2021

Former NYC restaurant operators have launched a website to drive guests to restaurants only offering first-party ordering.

Dubbed "NotGrubhub," Nabeel Alamgir, who was formerly CMO of New York-based Bareburger and founded the digital experience firm, Lunchbox.io in 2019, said the aggregate site is free for brands not using third-party ordering companies.

"Restaurants make 5% in profit on those systems and they aren't good for anyone," Alamgir said in an email to FastCasual. "We are only supporting restaurants who have their own online ordering system powered by Lunchbox, Chownow, Toast and others.

"(We're) just taking their current website ordering link and placing it on this aggregated site."

Although the soft launch was last week, Alamgir couldn't reveal how many brands were using the platform but said a larger launch was coming this week.

Sticky's Finger Joint is one brand taking advantage of the platform, according to Tommy Sardo, the brand's director of training, who said restaurants were doing everything they could to stay open and needed a break from fees.

"So many of those restaurants depend on third-party ordering marketplaces to get their name out there without the normal walk-in traffic, but the problem is that those same marketplaces are taking so much of a percentage, that the restaurant itself winds up actually losing money," he told FastCasual. "Notgrubhub.org is so important and so valuable to restaurants like Sticky's Finger Joint because it provides that same marketplace, while still allowing the restaurants to actually see some profits on the food that is being picked up or delivered without the anchor of commissions and fees."

Yet many restaurants can't give up third-party platforms as customers use them to discover restaurants providing takeout.

"Well, notgrubhub.org allows you to do the same thing, without the fees," he said. "If you truly want to support restaurants, go to notgrubhub.org and order directly from them."