News

Waitr buying Bite Squad for $321M

December 13, 2018

Waitr Holdings Inc., a restaurant platform for online ordering and on-demand food delivery, is acquiring Bite Squad, an online restaurant food delivery service, for $321.3 million, according to a company press release.

Minneapolis-based Bite Squad operates a three-sided marketplace, consistent with Waitr's business model, which connects more than 11,000 active restaurants with approximately 6,300 W-2 drivers and 889,000 active diners, Chris Meaux, founder CEO of Waitr, said in the release.

"We have followed Bite Squad's growth and success for many years and believe their mission, business model and growth profile share many similarities to Waitr," he said. "We believe that a small fraction of the U.S. restaurant industry's sales are from off-premise online transactions and this is evolving rapidly. This acquisition will help us drive additional growth and provide a step function increase in scale throughout the U.S. in order to better serve that developing market."

Officials said that Bite Squad will continue to operate under its own brand following the acquisition. 

Bite Squad has a high growth business model, with 85 percent year-over-year gross food sales growth and 98 percent year-over-year revenue growth in Q3 2018. The acquisition will expand Waitr's scale and footprint across the U.S., serving a total of over 86 markets in more than 500 cities and 22 states, according to the release.

Waitr, founded in 2013, is based in Lake Charles, Louisiana.