Photo : Keith Bedford ( Getty Images )

Third-party food delivery apps have changed a lot about the way we eat, for both customers and, uh, for drivers. One of the more curious shifts is the way in which cuisines not typically considered “delivery food” have become staples of order-in meals; just a few years ago, the idea of having McDonald’s or Taco Bell delivered right to your door would have been considered a pipe dream for a few, and ridiculous by many. Today, that’s what you do whenever you get home late from work and can’t be bothered to move.


However, some companies have been reluctant to embrace that model, in part because of the inevitable depreciation of food quality between its preparation, the waiting period before the driver arrives to deliver it, the time it takes to actually pick the food up, and the duration of the delivery itself. There’s always the question of whether your meal is still arriving in top form by the time it gets to your door.

But money is still money, and Bloomberg reports that booming fast-casual chain Shake Shack has partnered with Grubhub to deliver its lauded burgers/fries/shakes nationwide, beginning with a limited initial rollout. While select locations have already tested delivery with other apps in recent years, the new partnership will see Shake Shack “integrating its ordering technology with Grubhub.” It’s unclear at this time whether Grubhub’s rivals will continue to feature the restaurant as well.


According to Bloomberg, Shake Shack asserted last year that its burgers were “not intended to be eaten half an hour after they were cooked,” but CEO Randy Garutti now claims that the company has “improved its delivery packaging and worked with GrubHub on a system that will ‘fire’ orders once the drivers are close to the restaurant in a bid to ensure customers get fresh food.” While restaurants can’t ultimately control how pickups and deliveries go, planning around them as much as possible is an encouraging step.

For now, the Shake Shack/Grubhub partnership will only be available through four locations in New York City, Chicago, New Jersey, and Connecticut, with the rest of the chain’s locations being integrated in the coming months.