Food delivery apps have completely changed how Americans eat, letting people order meals and groceries from their phones instead of picking up the phone or driving out. A handful of major apps handle most of the food and delivery orders placed across the country every day.

Some of these apps started as small college projects just over a decade ago. Others grew out of much larger tech companies expanding into delivery for the first time.

In this article, we’ll discuss the top 10 food delivery apps in the United States, based on their history, ownership, and the kind of delivery service they focus on.

Quick Comparison

Rank	App	Founded	Owner / Founders	US Headquarters	Core Focus
1	DoorDash	2013	Founded by Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang & Evan Moore; publicly listed, led by CEO Tony Xu	San Francisco, California	Restaurant Food Delivery
2	Uber Eats	2014	Founded within Uber by Travis Kalanick & Garrett Camp; led by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi	San Francisco, California	Restaurant & Grocery Delivery
3	Grubhub	2004	Founded by Matt Maloney & Mike Evans; owned by Wonder Group, led by CEO Howard Migdal	Chicago, Illinois	Restaurant Food Delivery
4	Instacart	2012	Founded by Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen & Brandon Leonardo; publicly listed, led by CEO Chris Rogers	San Francisco, California	Grocery Delivery
5	Gopuff	2013	Founded by Rafael Ilishayev & Yakir Gola; privately held, led by Co-CEOs Rafael Ilishayev & Yakir Gola	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Convenience & Everyday Essentials Delivery
6	Postmates	2011	Founded by Bastian Lehmann, Sean Plaice & Sam Street; owned by Uber	San Francisco, California	Local Restaurant & Retail Delivery
7	ChowNow	2011	Founded by Christopher Webb & Eric Jaffe; privately held, led by CEO Christopher Webb	Los Angeles, California	Commission-Free Restaurant Ordering
8	Slice	2009	Founded by Ilir Sela; privately held, led by CEO Ilir Sela	New York, New York	Independent Pizzeria Ordering
9	Seamless	1999	Founded independently; now owned by Grubhub (Wonder Group)	New York, New York	Restaurant Food Delivery
10	EZCater	2007	Founded by Stefania Mallett & Briscoe Rodgers; privately held	Boston, Massachusetts	Business & Office Catering Delivery

1. DoorDash – The Largest Food Delivery App in America

• Founded: 2013 
• Owner: Founded by Tony Xu, Stanley Tang, Andy Fang & Evan Moore; publicly listed, led by CEO Tony Xu 
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California

DoorDash started in 2013 as a small project by four Stanford students working out of a dorm room. After talking to local restaurant owners, they realized delivery drivers were the missing piece other apps hadn’t solved yet. The company launched under the name “Palo Alto Delivery” before later becoming DoorDash.

DoorDash grew slowly at first, once dropping to less than $30,000 in its bank account. Tony Xu pushed the company forward by focusing heavily on small businesses and reliable delivery workers. DoorDash now controls roughly 60 percent of the US food delivery market, more than double its closest rival.

What DoorDash does: Connects customers with restaurants and delivers food using independent drivers.

Services: Restaurant food delivery, grocery delivery, convenience store delivery, and DashPass subscriptions.

2. Uber Eats – A Ride-Hailing Giant’s Move Into Food Delivery

• Founded: 2014 
• Owner: Founded within Uber by Travis Kalanick & Garrett Camp; led by CEO Dara Khosrowshahi 
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Uber Eats began in 2014 as a small feature called UberFRESH, letting Uber test food delivery in the Los Angeles area. The service later rebranded to Uber Eats and expanded quickly into major cities across the country. Uber leaned on its existing network of drivers already used for rides to speed up its delivery growth.

In 2020, Uber bought rival delivery service Postmates for $2.65 billion, folding much of its business into Uber Eats. The company later expanded further into groceries and alcohol through additional acquisitions. Dara Khosrowshahi continues to lead the wider Uber company, including its Eats delivery division.

What Uber Eats does: Delivers restaurant meals, groceries, and everyday goods through the Uber app.

Services: Restaurant delivery, grocery delivery, convenience store delivery, and Uber One subscriptions.

3. Grubhub – One of the Original Names in Food Delivery

• Founded: 2004 
• Owner: Founded by Matt Maloney & Mike Evans; owned by Wonder Group, led by CEO Howard Migdal 
• Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois

Grubhub started in 2004 when two frustrated web developers, Matt Maloney and Mike Evans, grew tired of calling restaurants and flipping through paper menus late at night. They built a simple online ordering tool as an alternative, based out of Chicago. The idea grew steadily, eventually merging with rival Seamless in 2013.

Grubhub went public in 2014 and became one of the biggest names in American food delivery for years. Ownership changed hands twice in recent years, first sold to Just Eat Takeaway for $7.3 billion, then resold to Wonder Group for a much smaller $650 million. Howard Migdal now runs Grubhub day to day, reporting into Wonder founder Marc Lore.

What Grubhub does: Connects diners with restaurants for pickup and delivery orders.

Services: Restaurant food delivery, pickup ordering, and Grubhub+ subscriptions.

4. Instacart – The Leader in Grocery Delivery

• Founded: 2012 
• Owner: Founded by Apoorva Mehta, Max Mullen & Brandon Leonardo; publicly listed, led by CEO Chris Rogers 
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Instacart began in 2012 after founder Apoorva Mehta noticed he could order almost anything online except groceries. He built the very first version of the app himself, testing the idea directly in the San Francisco Bay Area. Instacart focused specifically on grocery delivery rather than restaurant food, setting it apart from most competitors.

The company partnered with major grocery chains nationwide, letting personal shoppers pick and deliver items to customers. Instacart went public in September 2023 under the ticker symbol CART. Chris Rogers now serves as CEO, continuing the company’s focus on grocery and retail delivery.

What Instacart does: Delivers groceries and household items from partner stores to customers.

Services: Grocery delivery, same-day pickup, and Instacart+ membership delivery.

5. Gopuff – A College Idea That Became a Delivery Giant

• Founded: 2013 
• Owner: Founded by Rafael Ilishayev & Yakir Gola; privately held, led by Co-CEOs Rafael Ilishayev & Yakir Gola 
• Headquarters: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Gopuff started in 2013 when two Drexel University students, Rafael Ilishayev and Yakir Gola, began delivering snacks and everyday items to fellow students. Unlike most delivery apps, Gopuff built its own small warehouses in cities to store products directly, rather than relying only on stores. This let the company deliver items in as fast as 15 minutes in many areas.

The founders grew Gopuff into a company valued at more than $10 billion at its peak. Gopuff later expanded into alcohol delivery through acquisitions like Liquor Barn and BevMo. Ilishayev and Gola still run the company together today as co-CEOs.

What Gopuff does: Delivers snacks, groceries, and household essentials from its own warehouses.

Services: Convenience item delivery, grocery delivery, alcohol delivery, and same-day essentials.

6. Postmates – An Early Delivery Pioneer Now Owned by Uber

• Founded: 2011 
• Owner: Founded by Bastian Lehmann, Sean Plaice & Sam Street; owned by Uber 
• Headquarters: San Francisco, California

Postmates launched in 2011, among the earliest apps offering on-demand delivery from local restaurants and stores. Founders Bastian Lehmann, Sean Plaice, and Sam Street built the app to deliver almost anything within a city, not just food. Postmates later opened its system to outside businesses, letting small shops compete with larger retailers on delivery speed.

The company grew to operate in nearly 3,000 US cities before being acquired by Uber in December 2020 for $2.65 billion. Postmates continues to operate under its own name today, with a particularly strong presence in the Western United States. The brand remains closely tied to the larger Uber Eats platform.

What Postmates does: Delivers restaurant meals and local retail goods within cities.

Services: Restaurant delivery, retail delivery, and on-demand local courier services.

7. ChowNow – A Commission-Free Alternative for Local Restaurants

• Founded: 2011 
• Owner: Founded by Christopher Webb & Eric Jaffe; privately held, led by CEO Christopher Webb 
• Headquarters: Los Angeles, California

ChowNow was started in 2011 by Christopher Webb, a former Wall Street employee, and Eric Jaffe, a former real estate investor. The two built the app around a different idea from most competitors: let restaurants keep customer ordering on their own branded app, without paying steep commission fees. This model appealed strongly to independent restaurant owners tired of high delivery app fees.

ChowNow later partnered with other delivery services to add its own flexible delivery option for restaurants. The company continues focusing heavily on supporting local, independent restaurants rather than large chains. Christopher Webb still leads ChowNow today as CEO.

What ChowNow does: Provides restaurants their own branded ordering app without high commission fees.

Services: Commission-free online ordering, restaurant branded apps, and delivery integration tools.

8. Slice – A Platform Built Specifically for Pizzerias

• Founded: 2009 
• Owner: Founded by Ilir Sela; privately held, led by CEO Ilir Sela 
• Headquarters: New York, New York

Slice was started in 2009 by Ilir Sela, originally under the name MyPizza, after he saw his own family’s pizzeria business struggling against bigger delivery platforms. Sela built the app specifically to help small, independent pizza shops keep more of their own profits. This narrow focus set Slice apart from broader delivery apps trying to cover every type of restaurant.

The platform grew to support thousands of pizzerias across small towns and cities nationwide. Slice reported around $750 million in revenue as of 2025, showing strong growth within its specific niche. Ilir Sela continues to lead the company today as CEO.

What Slice does: Helps independent pizzerias take orders online without losing profits to big delivery apps.

Services: Online pizza ordering, delivery support, and marketing tools for independent pizzerias.

9. Seamless – A New York Original Now Under Grubhub

• Founded: 1999 
• Owner: Founded independently; now owned by Grubhub (Wonder Group) 
• Headquarters: New York, New York

Seamless started in 1999, making it one of the very earliest online food ordering services in the entire country. The app first focused on helping New York City office workers order lunch without picking up the phone. Seamless grew steadily over the following decade into one of the most recognized delivery brands in the city.

In 2013, Seamless merged with rival Grubhub, combining two of the biggest names in early food delivery into one company. The Seamless brand continued operating separately in New York even after the merger. Today, Seamless remains part of Grubhub, which is now owned by Wonder Group.

What Seamless does: Connects diners in New York and other cities with local restaurants for delivery.

Services: Restaurant food delivery and online ordering, mainly focused on the New York City area.

10. EZCater – The Go-To App for Office and Business Catering

• Founded: 2007 
• Owner: Founded by Stefania Mallett & Briscoe Rodgers; privately held 
• Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

EZCater started in 2007, focused on a different problem than most food delivery apps: ordering food for office meetings and large groups. Founders Stefania Mallett and Briscoe Rodgers built the platform to make business catering as easy as ordering a regular meal online. This focus on catering, rather than single-person meals, gave EZCater a clear niche in the market.

The company grew into the largest online marketplace for business catering in the country. EZCater partners with thousands of restaurants and caterers able to handle large group orders. The platform remains especially popular with offices, event planners, and corporate teams nationwide.

What EZCater does: Connects businesses and offices with restaurants for large catering orders.

Services: Office catering delivery, event catering, and corporate meal ordering.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Which is the largest food delivery app in the USA?

DoorDash is the largest food delivery app in the country, controlling roughly 60 percent of the U.S. market.

2. Which apps are owned by larger companies rather than operating independently?

Uber Eats and Postmates are both owned by Uber, while Grubhub and Seamless are both owned by Wonder Group.

3. Which app focuses mainly on groceries rather than restaurant food?

Instacart focuses mainly on grocery delivery, partnering directly with major supermarket chains nationwide.

4. Which app was originally built for one type of restaurant only?

Slice was built specifically for independent pizzerias, rather than trying to cover every type of restaurant.

5. Which app avoids charging restaurants high commission fees?

ChowNow is known for letting restaurants use their own branded ordering app without paying steep commission fees.

6. Which app started as a college project?

Both DoorDash and Gopuff started as projects by college students, at Stanford and Drexel University respectively.

7. Are food delivery apps in the USA regulated?

Yes, food delivery apps must follow local labor laws, food safety rules, and city-specific delivery fee regulations in many areas.

8. Which app focuses mainly on office and business catering?

EZCater focuses specifically on business and office catering orders, rather than single-person meal delivery.

9. Which app builds its own warehouses instead of relying on restaurants and stores?

Gopuff stores products in its own small warehouses, allowing faster delivery than apps that rely only on partner stores.

10. Why do these ten apps matter to everyday people?

These apps handle many of the restaurant, grocery, and convenience deliveries Americans rely on every day.

Conclusion

The American restaurant delivery sector comprises numerous tech start-ups, including college dropouts’ brainchild, Uber’s sister company, and a variety of other digital platforms offering an array of services. The companies’ list includes DoorDash, Grubhub, Instacart, Gopuff, ChowNow, Slice, Seamless, and EZCater, all of which are based in the United States, as well as Uber Eats, as it was derived from its larger sister company Uber. 

These ten applications are providing tens of millions of people nationwide with an opportunity to enjoy restaurant-quality food in the comfort of their own homes, whether it is a single pizza or an office catering order. As the technology develops, the delivery app market will continue to evolve, shaping the way society obtains and consumes food and other everyday products and services.