In the last week, a pair of new iPhone applications have appeared on the App Store that put the menus of hundreds of restaurants at users’ fingertips. Dubbed GrubHub and CityMint, both applications allow users to order food on the go from online menus, buying entrees, appetizers, and drinks on the fly without the hassle of human interaction.
Our appetites were first whetted three weeks ago, when Chipotle released an official app that let users build their burritos from their iPhone. Unfortunately, the application was pulled down only a few hours after release as a throng of users overwhelmed the app’s servers. The Chipotle app is still missing in action, but these new offerings should be able to hold us over.
At first glance, the two applications seem pretty similar: they both let users browse through the menus of restaurants in their vicinity, adding food items to a virtual cart until they submit their orders. But a closer inspection reveals a few key differences.
GrubHub seems to focus exclusively on restaurants that deliver, so most of its options offer fare like pizza, Chinese, and Mexican food (of course, there are some exceptions). CityMint offers a catalog of restaurants that deliver, but it has also partnered with hundreds of popular restaurants to allow for pick-up. CityMint CEO Frank Kuo says that the company sifted through Yelp for the most frequently and popular restaurants in each region, seeking out the ones that would integrate with their system.
As far as usability goes, both applications seem to work well. CityMint’s interface is more polished and Apple-like, while GrubHub looks more like a web app (though it is native). But GrubHub has the edge on user reviews, which are displayed alongside each restaurant (CityMint doesn’t seem to have reviews integrated at all).
In the end, the app you use will likely come down to which one has restaurants available in your area. CityMint has a larger coverage area than GrubHub and includes a wider variety of locations that offer take-out, but it also costs $2.99 (GrubHub is free). We should also note that there are plenty of web-based applications that offer mobile ordering, but the user experience of these is generally not nearly as good as it is on native apps.
lol nice
What ever happened to just calling on the phone?
Great site with some good articles that will keep you on top of the world!
I’m hungry already!
cooljobsalways
http://tinyurl.com/7uj5ay
Jason, the 2 first links lead to the iTune store, is it beacause Grubhab and Citymint will remain only as a song?….
Err.. No?
Perhaps you are not aware that iPhones are part of the iTunes ecosystem, and that iPhone applications are hosted by Apple on the iTunes Store.
Nice addition to the list
The weird thing with the new Chipotle online service is they tell you to call the store for confirmation after placing an order. My experience is that if I don’t, my order is fairly likely to not be made until after I arrive and ask for it. It seems to defeat the purpose of ordering online. Luckily they’re fast enough in person that I don’t even bother doing it in advance anymore. Good food.
Yeah, we’ve had the exact same issue. Really frustrating.
I hope grubhub will expand their list to germany soon!…this kinda app would save me a loooot of time
Good idea to put menu on iPhone.
Cool~
Thanks for the review, one point missing is that GrubHub does a location search and tells you every restaurant that currently delivers to you… key for the (MBTA/T/L/MTA) ride home.
Check out DineBlast Mobile. No apps to download and works on all SmartPhones. Allows pickup, delivery, take-out, dine-in and cubrside ordering. Memorizes your favorite orders and payment methods.
http://www.yout...h?v=tUifAKbNWes
Good idea, but I’m quite sure most restaurants will eventually have their own applications to their own systems.
Even though this is a great idea, society today is getting way to lazy!
Thanks for the story! CityMint provides menus from the popular restaurants that you want to eat at, not just the local delivery ones. For reviews, nobody does it better than Yelp.. so we’re hoping to have an update out shortly integrating Yelp reviews.
Like menupages.com? Or seamlessweb.com? Interesting…
SeamlessWeb & GoMobo are better, since you can order via SMS.
congrats to grubhub. frankly i’m surprised techcrunch hasn’t covered them in more detail previously. they have a defensible, functioning, scalable model.
hahaha….I think the citymint boys will need to change their FAQ pages soon:
“CityMint is the only application that allows you to find nearby places based on your location and ‘connect’ to the merchant to place orders”
Only application? I wonder how much market research they’ve done.
we do both pickup and delivery. There are so many great restaurants don’t deliver but you can pickup from, why be limited? We’re all about the mobile – onthego, lifestyle.
I’m curious whether Grubhub or Citymint have integrated into POS systems for direct ordering; this is the only reliable way to overcome the Chipotle’s reliability issue (see Michael/Kincaid comments). If one could order via clicking a menu app and have the order go straight to the kitchen’s screen.. then you’re onto something.
Then again, POS integration is a logistical nightmare.
I just bought the CityMint app. It’s much more Yelp like (didn’t like the Grubhub one as their interface just felt weird, plus it kept crashing) and it has some really good pickup places I use (in NYC).
The post mentioned that there are some web sites out there that allow this kind of thing, but seriously, when you’re about to get on the train and you want to pickup on your way home, the web sites on mobile Safari suck. I got the CityMint app specifically so I can pickup on the way home (been waiting for something like this for a while). So we’ll see how it goes tonight!
These apps work well but SMS is still a faster way to order. I’ve been using GoMobo for ordering in NY on my blackberry and its very convenient
I was not impressed.
Grubhub getting crap reviews right now. Seems the common problem is not enough coverage.
Actually, GrubHub has complete coverage… only in 5 markets. Delivery data is way to fragmented to aggregate on a national scale, so we have to pick off the highest density markets one at a time.
I suspect the beta testers are going to have to be the people who live in San Francisco or New York City. But for those of us in Southlake, TX… could take a while.
GrubHub is terrible I live in the Seattle area, and there are NO restaurants. They shouldn’t have launched yet. They’ll get “torn up” in the tech community and never be able to recover…
Wow, I truly love my IPhone!
RT
http://www.onli...anonymity.at.tc
I still don’t have a cell phone. I had one and didn’t like it! I save a bundle now. I just use IP Telephony.
Very interesting. Congratulations!!
try new crazymenu app. it has a search over 500K+ restaurants with 30K+ menus.
very goof article!
I own a restaurant in Dallas. We are working with a company named Resercom who is doing our iPhone application. It is pretty cool. It allows us to communicate with our patrons in order to give them real-time specials, etc. I can’t wait to roll it out!