McDonald’s Adds DoorDash as Delivery Partner

Mike Pomranz
Uber Eats is still in the mix, but DoorDash offers a wider reach for the burger chain.

Not that it was hard to get McDonald’s in the past — the chain has somewhere in the neighborhood of 14,000 U.S. locations — but if you want to get McDonald’s delivered, it’s about to get even easier. After launching delivery exclusively with Uber Eats in 2017, the chain has announced plans to begin working with a second delivery service, DoorDash.

McDonald’s current offers delivery via Uber Eats at about 9,100 locations across the country, according to Nation’s Restaurant News, but starting on July 29, the chain will also begin testing delivery through DoorDash at 200 locations in the Houston area before likely working with the brand in other areas as well. “Our intent is to clearly expand with DoorDash beyond Houston for sure,” Bill Garrett, senior vice president of operations for McDonald’s, told NRN.

DoorDash offers a clear advantage for a major national brand like McDonald’s: Back in January, they announced they had become the first restaurant delivery service to operate in all 50 states, claiming to reach 80 percent of Americans. And by March, DoorDash had taken the lead in the delivery game, passing both UberEats and former leader Grubhub to grab the largest percentage of the delivery market, according to Fortune.

McDonald’s further emphasized to NRN that Uber Eats hadn’t done anything wrong, but the chain simply wanted to reach more customers and appease franchisees who wanted more delivery options. “This is about the customers. We want to be where the customers are,” Garrett was quoted as saying. “We are really happy with our partnership with the folks at Uber.” It’s worth noting that though McDonald’s is no longer working exclusively with Uber Eats, the burger giant did ink a new, non-exclusive deal to continue working with the service moving forward.

However, in the immediate future, DoorDash is where McDonald’s is focusing. “In a few short years, McDelivery, has become an important part of our growth and our customer-centric strategy,” Chris Kempczinski, President of McDonald’s USA, said in a statement. “Building on the success of McDelivery in the US, we’re excited to make McDelivery accessible to customers on DoorDash.”

DoorDash COO Christopher Payne also chimed in, stating, “McDonald’s is a customer favorite and a leader in its craft, and it’s an honor to offer their loyal fan base more ways to enjoy McDelivery.” McDonald’s will also become part of DoorDash’s DashPass unlimited free delivery monthly subscription service.