Every night, people all across America ask the same thing: Whats for dinner? Entrepreneurs Matt Maloney and Mike Evans realized how common this question can be and decided to do something about it. The pair developed and founded Grubhub, an online and mobile takeout food ordering company. Today, hungry customers can use the companys digital platform to order meals directly from more than 50,000 takeout restaurants in many cities throughout the United States. Like other successful entrepreneurs, Matt and Mike were able to start Grubhub and expand it rapidly thanks to the business environment in the United States. To be successful, businesses must navigate factors that impact the five key business environments: the economic and legal environment, technological environment, competitive environment, social environment, and global environment. Even though businesses cannot control these environments, they must be quick to adapt to changes that affect them. For instance, the social environment in the United States has undergone many changes since Grubhubs launch. At first the company focused on serving students and young professionals. But in response to demographic changes and other trends, Grubhub soon expanded its target market beyond students toward families, working moms, and people in smaller cities and suburbs. Grubhubs restaurant network has grown to provide a vast array of food options beyond traditional takeout foods like pizza and burgers. Customers today can order low-fat or vegan food as easy as ordering a pepperoni pizza. Businesses can cater a lunch or order donuts for a morning meeting with just a few clicks. The economic and legal environment in the United States is very favourable for businesses. The government supports private ownership of businesses by providing a stable currency and a legal system that enforces contracts, keeps regulations to a minimum, and avoids bureaucratic roadblocks that hinder businesses. However, companies like Grubhub must follow any laws and regulations that apply to their industry. The expanding technological environment has been a key reason for the success of Grubhub. The vibrant mobile platform developed by Grubhub allows customers to place orders or schedule future deliveries with ease. When the company first entered the market, competition was very slim. Thats not the case today, with competitors such as Postmates and Door Dash providing daily challenges to Grubhub. The competitive environment in the United States has also opened the door to giant firms such as Amazon and Uber to enter the food delivery business. Even though Grubhub holds the advantage of being in business the longest, the company must still work hard every day to keep its 50,000 restaurant customers. The companys policy of no menu markup helps keep it unique among competitors. In business today, every company needs to consider the global environment. Advances in communication and the Internet make it possible for companies like Grubhub to build a business overseas. In the years since its founding, Grubhub has had a tremendous impact on the restaurant industry and has been very profitable. For example, the company was responsible for $3 billion in restaurant food sales. Further research showed that revenue growth in restaurants that used the firms platform was six times greater than restaurants that didnt use it. Going forward, the company will remain committed to connecting diners and restaurants.

By responding to the challenges of the business environment and improving the experience for diners, drivers, and restaurants, Grubhub plans to be part of the U.S. business landscape for the long term.

THINKING IT OVER

Perform an analysis of the business environment of Grubhub.

How Grubhub can meet and beat competition. Provide examples