Lunchbox, an online ordering software provider, announced that it had acquired Spread, an online marketplace that connects restaurants with diners. The acquisition will create a commission-free food delivery platform, with Lunchbox’s software processing the transactions while Spread will handle the deliveries. 

The acquisition will transition Lunchbox beyond a white-labeled ordering platform. The company, which currently services multi-unit restaurant chains such as Bareburger and Fuku, will widen its customer base to mom-and-pop eateries and independent, single-location restaurants.  

Founded in 2020, Spread currently serves over 1,500 restaurants in New York, with total order value exceeding USD 3 million. Spread charges a flat fee (usually USD 1-2) from restaurants, instead of charging a percentage of order value like third-party delivery platforms GrubHub and UberEats, whose commission fees can be as high as 15%-30%. 

Lunchbox provides online ordering software for restaurants to facilitate direct ordering by customers and reduce dependency on third-party apps. The company plans on shifting to a self-serve model in 2021, where smaller, independent food businesses will be able to deploy Lunchbox systems on their websites/apps, in addition to the larger chains and restaurants currently working with Lunchbox.