Grubhub will make its big game debut in the third quarter of Super Bowl LX with a 30-second ad that promotes a brand new plan that can see the company not charge delivery and service fees on restaurant orders over $50, per details shared with Marketing Dive.
In “Grubhub Will Eat The Fees,” a motley crew of bedraggled members of the patrician class sit around a dining room table in a stately mansion. After having fun with the spread, the group is presented with the final course: the fees. An argument about who will eat the fees erupts but ends when the ever-dapper George Clooney appears as the voice of reason and utters: “Grubhub will eat the fees.” The phrase quickly becomes a rallying cry at the table.
The ad was directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos, whose eye for bizarre characters and trademark fisheye lens lends a surreal, funhouse effect to the spot, while the location is paying homage to his 2018 film “The Favourite.” “Bugonia” director Lanthimos, who previously helmed ads for Gucci, Prada and Jameson, was also tapped by Squarespace to direct its Super Bowl ad this 12 months.
“[Lanthimos] is really a master craftsman, and in the event you know film, you actually know that he shoots in such a cinematic way using 35-millimeter film, and he’s just meticulous [about] every decision he makes, from wardrobe to the way he runs through each line in the spot in each take,” said Marnie Kain, vp, head of name and creative at Grubhub. “He has this incredible ability to make the familiar feel strange and curious to where you only simply cannot look away.”
Along with Grubhub’s Super Bowl debut, the ad represents the big game debut for Clooney, who has long been the face of the Nespresso brand. The Hollywood star, most recently seen in last 12 months’s “Jay Kelly,” brings a “subversive twist” to the recent ad, Kain explained.
“Here’s this solid of eclectic characters that is de facto turned off by this final course of the fees, dramatizing the experience that many have [with food delivery],” the executive said. “George represents that credible, likable authority that shows you that there’s a higher way.”
Reasserting the brand
The brand worked with Stagwell agency Anomaly on the campaign, which can proceed throughout the 12 months across TV, digital, social, radio, influencer, cinema and out-of-home channels.
“When we first heard the idea from Anomaly, it was really rooted in this concept of ‘when others won’t, GrubHub will,’ and it is a much greater platform for us to look to the future and really boldly do what others in the category won’t to make it higher for consumers,” Kain said.
The recent offer goes live today upfront of the big game to allow customers to make the most of the platform for gatherings around the Super Bowl, a very important day for food delivery, Kain said. The company hopes the recent value proposition will help it reclaim its position as an authority and innovator in food delivery.
The campaign arrives at a time when consumers are under economic strain, with food delivery fees a growing area of concern for some. The average fee on an order over $50 across delivery apps is about $13 — about $675 a 12 months for weekly delivery orderers — per data shared by Grubhub.
“This is de facto something that is totally recent and unique in the category that’s going to save consumers a ton of cash. There’s definitely no higher place than the Super Bowl stage to announce this shift in category economics,” Kain said.
Founded in 2004, Grubhub was an early mover in the digital food delivery but has lost market share to competitors DoorDash and Uber. Wonder, an organization that operates delivery-focused food halls, closed its $650 million acquisition of Grubhub in January 2025. Since the acquisition, Grubhub has added tens of hundreds of restaurants to its platform and improved its ads and offers platforms, CEO Howard Migdal told Restaurant Dive.
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