The new kid on the online food-ordering block is now GrubHub.com, which went live for Philadelphians last week.
GrubHub aims to provide a comprehensive list of restaurants' menus while also working with some restaurants to streamline their delivery and pickup business through online ordering.
The service, which launched in 2005, is currently operating in four other cities: Chicago, Boston, San Francisco and New York. Philadelphia is its fifth city.
The site operates very similarly to Campusfood.com. Users can go on, locate a restaurant and place an order for delivery or pickup, provided the restaurant has set up online ordering with GrubHub.
However, GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney indicated that his site is not just a Campusfood clone, as Grubhub lists all restaurants, regardless of whether they have a partnership with the company.
Currently, the Philadelphia edition of the site has listings for 583 restaurants, according to the company.
Despite the severe downturn in the economy, Maloney indicated that business is still going strong.
"The delivery segment itself is growing pretty fast even though restaurant spending is down overall," he said. "People are trading down in a sense, by opting to not go out and instead order delivery."
Maloney also said the site processed roughly 20 million food orders last year.
With a myriad of online ordering options, ranging from Jimmy John's to Campusfood, Penn students don't seem to mind adding another site to their bookmarks - especially with restauranteur Stephen Starr endorsing the site in the company's press release.
Wharton and College sophomore Dan Rickles, a self-proclaimed food aficionado, was pleased to hear about more food choices right at his fingertips.
"The revolving door of Greek Lady, Chipotle, Jimmy John's, etc. gets stale after a while," he said. "Hopefully this site will bring in some more variety from Center City."
College senior Kara Kopp said she is looking for simplicity.
"I want easy access," she said. "Show me what each restaurant offers so I can just order."
Although the concept of delivery is unheard of to College junior Alexandre Thorel, an exchange student from Paris, he still acknowledged its potential usefulness.
"We don't do delivery in France, so I'm not going to use it, but it's a good idea," he said.
The site also plans to launch a food blog in the very near future, where users can post their thoughts on new restaurants and other related topics.
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