Club Feast Raises $3.5 Million In Funding Round To Expand Restaurant Deliveries

Club Feast, which is a subscription-based restaurant delivery service, has come out of a seed funding round with $3.5 million, according to a press release.

The round was led by General Catalyst, the release stated, and the seed funding will go toward developing the company’s products, growing the team and expanding to more cities this year.

Club Feast offers meals for $5.99, and there are no membership fees, the release stated. The back end also comes with a feature allowing restaurants the company has partnered with to customize delivery menus, plan orders in advance and prepare bulk meals.

Atallah Atallah, co-founder and CEO of Club Feast, said the pandemic has boosted the need for food delivery services, according to the release.

“With the onset of COVID-19, food delivery has become a core part of people’s daily lives,” he said in the release. “The industry has more than doubled, and average order sizes have increased by 24 percent. “While this growth is exciting, food delivery is in need of innovation — consumers are inundated with delivery options, and restaurant profits are suffering.”

He said Club Feast is a “restaurant-friendly” mode of delivery, according to the release.

Restaurants have been in trouble with the pandemic’s spate of closures and avoidance of in-person dining. According to the release, one in six restaurants have closed around the country due to the pandemic, and almost 90 percent of full-service restaurants have reported declining revenues. There’s been an average decrease of 29 percent year over year.

The pandemic has resulted in what PYMNTS has termed the “bring it to me” economy, with time being the most highly-valued variable, so much so that customers are willing to pay more to save time.

PYMNTS has surveyed tens of thousands of customers over the past nine months, with a majority of three to one saying they have come to prefer getting their food delivered with a fee attached rather than going out for curbside pickup or in-store pickup for free.