DoorDash, which reported 970 million orders and $4.5 billion in revenue in the second quarter of this year, has begun challenging smaller competitors. The company sent warning emails to restaurants listed on Bites, an AI-native startup, claiming these listings might be unauthorized and potentially illegal.
Bites operates in the Bay Area with approximately 300 restaurants. Unlike traditional platforms that charge 15–30 percent commissions, Bites uses a flat $1 surcharge per order. The service integrates with point-of-sale systems to allow users to place orders directly through ChatGPT, bypassing third-party intermediaries.
The startup was co-founded by Matt Maloney, who also co-founded Grubhub. Restaurateur Jay Jayaraman reported that his reliance on DoorDash dropped from 80 percent to 25 percent of his orders after adopting Bites, noting higher margins due to lower fees and direct access to customer data.
The conflict highlights a broader tension between established apps and AI agents. DoorDash, which generated $1 billion in ad revenue in 2024, faces a future where LLMs may replace traditional app-based discovery. The company is also developing its own agentic ordering features, such as reordering via iMessage.
