(Bloomberg) -- Grubhub Inc. was accused in a lawsuit of responding to growing competition in the food-delivery business by adding 150,000 restaurants to its platform without their permission.
To disguise the subterfuge, Grubhub instructs delivery drivers to place orders with the restaurants themselves and pretend to be the intended customers when they pick up the food, according to the complaint filed Monday in federal court in Chicago.
The case was brought as a proposed class-action on behalf of eateries across the U.S. by the owners of two restaurants, Antonia's in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and the Farmer's Wife in Sebastopol, California.
The restauranteurs claim Grubhub is breaking the law by using their names and logos without authorization and harming their reputations by providing diners with a “suboptimal diner experience.”
Grubhub declined to comment on the suit.
The case is Scott v. Grubhub Inc., 20-cv-06334, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).
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