Walmart (WMT) recently took another step into restaurant delivery, announcing a national partnership with Inspire Brands that puts it more directly in competition with DoorDash (DASH) and Uber Technologies' (UBER) Uber Eats. But the expansion announced recently is still largely limited to restaurants operating as tenants inside Walmart stores, where the logistics are considerably easier to manage. The bigger question is what happens when the company moves beyond these in-store tenants and takes on the more difficult parts of the restaurant delivery market. Until then, the current expansion says more about Walmart’s ambition than its ability to become a structural competitor to the established players.
Walmart is expanding its restaurant delivery strategy through a new collaboration with Inspire Brands, whose portfolio includes Arby's, Jimmy John's, Dunkin, Baskin-Robbins, and Sonic. The partnership will bring restaurant delivery into Walmart’s app. Dunkin’ will be the first brand to launch, starting with 150 in-store tenant locations. Walmart and Dunkin’ then plan to expand the offering to most of Dunkin’s roughly 10,000 U.S. restaurants, including locations outside Walmart’s stores. The broader opportunity is built around Walmart’s existing physical footprint. A customer could place a restaurant order alongside a Walmart purchase and receive both through the same delivery. The retail giant says its footprint is located within 10 miles of about 90% of the U.S. population.
