The Top 20 Grubhub Interview Questions to Prepare For

Getting hired at Grubhub the nation’s leading online food delivery marketplace is highly competitive. With over 300,000 restaurant partners and millions of active diners, Grubhub is a coveted place to work. To stand out and prove you are the right fit during the interview process, you must demonstrate an in-depth understanding of Grubhub’s business, vision, and technology.

This article compiles 20 of the most common Grubhub interview questions, based on insights shared by former employees and candidates on Glassdoor. Master these questions, and you will walk into your Grubhub interview ready to knock it out of the park. Let’s get started!

1. Why do you want to work for Grubhub?

Grubhub has captured over 50% market share in online food delivery in the US I’m excited by the opportunity to contribute to the technology powering this rapid growth, The huge scale and impact of Grubhub’s platform is highly motivating

2. What qualities make you a good fit for Grubhub?

I have strong technical skills as well as a creative mindset. Grubhub needs both these traits to keep innovating. I’m passionate about Grubhub’s mission of connecting people to the food they love. Because of this, I want to make solutions that help diners, drivers, and restaurants with real problems.

3. How would you improve the Grubhub driver app?

I would focus on enhancing the navigation and mapping capabilities. Advanced algorithms to optimize routing and provide ETAs incorporating real-time traffic data would improve delivery efficiency. Gamification through incentives and status levels could motivate drivers. Machine learning applied to order assignment can help balance workloads across drivers.

4. What do you know about how Grubhub’s delivery process works?

When a diner places an order on Grubhub the request goes to the restaurant. Grubhub then matches a nearby driver using demand prediction algorithms. The driver travels to the restaurant, picks up the order, and completes delivery. Grubhub’s technology handles order tracking communications, and payments throughout this process.

5. How would you reduce delivery times and improve efficiency?

To figure out when the food would be delivered, I would use predictive analytics on past food preparation times to take that into account. Using geographic and traffic data to train machines can help drivers find the best routes and assign them to the best restaurants. I would also look into dynamic rerouting and in-transit order batching to intelligently group deliveries.

6. What key metrics would you track for the Grubhub driver app?

For the driver app, I would track acceptance rate, average delivery time, deliveries per hour, customer rating and cancellation rate. These provide insights into driver performance, restaurant turnaround times and diner satisfaction. I would break metrics down by geography and time period to identify opportunities.

7. How would you go about detecting fraud on Grubhub’s platform?

I would create fraud detection models using techniques like decision trees, clustering and anomaly detection on data like order frequency, size and timing as well as customer, restaurant and driver behavior. I would also analyze reviews, complaints and cancellation rates for signals. Detecting collusion between accounts would be important.

8. Tell us about a time you had a conflict with someone at work. How did you handle it?

When a colleague and I disagreed on technical approach for a project, I scheduled a 1:1 meeting to understand their perspective. By listening actively, I found we had different assumptions. We discussed pros and cons of each approach until we agreed on a combined solution using the best of both. This helped strengthen our relationship.

9. Describe a time you faced achallenging technical problem. How did you approach and solve it?

On one project, our app crashed randomly due to a rare concurrency bug. I looked through logs but could not reproduce it. I got help from teammates to trace the flow across services. We discovered a race condition in a 3rd party API call from multiple threads. Fixing the locking and adding circuit breakers solved the issue. It taught me the value of teamwork and methodical debugging.

10. Why do you want to join Grubhub as a software engineer?

Grubhub software engineers get to work on products used by millions daily. The sheer scale and impact is exciting. I also like that engineering is core to Grubhub’s business – it’s technology that drives the competitive advantage. The opportunity to innovate on logistics and food delivery ecosystems attracted me to this role.

11. How would you design Grubhub’s architecture?

I would use a scalable microservices architecture on the cloud. Different domain services like ordering, driver assignment and tracking can scale independently. I would add resiliency through retries, circuit breakers and rate limiting. Async event-driven communication between services improves performance. Redundancy and auto-scaling ensure uptime under vast loads.

12. How would you improve the search experience on Grubhub?

I would let users refine location by Adding zip code or cross-streets for hyperlocal results. Boosting keyword matches in menu items and reviews improves relevance. Categorizing restaurants by cuisine type facilitates discovery. User history can customize rankings while collaborative filtering spots trends. Food photos and personalized recommendations make search immersive.

13. What would you do if you disagreed with your manager about a technical decision?

First, I would request a 1:1 meeting with my manager to understand their rationale and explain my perspective. If unconvinced after discussion, I would agree to trial their approach first. I would put my reservations aside and execute it to the best of my ability. During and after implementation, I would collect data to validate or disprove my concerns. I would then summarize the learnings objectively for my manager.

14. How do you stay up-to-date on the latest developments in your field?

I read technology newsletters like Software Engineering Daily to learn industry best practices. I follow thought leaders on blogs and social media. I participate in online developer communities to exchange ideas. I regularly read academic papers and journals to keep my CS fundamentals sharp. I attend local meetups and tech conferences when possible. I also take online courses on platforms like Coursera to pick up new skills.

15. Tell me about a time you failed at something. What happened and how did you grow from it?

Early in my career, I was assigned a project utilizing a new open-source tool. In my excitement to try it out, I overlooked gaps in my understanding. Mid-project, I hit multiple blocking issues that stemmed from my knowledge gaps but I struggled alone instead of seeking help. This led to blow past deadlines. However, this experience taught me the importance of clearly defining scope, being honest about my abilities and proactively finding solutions – lessons that have served me well since.

16. Why do you want to be a software engineer?

I’m passionate about using technology to create products that improve people’s lives. As a software engineer, I get to solve real human problems through code on a massive scale. I love the mix of logic, problem solving and creativity involved. The fast pace of innovation keeps it exciting. I also enjoy the collaborative teamwork aspect and opportunities to mentor others in this field.

17. What appeals to you most about working for Grubhub?

Grubhub’s mission to connect hungry diners with delicious food resonates with me. The rapid growth of its market share is proof the problem it solves is real and its execution strong. I’m excited by the chance to work on products experienced daily by millions nationwide. The sheer scale and tangible impact of innovations here is unmatched. Being part of bettering people’s lives through food delivery technology is highly meaningful.

18. How do you handle a heavy workload under tight deadlines?

I thrive under pressure thanks to my optimization skills. When facing a high-pressure deadline, I start by carefully prioritizing tasks based on impact. I focus on the critical 20% that drives 80% of outcomes. If still overwhelmed, I get help by delegating non-core items to teammates. Checklists keep me organized. I chunk work into smaller milestones and reward progress. Staying calm and avoiding multitasking improves my efficiency and quality under pressure.

19. What is your greatest strength that makes you suitable for Grubhub?

My greatest strength is my user empathy – I excel at putting myself in the shoes of Grubhub’s diners, drivers and restaurants. This allows me to identify their real unmet needs and come up with solutions from their perspective. Whether improving delivery ETAs or making the driver app more intuitive, I can maximize value for all users because I consider their problems holistically. Grubhub’s multi-sided marketplace requires this user empathy to get the balance right.

20. What is one thing you would change about Grubhub?

Given the rise of ghost kitchens optimized for delivery, I believe Grubhub is missing a big opportunity in that space. I would have Grubhub expand offerings from virtual restaurant brands operating out of ghost kitchens. With their lower overhead and delivery-focused menus, these brands can reach more areas cost-effectively. More diverse offerings also boost customer retention for Grubhub. It’s a win-win for both parties.