ASAP Inc., stylized Asap, is an American online and mobile prepared food ordering and delivery and Grocery delivery company. It originated in

Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasieu ...

, where it was founded as Waitr, Inc. by Chris Meaux with support from McNeese State University. The company is now headquartered in

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234th- ...

History

Waitr, Inc. was founded at McNeese State University as a project led by Chris Meaux. It quickly spread throughout Louisiana and across the southern United States. In 2015, Waitr hired Griff’s Hamburger Executive Cory Griffin as Chief Operating Officer. In 2018, the company was acquired through a $308 million reverse takeover by

Tilman Fertitta Tilman Joseph Fertitta (born 1957) is an American billionaire businessman and television personality. He is the chairman, CEO, and owner of Landry's, Inc. He also owns the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Houston Rockets. Fertitta is ch ...

's Lancadia holdings, which is part of the Fertitta Entertainment portfolio. In January 2019, Waitr acquired

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

-based ''Bite Squad'' for $321 million, which effectively doubled Waitr's size. Bite Squad founder Kian Salehi stayed on for several months post-acquisition before leaving the company. In 2019, the company announced it would lay off all of its employed drivers, and move to a contract-only model, similar to Grubhub and

DoorDash DoorDash, Inc. is an American company that operates an online food ordering and food delivery platform. The company is based in San Francisco, California. It went public in December 2020 on NYSE and trades under the symbol DASH. With a 56% mar ...

. The move resulted in 2,300 drivers being laid off. Carl Grimstad was appointed Waitr's CEO in 2020 and tasked with recovering the company after a net loss in 2019. Despite the significant increase in footprint it gained from the Bite Squad acquisition, Waitr still only had a 3% share of the US food delivery market. Grimstad focused on differentiating the company from its competitors, especially

, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. In 2021, Waitr made several major acquisitions. It bought Florida-based food delivery service Delivery Dudes in March for about . It acquired three payment processing companies and a

point of sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

(POS) software company all focused on

cannabis dispensaries Cannabis dispensaries in the United States or marijuana dispensaries are a local government regulated physical location, typically inside a retail storefront or office building, in which a person can purchase cannabis and cannabis related item ...

: ProMerchant, Flow Payments in March, Cape Cod Merchant Services, and Retail Innovation Labs Inc, makers of the Cova POS and inventory platforms, for in December. The company announced in January 2022 that later in the year it would be rebranding itself ASAP and shift focus to non-restaurant deliveries, particularly cannabis. The company expected to begin cannabis deliveries in Canada by the end of the year. The renaming and a payment of were part of a settlement with

Waiter.com Waiter.com, also formerly known as World Wide Waiter, is an online restaurant delivery service that went online in early December 1995. It was founded by two Stanford University Business School graduates Craig Cohen and Michael Adelberg. Althoug ...

who had sued Waitr over trademark infringement. Waiter.com had been founded in 1995 and trademarked its name in 2000, 8 years before Waitr's founding.

References

External links

* {{Online food ordering Online food retailers of the United States American companies established in 2008 Online food ordering