The Product Dish: Expanding Grubhub’s On- and Off-Campus Dining Through Red Card Athletics Integration

To showcase the product innovation work that Grubhub's Product teams are supporting, we're taking a closer look at the technology and product projects that improve the way customers, merchants, and partners connect through Grubhub.

Grubhub and Red Card Athleticslaunched a new partnership that allows student athletes to use their Red Card funds at dietitian-approved restaurants through the Grubhub platform. Red Card is a leader in mobile technology that helps athletic departments feed their athletes, track food, and stay on budget, currently working with more than 100 athletic departments across the country.

By integrating with Grubhub's platform, this partnership gives athletes more access and convenience, enabling them to use their Red Card funds both on and off campus. Historically, Red Card usage required on-premise hardware at participating merchants, limiting adoption and merchant choice.

What's new?

We've unlocked new product capabilities by adding Red Card Athletics as a new tender type in Grubhub, enabling on-campus and off-campus ordering for student-athletes, with streamlined onboarding, no hardware requirements, and Grubhub+ benefits. Key updates include:

• Enhanced Onboarding Flows: We've introduced tailored setup guides in both the Grubhub and Red Card apps for account linking, campus affiliation, and payment activation. We've also streamlined the EDU email verification process to ensure athlete eligibility and secure fund access.
• On-Campus and Off-Campus Flexibility: The integration now works across campus dining programs and local off-campus merchants, giving athletes more choice while maintaining school-approved merchant lists.
• Geo-Triggered Experience:Students at affiliated campuses receive targeted offers and complimentary Grubhub+ access to encourage personal fund usage, organic discovery, and activation beyond the initial student-athlete scope of the partnership.

How does it work?

The real-time payments integration allows the Red Card tender to be used as a payment method for food and beverages at approved merchants already integrated on the Grubhub platform, helping support hungry athletes with food at all hours of the day in their busy schedule.

• Student-athletesreceive funds allocated from their team and can view real-time balances and accepting locations within the Red Card app. They securely add their Red Card number to their Grubhub account, and when ordering meals, they can select Red Card as their payment method at checkout at dietitian-approved locations. All Red Card Athletes receive complimentary GH+ benefits as part of the partnership benefit.
• For Athletics Directors and Dietitians,the Red Card dashboard simplifies the process of building, customizing, and distributing meal funds to athletes. It enables compliant food options from on- or off-campus locations without requiring new hardware or extra maintenance, while integrating ordering data and receipts for greater visibility into spending and nutrition. The system also supports tax-exempt certifications, ensuring compliance and maximizing the value of allocated funds.
• Merchants and Dining Teamsbenefit from a new rush of captive funds that were previously unavailable with a purely digital integration, while reducing the need for extra hardware or manual receipt collection. On-campus dining locations now have Red Card orders fully integrated into Grubhub's POS and order flow, eliminating secondary tablets and custom processes. Approved off-campus restaurants are also listed in the app for pickup and delivery, with payments automatically integrated into existing accounting systems.

What's next?

The Grubhub Product teams are constantly seeking to deliver a revolutionary dining experience for all higher education dining scenarios. This integration is already active at more than 50 higher education institutions. As the school year progresses, we look forward to continued expansion and rolling out new features that make the integration an even better experience for all users.

Want to be part of the magic behind our product launches? Explore our open Product roles here!