Walmart is starting to deliver restaurant meals with your grocery order

4 days ago 13

Customers walk in the parking lot of a Walmart store with plants on shelves outside of the main entrance.

Walmart is getting into the restaurant delivery game.
Some Spark delivery workers now field orders from in-store restaurants like McDonald's.
It's the latest expansion for Walmart's delivery operations.

Your next food delivery order might come to your door thanks to Walmart.

The big-box chain began asking its Spark delivery workers at some stores to deliver restaurant orders, according to messages sent to the workers. The orders involve picking up food at restaurants inside Walmart stores, including some McDonald's and Dunkin' locations.

Restaurant orders are a new frontier for Walmart's e-commerce business, which topped $150 billion in global sales for the first time last fiscal year.

One in-app message viewed by Business Insider indicated that the restaurant deliveries began last Monday. Another, sent via email to a Spark worker, said that some restaurant orders would be batched for delivery with orders of Walmart merchandise.

A Walmart spokesperson declined to comment, citing a quiet period ahead of the company's next earnings report on Thursday.

"You may start seeing restaurant delivery offers from participating restaurants located inside Walmart stores in your area, offering more ways to earn," the email reads.

The orders "may include items like meals, sides, or drinks," the message says.

Besides national chains like McDonald's and Dunkin', some Walmart stores are home to regional restaurants. California-based hot dog chain Wienerschnitzel, for example, said last year that it would open restaurants at several Walmart stores in the Western US.

Walmart has grown its Spark delivery network over the last several years. The company introduced the service in 2018. Spark uses Walmart's 4,600 US stores to fill orders.

The service focuses on same-day deliveries of fresh produce, electronics, and other Walmart merchandise. The retailer is trying to deliver those items faster — a demand that's increasing pressure on the store workers who pick items and pack the orders.

Spark workers also make deliveries for other retailers, such as Home Depot and Sur La Table.

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Alex Bitter is a senior retail reporter covering the gig economy, food, and retail. His work focuses major gig delivery and ride-hailing apps, including Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, Instacart, and Walmart's Spark. He is interested in everything from what it's like to work on the apps to the companies' business strategies.Some of his recent stories feature gig workers who have been deactivated on the apps, DoorDash hiring traditional employees to make deliveries, gig workers' use of bots, and gig work expanding into new professions, such as nursing.Alex has also written about Aldi's US expansion, Starbucks' turnaround efforts, and the fallout from Kraft-Heinz's budget cutting. Convenience store chain Sheetz ended its "smile policy" after his reporting.Before joining Insider in September 2020, he wrote about consumer and retail companies for S&P Global Market Intelligence. He's a graduate of the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa and grew up on the Big Island.Alex lives in the Washington, DC, area, where you can find him studying ancient coins or searching for Civil War artifacts with his metal detector in his free time.Got a tip? Reach out at [email protected] or via encrypted messaging app Signal at +1 (808) 854-4501.