DOORDASH INC.

DoorDash sent warnings to restaurant partners after AI-native startup Bites began listing venues and enabling orders via ChatGPT, routing orders directly to restaurants and charging a $1 flat surcharge. Bites says its model lowers prices for customers and improves margins for restaurants by avoiding DoorDash’s 15–30% commissions and by providing restaurants with customer data. The shift toward LLM-based “agent” ordering could erode DoorDash’s commissions, ad revenue and discovery role, while DoorDash is also exploring agentic ordering features of its own. » More on theverge.com

DoorDash will let customers order via text message through a beta waitlist for US iOS users, using its Ask DoorDash AI to suggest items and handle checkout. The company is piloting DoorDash Air drone deliveries in part of northern California with partners including Chipotle and Popeyes, aiming for sub‑five‑minute drops for small orders. In November DoorDash will expand its Dasher retail returns service nationwide, allowing couriers to return items to retailers for $7.99 without a box or shipping label. » More on theverge.com

DoorDash is acquiring Grubhub's Campus Dining business for $300 million and investing an additional $125 million in Wonder's Series D to gain campus ordering technology and expand it into stadiums, hotels and other venues. The campus network covers over 450 universities, offering an established merchant and consumer infrastructure DoorDash can repurpose, while Wonder's robotics and AI investments could improve fulfillment economics. The deal is strategic but unlikely to materially change near-term earnings given DoorDash's scale; success depends on execution and scaling the platform into new controlled venues. » More on finance.yahoo.com