"it has always been our practice to transfer the domain to the restaurant as soon as they request it"
This is a form of financial blackmail. Transferring a domain usually requires paying for one year's additional registration to a new registrar and, sometimes, a transfer fee on top of that and, most times, a hosting fee to redirect it. So, to summarize simply, in story form (to make very explicit how much of a scam this is for a business owner):
<GrubHub> We've speculatively registered 50 domains at a cost of $500 to mislead people into using our order form, which at 20% commission* at $25 per order average (that we take out of what we would have paid to you) will pay itself back entirely in 100 orders placed.
<Restaurant> What?! Stop it.
<GrubHub> Hey, no sweat, we're happy to transfer those domains to you. All you need to do is initiate transfers for all of those domains, at the cost of at least $500 out of the revenue that we've been reducing by 20% for every order placed through these sites, and we'll be happy to transfer those domains to you. Also you'll have to find someone to host the redirects for you, and clean up the SEO damage we did. Best of luck with that!
<Restaurant> I don't have $500 because you've been cutting my revenue by 20%!
<GrubHub> Please rate your GrubHub Support experience by filling out a 5 minute survey.
* "Marketing commission": https://ghlearnprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/...
This is a form of financial blackmail. Transferring a domain usually requires paying for one year's additional registration to a new registrar and, sometimes, a transfer fee on top of that and, most times, a hosting fee to redirect it. So, to summarize simply, in story form (to make very explicit how much of a scam this is for a business owner):
<GrubHub> We've speculatively registered 50 domains at a cost of $500 to mislead people into using our order form, which at 20% commission* at $25 per order average (that we take out of what we would have paid to you) will pay itself back entirely in 100 orders placed.
<Restaurant> What?! Stop it.
<GrubHub> Hey, no sweat, we're happy to transfer those domains to you. All you need to do is initiate transfers for all of those domains, at the cost of at least $500 out of the revenue that we've been reducing by 20% for every order placed through these sites, and we'll be happy to transfer those domains to you. Also you'll have to find someone to host the redirects for you, and clean up the SEO damage we did. Best of luck with that!
<Restaurant> I don't have $500 because you've been cutting my revenue by 20%!
<GrubHub> Please rate your GrubHub Support experience by filling out a 5 minute survey.
* "Marketing commission": https://ghlearnprod.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/...