DoorDash is pushing grocery shopping deeper into conversational AI, betting that more consumers will plan meals — and start their grocery trips — inside ChatGPT.
In an online announcement this week, DoorDash said its new app in ChatGPT lets users discover recipes, turn ingredients into shoppable grocery lists and complete purchases through DoorDash’s own app for delivery.
For now, the ChatGPT experience is limited to groceries and select users, the delivery giant said, with broader access and additional categories planned over time. Participating retailers include grocery giants such as Kroger and Safeway, along with regional chains including Wegmans, Bi-Rite, Schnucks and Fairway Markets.
Reaching shoppers earlier in the decision process
More broadly, DoorDash is positioning the integration as a way to reach consumers earlier. This can occur at the moment they’re deciding to make a meal, before they’ve opened a grocery app or typed in a search query.
By showing up inside conversational AI tools like ChatGPT, DoorDash said it’s effectively creating another discovery channel — one that surfaces grocery options in real time and gives consumers and merchants another entry point.
The move follows a similar rollout by Instacart earlier this month. Unlike Instacart’s integration, however, DoorDash’s experience stops short of supporting checkout directly inside the chat.
To get started with DoorDash in ChatGPT, users can go to their account settings, open the “apps” section and sign in to their DoorDash account. From there, DoorDash can be toggled on directly within a chat.
Shoppers can ask ChatGPT for meal or recipe ideas — such as “easy, hearty soups to make for dinner tonight” — and receive tailored recommendations, DoorDash said.
Once a recipe is selected, users can prompt ChatGPT to shop for those ingredients. The app then converts those items into a shoppable grocery list directly within the chat.
When shoppers are ready to place an order, they move into the DoorDash app to review the cart, make changes and complete the purchase from a nearby store. Unlike Instacart’s integration, DoorDash’s experience does not support OpenAI’s Instant Checkout feature.
What DoorDash brings — and what comes next
The launch also comes as OpenAI rolls out its new in-chat app directory. There, users can discover and enable third-party apps, including DoorDash, Instacart and Uber Eats.
DoorDash said its app is currently available to a subset of users and will roll out more broadly in the coming weeks across iOS, Android, desktop and mobile web. The company did not specify which additional categories could follow groceries.
“As we expand this experience to more shopping categories, our focus is on building AI tools that give people time back and make local shopping easier,” said Andy Fang, DoorDash’s co-founder, in a statement.
The timing also coincides with DoorDash’s broader push to scale grocery delivery. In September, Kroger said it would extend its partnership with DoorDash to include full grocery delivery from roughly 2,700 stores in the U.S.
The deal increases DoorDash’s role in Kroger’s third-party delivery mix alongside Instacart and Uber. Kroger ranks No. 6 in Digital Commerce 360’s Top 2000. The database ranks North America’s largest online retailers by their annual ecommerce sales.
Why DoorDash is launching inside ChatGPT now
For grocery and food retailers, the shift marks a move from AI as a discovery tool to more of an execution layer. That shift accelerated in July, when OpenAI introduced its ChatGPT agent framework. The move has fueled experimentation with so-called agentic commerce.
“These new systems can analyze household budgets, scan weekly promotions, suggest recipes, and even check what’s already in your pantry,” wrote Doug Baker, vice president of industry relations at FMI, the Food Marketing Institute, in a recent blog post.
He cautioned that the technology is still early.
“It’s nowhere near perfect yet because the content is not organized,” he said.
But said the pace of change signals how quickly the marketplace could move.
DoorDash’s ChatGPT app follows a separate, but related, step from OpenAI. Earlier this fall, the company opened ChatGPT more broadly to third-party apps, allowing developers to create in-chat experiences that let the AI handle more tasks on users’ behalf.
DoorDash, Instacart, Target and Uber were among the early partners named — a signal that delivery and commerce are emerging as early use cases.
How consumers view AI-assisted shopping
Survey data suggests consumers are increasingly open to using AI to shop, although with clear guardrails.
PwC’s 2025 Future of Consumer Shopping Survey found that 48% of respondents expect their online ordering of groceries and related categories to increase by 2030. Among millennials, that figure climbs to 62%.
Interest in AI-driven shopping is also growing. PwC found that 40% of respondents expect to increase their use of AI to find and compare products. Meanwhile, 33% expect to rely more on AI to make purchases. Among millennials, those figures rise to 54% and 47%, respectively.
Trust, however, remains a constraint. When asked what would make them comfortable letting an AI assistant make purchases, 29% of respondents would want to approve purchases before they happen. Others pointed to safeguards such as a 100% money-back guarantee (28%), the ability to revoke access at any time (25%) or strict spending limits (18%). Still, 32% said they would never trust an AI assistant with their financial access.
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