20 Food Delivery Statistics That Will Make You Say Wow

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many business industries. Even the restaurant industry and food industry couldn’t escape its wrath and saw a drastic downfall in growth. But it gave rise to new opportunities in the industry; people stopped eating out and started ordering food online. 

Multiple restaurant businesses created their food delivery platforms, and also apps like Uber Eats and DoorDash witnessed a substantial hike in their customer base. Now 60% of Americans use online delivery services for food once per week.

If you are in the food delivery industry, there are a lot of opportunities you can explore and scale your delivery business to new heights. Look at the online ordering statistics to better understand the online ordering trend to deliver a quality experience to your customers.

20 Interesting Food Delivery Statistics in 2024

The collection, analysis, and understanding of food delivery statistics are very important as they can affect your business and give you incremental sales. These statistics give you a bird’s eye view of the industry so that you get more insights and know what to do to gain greater profits.

1. The number of online food orders has been growing by 300% when compared to dine-in food orders ever since 2014.

2. Restaurant professionals have noticed online food deliveries account for 40% of restaurant sales compared to their dining restaurants. 

3. In the past five years, the revenue of the meal delivery market has increased by 204%.

4. The United States food delivery business jumped by 17% during the pandemic.

5. On the online food delivery market, the average American spends $67 on takeouts every single week. 

Source: zippia.com

Food delivery apps statistics

Online food delivery services are undoubtedly the reason for the greater delivery sales for most businesses. This is why these online ordering services are seeing such impressive growth on their platforms. Let us look at how much they have grown with some interesting statistics.

6. Among popular food delivery apps Grubhub has the greatest food delivery market share at 37.8%, which is larger than that of Uber Eats which stands at 36%.

7. The revenue for Uber Eats in 2021 was a staggering $8.3 billion which is over four times greater than their revenue in 2019 at $1.9 billion.

8. On average, restaurant operators can increase their restaurant sales volume anywhere between 10-20% by simply partnering up with a third-party food delivery app or having an online ordering platform. 

9. Popular delivery app DoorDash has more than doubled its number of active users since 2019. It had 25 million active users in 2021 compared to only 10 million in 2019. 

Online food order consumer preferences statistics

The surge in the advanced online platforms for food deliveries has enabled businesses to market in an optimized way using consumer patterns and preferences. Look at the online food delivery consumer preference statistics to tailor your food business marketing.

10. Over 52% of the customers in the United States prefer to call restaurants for their food delivery orders.

11. Friday is considered the busiest day for food restaurant delivery services, with nearly 10 billion visits.

12. The average family in America spends upwards of $2000 every year on dining and ordering from food delivery companies. 

13. Over 40% of customers say that they would buy a DIY meal kit delivery from their favorite restaurants if they offered them.

14. 62% of food delivery customers blame both the delivery company and restaurants if they receive bad service. The most raised issue is with the temperature of the food. Due to delayed deliveries, customers don’t get the best customer experience.

15. Nearly 43% of consumers report that they specifically order food online because they do not want to take up the responsibility of cooking themselves.  

16. Customers are likely to pay almost 20% more when using an online ordering system to get pizza delivery when compared to ordering it over the phone. 

Dine-in restaurants vs. online food delivery statistics

No doubt, in the post-pandemic times, we have witnessed a hike in the online food delivery business, but dine-in restaurants are trying hard to keep their loyal customer base. 

17. 77% of restaurants in the United States have tie-ups with third-party applications to deliver their food orders.

18. The average spending of Americans has increased, and they spend 15% more on food deliveries than on dine-in.

19. 62% of American customers still prefer dine-in at restaurants when compared to online food delivery systems.

20. Over 90% of the best-performing restaurants in the nation offered mobile food delivery options or some form of rewards program to their customers. 

These food delivery statistics can help you get a basic understanding of the food delivery business. But, if you want to please your food buyers with timely deliveries, adopting a route planner can help you with that. How? Let’s check it out in the next section.

Serve Piping-hot Meals to Your Customers Under Minutes Using Upper’s Fully Automated Process

The biggest reason for the disappointment of those that opt for food delivery service is late delivery. But, you can turn the tables using routing software, which can help you make more deliveries in less time.

Such a software is Upper that can truly elevate your delivery speed and efficiency. With the state-of-the-art route planning abilities of Upper, you are able to whip up the best possible routes for each and every delivery within mere seconds.

Delivery delays are completely eliminated when you have highly accurate estimated times of arrival and highly efficient routes to follow. Having such innovative features at your disposal is a surefire way to surpass the competition and ensure total customer satisfaction.

Use Most Efficient Routes for Food Deliveries

Plan and optimize routes within seconds on Upper to reach your food buyer’s location. Deliver food to right customers in a timely manner using best routes

FAQs

Yes, the growth of food delivery in the grocery and restaurant market is evident when you look at the growing number of food delivery app users, ghost kitchens, and third-party food delivery services.

Customers from the millennial and gen z generations seem to favor using food delivery apps and grocery delivery apps much more when compared to other generations.

You need to focus on minimizing the customer delivery time and maximizing the food quality to strive in the online food delivery segment.

Any business indulging in the online food delivery industry is going to have to face the following challenges to make its business successful.

  • Inexperienced staff
  • Inability to meet customer demands
  • Delivery delays
  • Food safety and sanitation
  • High operational costs

The largest food delivery platform is Grubhub followed by Doordash, UberEats, and Instacart. These are a few of the leading services for food delivery in the United States.

Conclusion

In the ever-evolving digital world, it is amazing to see how flourishing the food delivery demand is. Getting to eat your favorite meals from miles away on a whim with a single click is something that people in the past could only dream of doing. But in the modern day, it has become normal.

Though with this newfound convenience come delivery challenges left for businesses to deal with. The challenges can not only raise costs but also cause disappointment in the minds of your customers. This is why looking for new solutions to these challenges becomes crucial. 

Thankfully this is where software solutions such as Upper come into play with advanced features that allow businesses to cut down on delivery times and fuel costs. The faster delivery performance and efficiency gained by Upper is the best experienced first-hand with our 7-day free trial.

Author Bio
Rakesh Patel
Rakesh Patel

Rakesh Patel, author of two defining books on reverse geotagging, is a trusted authority in routing and logistics. His innovative solutions at Upper Route Planner have simplified logistics for businesses across the board. A thought leader in the field, Rakesh's insights are shaping the future of modern-day logistics, making him your go-to expert for all things route optimization. Read more.

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