Food delivery services are a boon for busy people who do not have the time to cook a meal or drive to a restaurant on the other side of the town. The ease and efficiency that come with food delivery services have made them an essential part of our daily routines. This is the reason why food delivery apps like Uber Eats and Postmates have become the must-haves on our phones. The country’s food industry has drastically changed in the last two decades, with regard to everything from service to consumption patterns.

The beginning of food delivery services

World Wide Waiter is known to have spearheaded the online food delivery scene in the country.

Top food delivery services

Food delivery in the US has come a long way. You no longer have to get on call to scream your order over the deafening background noise, nor do you have to wait for three hours to get a pizza delivered to your door.

• DoorDash

DoorDash was founded in the year 2013 by four Stanford students. It uses logistics services to deliver lunch, dinner, and breakfast from restaurants, and, on an average, charges somewhere between $5–$7 as delivery fees.

• Waiter.com

Waiter.com has become a premier food delivery service that is much loved for its focus on working people. It started out by catering to the working population that hardly has time to cook or go out to grab a takeaway. Even today, Waiter.com strives hard to serve such customers by ensuring that their requirements are met smoothly.

It has an extensive menu that offers Caribbean, Mexican, and Thai cuisines, among others. It has customized meal plans for workplaces—think dinners for a team that is working extra hours, a special Friday breakfast for staff, and many more personalized offerings. Some cities where Waiter.com is highly functional are San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, San Jose, and more.

• GrubHub

GrubHub provides food delivery and restaurant take-out services in about 200,000 restaurants across 4,000 cities in the country. It charges varying delivery fees, which are usually set by the restaurant. With GrubHub, you can call for your desired cuisine by checking out the elaborate list of restaurant menus on its app.

• Uber Eats

You can order a wide variety of food items on Uber Eats through your Uber account. Uber Eats is especially popular for its speedy deliveries. The delivery fees for Uber Eats, too, vastly depend on the location, restaurant, and availability of couriers.

• Seamless

Seamless is another popular food service that lets you order food for delivery and takeout from nearby restaurants. It focuses on places and menus in the neighborhood, resulting in lightning-fast food delivery. What makes this company stand out is that it offers great discounts and deals on a range of food items.

• Postmates

Postmates is widely known for its food as well as grocery delivery services. This brand delivers items from over 600,000 retailers, restaurants, and grocery stores across various cities. The “Postmates Unlimited” feature offered by this food delivery service comprises several perks for its members.

Vital food delivery statistics

• 60 percent of the country’s consumers order food at least once a week
• Online food delivery has grown more than dine-in services by 300 percent since 2014
• 87 percent of Americans say that food delivery apps have made their lives easy, and 63 percent say that it is more convenient to get food delivered than to dine out with family
• 31 percent of consumers say that they use a third-party delivery service twice a week
• 60 percent of restaurant owners claim that food delivery has increased their sales
• 59 percent of orders coming from millennials fall under either delivery or takeout services
• According to restaurant owners, working with third-party service providers has raised sales by 10–20%

Top trends that will dominate the future of food delivery industry

• Millennials will continue being the driving force behind the industry

Millennials are known to have disrupted various industries, and the food industry is no exception. Young people spend the most on prepared meals, as compared to the older generations who prefer eating home-cooked meals. Millennials are a busy lot and often need a quick fix while hopping from one meeting/destination to another. Recent research suggests that three out of five millennials order meals from food delivery apps and prefer quick-service restaurants over traditional fine-dining.

• Consumers will be able to order using different platforms

Domino’s Pizza was the pioneer when it came to taking orders on Twitter, enabling users to tweet to get pizza delivered to their doorsteps. Apart from this, one can also place orders using different devices such as a smart TV, smartwatch, etc. Pizza Hut, too, had come up with an innovative technology that tracked the movement of one’s eyes to record orders. These are just a few examples of how the process of placing an order is gradually changing

• Food delivery will get newer twists

Delivery robots have arrived in a few countries. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are at the forefront of change in the food delivery industry. There are also places where food is delivered via drones. Delivery patterns have been changing over time to keep up with rising demands and time constraints, and the introduction of technology will only ensure that these advancements are constantly taken up a notch.

• Use of Augmented Reality (AR) will increase

AR has been revolutionizing various industries, and the food delivery industry is no exception. These technologies can help restaurants and companies to improve marketing campaigns, enhance menus, increase sales, streamline staff training, and so much more. The day is not far when most restaurants will drive their investments towards building hi-tech kitchens and advanced delivery systems. Currently, very few companies have opened their doors to AR. However, these technologies are certainly here to stay.

• Crypto payments might gain prominence

You can now order your meal using a cryptocurrency. This service has already arrived and is expected to become popular in the near future. Some of the food companies that have started accepting cryptocurrencies are Feastly, Papa John’s Pizza, Levy Restaurants, and a few more.

Reasons why people prefer food delivery to eating out

One of the biggest reasons why people like to get food delivered at home through an app is because they get varied choices. When you go to a restaurant, you are forced to pick from a set number of menus, but when you order food on an app or website, you get to choose from multiple menus and even places. This is also why food delivery is chosen during house parties and other gatherings; every individual gets to choose what they want to eat.

Having food delivered to your doorstep means that you do not have to cook a meal. It gives you the convenience of skipping a cooking session and concentrating on other urgent tasks at hand. Moreover, when you order food online, you save the hassle of dressing up, driving to the restaurant, finding a parking spot, and waiting for your order to be prepared. Food delivery services bring food right to your doorstep, enabling you to relish your favorite dish in the comfort of your home.

When you order food online, the task of washing dishes is either considerably reduced or eliminated altogether—you can choose to eat in the container in which the food gets delivered or pull out just a couple of dishes/bowls and some cutlery.

A food delivery app or website offers real-time updates about the availability of a dish. In case a dish is not available, you have the option of checking menus of other restaurants that may have the same dish. This saves you a lot of disappointment, especially when you are craving a specific dish.

Most food delivery applications let you track your order and offer special services such as midnight delivery, one-person meal plans, and free home delivery on specific orders, among many others. Such types of customizations can only be provided by a meal delivery application because restaurants have certain limitations—for instance, they have to adhere to their closing times. This is another major reason why people choose an app over a sit-down eating experience.

Almost all food delivery apps let consumers view ratings and reviews left by others. These ratings help one in making a decision when trying out a new eating joint or dish. Food delivery apps provide access to ratings related to quality, taste, price, and service. Viewing ratings and reviews is often a quick and easy way to gauge the performance and reputation of a restaurant, by virtue of which one can decide or decide against ordering food from the said place.

In order to offer hassle-free payment options, food delivery apps let you pay with options like cash on delivery, credit or debit cards, and e-wallets, among others. Most people choose apps over restaurants because of the super-quick transactions they facilitate.

Online food apps offer ample discounts and deals. These can help you save a lot of money that you would otherwise spend on eating out frequently. In the case of food delivery apps, it is quite common to see buy-one-get-one-free offers or heavy discounts on scores of food items.

Another concern for some is the lack of privacy in settings such as restaurants. Eating is often an intimate act and having a waiter/manager constantly watching you or stopping by your table to ask you if you need anything more may not be the most pleasant experience for many. Food delivery apps completely eliminate this scenario by letting you eat in the comfort of your home with no external being eyeing you. This is especially important on days when you do not feel like meeting and greeting people, making it one of the many reasons why one chooses to get food delivered to them rather than going out.

Home delivery of food means instant, easy meals as compared to restaurant meals, which follow an ordeal of dressing up, visiting the outlet, placing the order, collecting it, and coming back home. On days when you are famished and caught up with other things, home delivery of food can satisfy your hunger faster than restaurants ever can.

As our lifestyles get busier by the day, food delivery services, too, undergo a massive shift. The days of visiting our favorite restaurants might soon be behind us as we increasingly switch to ordering our favorite dishes at the touch of a button.

Disruptions in the food industry are ongoing and the chances of us fully going back to restaurants are remote. It is more likely that in the near future, there will be a limited number of restaurants that will offer sit-down meals, while most will fully operate through a website or app.