The way people eat food hasn’t changed all that much, but the way people are receiving their meals certainly has. For instance, the number of fast food restaurants in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1970s, and American consumers are spending more than $500 billion on restaurant dining each year; $200 million of that is spent on takeout and delivery. Additionally, 34% of Americans visit casual dining restaurants once a week and more than 200 million U.S. consumers visited a sit-down restaurant in 2018.
According to Investor’s Business Daily, currently, only about 10% of that $200 in takeout and delivery is managed through online ordering. But that will soon change, as well.
In fact, online food delivery is projected to grow as much as 12% per year over the next five years — and it likely won’t stop there.
“For chains and independent restaurants across the country, it’s no longer a question of if they should move into the online channel, but how,” said Matt Maloney, Chief Executive at Grubhub, which leads the digital food delivery field with a market share of roughly 45%.
In addition to ordering online through Grubhub, there are plenty of additional apps that offer digital food delivery, as well. Here are some of the most popular online food delivery apps around the globe:
- Swiggy — Swiggy is the most popular food delivery app in India, with more than 10 million downloads. It’s only available in eight cities across India, however, but will likely expand.
- UberEats — More than 1,000 major cities around the world offer UberEats’ services. This app allows clients to select their preferred food from local restaurants, and the UberEats driver will deliver it directly to the clients’ location. People certainly trust Uber drivers to take them all around the world, and they are starting to trust UberEats just as much.
- FoodPanda — Since 2017, FoodPanda has provided all kinds of delicious meals to people across 43 countries. The company’s headquarters are in Berlin, Germany, and they’ve partnered with nearly 40,000 restaurants in various cities.
- Deliveroo — This company began as a small startup in London but now works in over 200 cities. Deliveroo enables users to order food from restaurants that don’t have a digital presence, offering quick delivery options and coupons.
Considering just how many restaurants there are in the United States — there are over 5,300 Thai restaurants alone! — more food delivery apps means more people will get to broaden their horizons with new exciting flavors.
