Food delivery is a big business. And though interest in Food Delivery skyrocketed during the Covid-19 pandemic, the trend preceded the novel Coronavirus by decades.

Even before the pandemic, several thousand people all across the States preferred slouching on their couches, selecting the food items on their phones, and waiting for the rider to knock on their doors.

No wonder why most fast food chains, from KFC to McDonalds to Subway had their own in-house food-delivery options, even before the massive growth of online Food Delivery Apps. And while larger restaurant chains had the capital and infrastructure to hire a huge fleet of riders and dedicated support agents to manage deliveries smaller cafes and restaurants did not have the same luxury.

This is the gap food delivery apps and platforms stepped into full. And these apps quickly gained traction, both with restaurants and customers alike. Restaurants saw the appeal of outsourcing their deliveries altogether and customers preferred the one-stop-shop solution to food delivery most of these apps had to offer.

Today, the online food delivery market rakes in almost a Trillion USD in revenues every year and is expected to grow exponentially on a year-on-year basis. Moreover, many of these apps are now breaking into other related sub-domains of food delivery as well.

For instance, many online food delivery apps now offer their customers the ability to order non-perishable grocery items as well. In fact, grocery deliveries are one of the highest-rising sub-section of the industry and now account for almost a quarter of yearly revenues.

The idea of not having to drive to a super mart on a hot summer day and spending hours standing in lines behind angry customers carries just too much appeal.

All you need is a smartphone and a reliable connection like Spectrum Internet and you can order everything from a steak to a toothbrush merely by clicking a button. Who would want to miss out, right?

Now, let’s look at the performance of some dominant food delivery apps operating in the U.S. market to get a closer understanding of the explosive rise in the popularity of these apps and how they bring behemoth changes in the food industry, overall.

DOORDASH

Currently, Doordash is the most dominant player in the U.S. food delivery market. The platform controls almost half of all food orders placed through food delivery apps in the U.S. The most astonishing thing about Doordash is that it’s a considerably newer player.

Starting out in an already saturated market dominated by players like Uber Eats and Grub Hub, Door Dash was able to carve out a space for itself and gradually overtake all of its competitors in record time. The stellar success story of the brand is one for the history books.

At the very beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Door Dash raked in almost a Billion Dollars in revenues, this figure rose to almost 3 Billion Dollars by the end of the next year, talk about growth, right?

Some of the key reasons behind the stellar growth of the platform included its very easy-to-understand user interface and the high commissions and fees it paid out to its vendors and riders. This helped the brand attract more vendors and broaden its overall reach.

Moreover, Doordash also provides customers’ sales insights data to restaurants, this information helps businesses better understand their customers and set up marketing campaigns accordingly. This additional source of revenue has also helped Door Dash bring in more money as compared to its competitors.

UBER EATS

Backed by the giant ride-hailing app Uber, Uber Eats is the second most dominant player in America’s food delivery market. As compared to its key rival, Doordash, Uber Eats has a more global outreach and dominates food delivery in several European Markets. Uber Eats operates in an astonishing 45 countries worldwide.

The app which was able to bring in almost 4.8 Billion Dollars in revenues in 2020 (the peak of the pandemic) has so far not been able to start bringing in considerable profits, instead, it is focused on capturing market share and establishing itself and hopes to start earning shortly.

Uber Eats’ approach is in no way unique in this regard. Most food delivery apps operate in highly saturated environments and focus on market penetration instead of profitability. Despite not bringing in net profits these apps have been arousing the interest of investors.

GRUB HUB

There was a time when Grub Hub was a market leader in America’s food delivery industry. The app-controlled over 70 percent of the market and did not seem like it would slow down anytime soon. But owing to increasing market saturation and the firm’s inability to evolve, Grub Hub has become a cautionary tale for other start-ups.

But despite losing out so much of its market share, Grub Hub still remains the third most dominant player in the delivery market. Today, the app controls almost 20 percent of the market and is looking to hold its position.

Final Thoughts

Food delivery is a big business. These apps have been able to radically change the food industry in America and beyond and have helped smaller start-ups gain much-needed customers. The skyrocketing popularity of these apps proves that these apps have gained a lasting penetration in the market and will only expand in the times to come.

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