2024 Restaurant Online Ordering Trends Report Now Available to Help Restaurant Operators Grow Their Businesses
DoorDash released its fourth annual Restaurant Online Ordering Trends Report, offering a deep dive into the evolution of consumer dining expectations, generational eating and drinking routines, and more over the past year.* We’re excited to share these fresh insights as a resource for merchants looking to optimize their operations and meet their customers where they are.
“To grow in the current environment, we have to continuously evolve to meet today’s consumer needs. We must listen to our customers, run each shift with a positive attitude, and do what we can to make our businesses a little bit better every day. We hope that the insights and business takeaways gathered in this report will help operators increase profitability, run their businesses more efficiently, and connect with more folks in the community,” said Michael Solomonov, Chef & Co-Owner of CookNSolo Restaurants and Chief Restaurant Advisor at DoorDash.
Michael will be discussing these relevant consumer insights and more live at the National Restaurant Association Show on May 20, 2024.
Despite macroeconomic fluctuations, delivery apps remain a staple in consumers’ everyday lives. In fact, in Q1 2024, 620 million total orders were placed on DoorDash — a 21% increase year-over-year.** And this data is certainly reinforced by the findings in this year’s Restaurant Online Ordering Trends Report, which reveals that 70% of consumers surveyed in March 2024 reported ordering food delivery in the past month and nearly half placed repeat orders at least once a week. Furthermore, a third of respondents are ordering more delivery compared to 2023, and 86% of diners order on third-party apps at least two times a month.
Whether it’s ordering a comfort meal repeatedly from their go-to neighborhood joint or discovering a new restaurant that recently opened down the street, consumers continue to rely on online ordering to enjoy the best of their neighborhoods. Let’s dive into the Restaurant Online Ordering Trends Report data further:
Top ordering habits for consumers:
- A focus on selection and affordability: When choosing a new restaurant for delivery or pickup, menu selection is the top motivator for 55% of consumers, with menu pricing following closely at 50%.
- Creatures of habit: DoorDash users tend to order food most often on Fridays and Saturdays after a long week of work. Orders spike around dinnertime, with 6 pm as the overall most common time.
- Hungry for variety: People are also looking for something new — 67% of DoorDash users ordered from a new store in Q1 2024 compared to the stores they ordered from in Q4 2023.
- Ordering at the eleventh hour: Nearly three-quarters of consumers report using delivery for last-minute situations in the past month. Last-minute delivery needs are more common among men — nearly 80% of men reported a recent urgent order, compared to 64% of women. Men are also almost twice as likely as women to have ordered last-minute food delivery daily or a few times a week.
Top generational consumer dining habits:
- TikTok made me try it: From searching on #FoodTok for nearby dinner recommendations to declaring this year as their “Foodie Era,” it comes as no surprise that among those who use social media to find new restaurants, 30% of Gen Z consumers use TikTok for inspiration. Instagram as a restaurant discovery tool comes closely behind, representing 29% of Gen Z consumers. Instagram is also the most popular social media platform among Millennials — and overall — for finding new restaurants.
- No need to run the dishwasher: Why do dishes when you can eat out of your takeout container? On the whole, 63% of consumers prefer using the original takeout container, but when looking at the generational differences, more than half of Baby Boomers use their own dishes and utensils for delivery food.
- Breakfast (or lunch, or dinner) in bed: For consumers, comfort is key when enjoying takeout or delivery at home. Although 52% of consumers most often eat their takeout or delivery food at home on the couch, 21% of Gen Zers most often eat delivery from the comfort of their… bed!
Consumer reliance on delivery services is unwavering, creating even more unique opportunities for local restaurants and merchants to meet new and loyal customers through their preferred channels.
To read more on the latest delivery, pickup, and online ordering trends and gain access to actionable insights, download DoorDash’s Restaurant Online Ordering Trends Report.
*Methodology
The Restaurant Online Ordering Trends Report survey was conducted by Dynata on behalf of DoorDash between March 12 and March 21, 2024 surveying 1,522 U.S.-based people from a variety of ages, careers, and income levels. Participants were not compensated or incentivized by DoorDash.
In addition to survey data, we analyzed anonymized data from DoorDash to learn how food and alcohol ordering activities and preferences have changed over the past year, or compared to previous years.
