In the last few years, the food delivery industry has undergone a massive change. The change is made possible by new technology that allows consumers to plan and order food on the go. With amazing innovations, technology-enabled food delivery services such as Deliveroo, UberEATS, Grubhub, Just Eat, and more have managed to capture a huge share of the food delivery market.

Anyone wanting to make a place for themselves in the food delivery industry should closely follow the latest trends and innovations in food delivery to offer similar technologies and services. Here, we will discuss the impact of technology on the food industry, and the technology-based food delivery services that have changed the industry.

The Impact of Technology on the Food Industry

Without paying any additional cost, consumers can now view menus of their favorite restaurants, place an order, and get food delivered to their doorstep. This has been made possible by DoorDash, Grubhub, and other online ordering portals.

Some of the online food delivery services have partnered with Google to enable consumers to initiate an order right from their Google Maps app. Additionally, consumers can use mobile apps to order in advance and skip the queue. This convenience is offered by Sheetz convenience stores and fast-food chains such as Shake Shack. For grocery stores, similar technology is offered by Amazon called Amazon Go. On the other hand, Domino’s allows shoppers to order through Amazon echo as well as via smartwatch, text, and the ‘zero clicks required’ app.

Other innovations in food delivery include delivery trucks where your pizza is prepared while the truck moves towards your home or where you want the pizza delivered. The purpose of this is to reduce delivery time and ensure the pizza is delivered to your door piping hot.

One of the most recent innovations in food delivery are robots that pick up orders from restaurants and deliver them to people who place the orders. Currently, this food delivery service is limited to Washington D.C, California, and Redwood City. However, another great innovation is the drone delivery service of Domino’s which is available to pizza lovers in New Zealand.

One of the major reasons for the growing popularity of these technology-based food delivery services is that speed of delivery is one of the most important factors for customer satisfaction. In fact, the speed of the delivery service is important for 60% of consumers across various markets.

Due to the above reason, consumers are increasingly shifting to online food delivery channels. Additionally, many are using food delivery apps for speed and convenience purposes. In short, technology has changed how people order food and get food delivered to their door. This trend will only grow in the future.

Food Delivery Services That Have Changed the Industry

In 2015, the amount spent by consumers on food delivery was almost US$30 billion. This has most likely grown in the last three years. The growth is mainly due to food delivery technologies that have added convenience and speed to food delivery service.  Seeing this, more and more restaurants today have started to offer online or app-enabled food delivery service. This innovation in food delivery was introduced by the following companies.

UberEATS

Developed by Uber, this online food ordering and delivery platform was launched in 2014. The idea behind UberEATS was to allow customers to place orders quickly and keep track of their food deliveries. Additionally, the food delivery service can learn the preferences of customers, make customized recommendations, and show half-hour delivery options. Also, the app offers a filter that customers can use to choose orders based on dietary restrictions, delivery speed, and price.

Blue Apron

Launched in August 2012, Blue Apron is a New York-based ingredient-and-recipe meal kit service. Although the service is based/headquartered in New York, it has operations in many regions of the United States. The meal kit subscription of Blue Apron includes a couples’ and a family plan. There is also a monthly wine subscription.

From planning crops with suppliers to using consumer data for coordinating supply-demand, an integrated ecosystem is used by the company to manage its operations. Additionally, the company has designed its packaging to keep ingredients fresh. This packaging is altered based on the season and the location of the customer.

Freshly

The largest fresh-prepared-meal delivery service in the U.S, Freshly delivers ready-to-heat meals to customers across the country. The meals are prepared at the company’s Phoenix facility. However, the delivery service is not provided by Freshly itself. Instead, the company has entered into a partnership with FedEx for delivering its meal. This allows Freshly to scale quickly, making it possible for the company to handle hundreds of thousands of orders for its meals each month.

Plated

Founded in 2012, Plated is an American ingredient-and-recipe meal kit service. With an ambitious aim to take on high-end grocery chains, Plated offers a subscription service for premium meal kits. Customers of the food service can choose their recipes and get ingredients for up to sixteen meals delivered to their door each week. Recently, the company launched an Android app as an additional service to its online portal. Using the app, customers can choose recipes and the days for delivery. Additionally, they get step-by-step instructions for preparing meals. The best part is that these instructions come with in-app timers.

There you have it—the impact of technology on food industry and how online and app-based food delivery services have changed the industry. Keep following us if you want to stay updated with the latest innovations and entrants in food delivery service.

 

by Bobby J Davidson

We love our company and we love what we do.  Check out the ‘Why Percento‘ page to learn more: Love of Technology and Business!  As the President of Percento Technologies International, I provide day-to-day leadership to the company’s senior management and I am personally involved in the strategy, business development and sales activities of the firm.

The company was founded in 1999 with the purpose of providing a one call source for organizations in need of Enterprise IT Consulting and Management.  We also provide a line of products in the boutique Cloud Server space with a touch of high-end website strategy consulting and design services.   We personalizes the IT Service experience with a team approach, working with clients from diverse sectors of industry, including energy services, financial, legal, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, retail and general and/or corporate business.  percentotech.com/