Online food delivery in the United States – statistics & facts

Home to the second biggest online food delivery market behind China, the United States boasted an estimated 350 billion U.S. dollars in revenues in 2024, with more than 95 billion dollars generated in the meal delivery segment. By 2028, the market is forecast to grow even further, exceeding the 500-billion-mark, as both the online grocery and meal delivery segments continue their upward climb.

DoorDash vs UberEats: who’s winning the online food delivery war?

In the United States, two homegrown champions competed head-to-head to dominate the food delivery market: DoorDash and UberEats. On a global level, UberEats prevailed as the leading food delivery operator worldwide. However, DoorDash emerged as the undisputed leader in its home market, controlling two-thirds of the online meal delivery market as of January 2024. At more than 21 million downloads, DoorDash was also the most downloaded food delivery app in the United States in 2023, with UberEats trailing behind at 11 million downloads.

Promiscuous consumers drive cut-throat competition

With the return of on-premise consumption and the rise of quick commerce companies, the online food delivery industry became even more competitive. Among the top frustrations customers have with online food delivery, close to a third of U.S. consumers cited long delivery time, while another 26 percent cited delivery charges. The ability to download different delivery apps on your phone and look for the most affordable offers make customer promiscuity an additional challenge for food delivery operators competing for consumer reach. DoorDash and UberEats had the lowest share of orders composed of hidden fees among selected online delivery operators in the U.S.

Macroeconomic pressures and the pursuit of profitability

In addition to the highly competitive playing field, online food delivery operators in the United States also struggled with challenging macroeconomic conditions in light of the global recession. This constituted a further challenge to an industry already plagued by chronic unprofitability. However, signs of recovery are already apparent: U.S. market leader DoorDash witnessed a decrease in net losses incurred in 2023. In addition, the wave of mass layoffs that hit the food delivery industry seems to have slowed down, as many operators are slowly starting to hire again.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Lynn Beyrouthy, Mar 19, 2024

Key insights

Revenue of the online food delivery market
353bn USD
Most downloaded food delivery app
DoorDash
ARPU of the online meal delivery segment
390 USD
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Current statistics on this topic

Revenue of the online food delivery market in the United States from 2017 to 2029 (in billion U.S. dollars)

B2C E-Commerce

Revenue of the online food delivery market U.S. 2017-2029

Online food delivery bookings by brand in the U.S. as of September 2024

Online Retail

Online food delivery bookings by brand in the U.S. 2024

Number of users of the online food delivery market in the United States from 2017 to 2029 (in millions)

B2C E-Commerce

Online food delivery users in the United States 2017-2029

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Spotlight: DoorDash

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Online grocery shopping in the United States
Online grocery shopping in the United States
Meal kits in the U.S.
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Online grocery market in Italy
Online grocery market in Italy
Online grocery market in Canada
Online grocery market in Canada
Quick commerce
Quick commerce
Scale and profitability in the online food delivery market
Scale and profitability in the online food delivery market

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