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Technavio names Top 5 food-delivery services

Technavio's latest research names the Top 5 players in home delivery worldwide, as well as some of the major market forces.

September 6, 2016 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

Intense competition among restaurants and delivery companies to serve an ever-increasing number of home diners is making the couch potato's life much easier and cheaper these days. At the same time, however, it's costing a lot of restaurants and delivery services plenty of cash in the growing race to win this part of the food service game, according to a report from Technavio released this week. 

The company's in-depth research of the global delivery and take-away food market shows this is an insanely competitive time in this sector of food service. Restaurants and delivery companies know that this is make-or-break time when it comes to establishing dominance in home delivery, according to the research, announced in a press release today. To that end, Technavio identified the five top companies providing restaurant home delivery globally today. They are: 

• Delivery Hero: 

This company delivers more than 30 million meals each month from 300,000 restaurants worldwide. In fact, Technavio says the home delivery service now counts more than 3,000 people from 72 nations in its workforce and has won a number of citations in recent years as one of the world's fastest growing companies. 

• Just Eat:  

This service makes its money in the form of commissions from the restaurants that use its delivery services. According to a news release, Just Eat charges an 11 to 12 percent commission, depending on food ordered to make its services possible. 

• Foodpanda:

This delivery service is focusing largely on emerging markets, where it now has more than 2.3 million active users in 500 cities worldwide, ordering from more than 38,000 restaurants, according to a news release. 

• Takeaway.com:

This service spreads its availability message via all forms of advertising in which it features restaurant menus from an array of partners like Order Pizza, Indian Takeaway, Eten Bestellan, Chinese Takeaway and Order Sushi.  Its Dutch division, Thuisbezorgd.nl, is particularly successful, according to Technavio, which says it receives millions of orders from 5,500 restaurants each month.

• Grubhub:

Grubhub's online and mobile platforms help hungry homebodies buy meals directly from more than 44,000 take-away restaurants with the help of the company's round-the-clock customer service.

But that's not all:
Technavio also identified eight other players in this realm of business expected to make some major inroads on the sector. Those included: 

• Domino's
• Delivery.com
• Foodler
• Olo
• Pizza Hut
• Snapfinger
• Yemeksepeti
• Zomato

The release about the research said that the Americas lead the sector worldwide, thanks to the predilection of people in this part of the world, who are increasingly starved for time but still want to eat well and often at home. Trend research shows that both dining out and ordering at home are increasing, while grocery shopping is ebbing. Technavio researchers said these competitive companies for home delivery are only helping that trend snowball, much in the same manner that the growing presence and use of online ordering and payment systems is contributing to this area of the business. 

From packaging to supply chain: it all matters

Also in the realm of home delivery, the researchers found that the prevalence of corrugated food packaging is not only attracting restaurant attention because of its thermal properties but also because of its environmental qualities. Technavio researchers said that this packaging form is growing in use for everything from fish to French fries. 

But for anyone playing in this market, Technavio warns that customers are not feeling much loyalty to any one provider these days because there is simply so much competition that it behooves them to go with the deal of the moment. The company says there are intense marketing wars based on everything from pricing, packaging and service, to food quality, variety and even calorie count. 
 

"Market players often indulge in price wars by offering promotional offers or simply cutting down their product prices to sustain their existing position in the market," said Technavio Lead Food Service Research Analyst Manunath Reddy. "Such price wars can negatively affect the company's profit margins and consequently, the overall market growth. Some companies also have larger financial resources than other companies."

The research indicates that winners in this game are especially cognizant of consumers' growing demands for sustainable, environmentally friendly operations and a well-designed and executed supply chain. Restaurateurs and food aggregators alike are adding manpower to support that supply chain and tap new customers. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.