DoorDash With the Dish on Top Consumer Cravings

The results of DoorDash’s second annual midyear trend report, DoorDash Deep Dish, finds a number of food trends born of the pandemic may be here to stay, including demand for delivery.

Using order data from Jan. 1, 2021, to June 1, 2021, and a national consumer survey that polled 2,000 Americans in May, DoorDash’s midyear report checks in on popular food trends, nationally and regionally, how users ate through social distancing, cravings across the country, and what they’re most eager to eat and do as restrictions lift.

DoorDash, which launched its online DashMart convenience stores across the U.S. in August 2020, now offers delivery on thousands of convenience and grocery items in addition to restaurant fare. In the first quarter of 2021, DoorDash’s non-restaurant orders climbed more than 40% from the fourth quarter of 2020, reports the company.

And it doesn’t see demand for delivery diminishing. The survey reveals the majority, or 65%, of Americans report they’d rather give up social media than never be able to get an item delivered again.

Trending Tastes

According to the survey, convenience and snacking are more in demand than ever. DoorDash said snacking orders increased in popularity in 2021, with an order increase in items such as glazed doughnuts (501% increase), sweet tea (284%) and sour cream and cheddar potato chips (112%).

And if DoorDash’s list of the top 10 foods on the rise is an indication, some of the more indulgent consumption habits of the pandemic are lingering.

The company has seen order increases in chocolate shakes (440% increase); chicken nuggets (410%); cheese pizza (362%); spicy chicken sandwich (286%); beef burrito (248%); hot sauce (201%); blueberry muffin (161%); bacon cheeseburger (113%); nachos (103%); and sausage and egg sandwich (107%).

Comfort foods continue to resonate as well, DoorDash said, which finds the top-ordered items of the past six months included french fries, quesadillas, iced coffee, boneless wings and chocolate chip cookies.

Consumers are also craving newness, said DoorDash, which reports 63% of Americans plan to try new restaurants, and 47% say they plan to try new foods in general.

But these new foods may increasingly come from consumers’ own backyards.

“Americans’ support for both local and Black, Asian-American and women-owned business is strong and will continue throughout the year,” said DoorDash, which finds 95% of Americans supported local businesses in 2020, and 91% supported Black women-owned, or Asian-American-owned businesses in 2020.