Bananas, Roma tomatoes, and strawberries topped the list of grocery orders delivered on the DoorDash platform. On Thursday, the food delivery service unveiled Dash From the Past 2023 which captured trends from the year.
After strawberries, common grocery items purchased included cucumbers, cilantro, milk, eggs, iceberg lettuce, red onions, and blueberries. Many of the top grocery items included fruits and vegetables.
“This year, consumers leaned into healthy habits, stocking up on ample fruits like bananas, Roma tomatoes, strawberries, and blueberries,” according to DoorDash.
Some of its 2023 trends are as follows:
• Persistent planners: Many consumers ordered ahead. Chicago is the city that plans orders ahead the most, followed by Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, and Philadelphia.
• Holiday hangovers: On the days after holidays like St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, and New Year’s Eve, DoorDash noted that orders tend to spike for ibuprofen (upwards of 400 percent the day after Halloween).
• Quirky combos: This year, interesting order combinations were found pairing unlikely foods with DoubleDash, a service that allows customers to order simultaneously from different locations. The most unexpected pairings included hot sauce and cinnamon twists, hashbrowns and soda, and fries and chili.
• More caffeine, please: Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston brewed up the most coffee orders this year. Top coffee orders included Iced Caramel Macchiato, Cold Brew, Iced French Vanilla Coffee, Iced Mocha, and Americano!
• How sweet: Decadent desserts were ordered online with high frequency. The top-ordered offerings included donuts, chocolate brownies, and strawberry cheesecake.
DoorDash noted that eight of the top ten food items ordered this year didn’t require utensils. They are, in descending order, fries, chicken quesadilla, mozzarella sticks, garlic naan, spicy chicken sandwich, pepperoni pizza, chips and queso, traditional wings, Cobb salad, and fried rice.
Its 2024 predictions include:
• Holiday Hosting, Delivered: Entering the holiday season and the new year, DoorDash expects more consumers will use delivery for their hosting needs.
• More Business and Pleasure: More people will be combining their business travel with personal leisure, leading to extended stays and more opportunities to explore.
• Living Like a Local: With the increase of “slow travel,” more consumers are emphasizing connection with local people and culture versus more traditional tourist behaviors. This may translate into an increase in activities like cooking while traveling.
• Late-Night Snacking: With the rise of internet trends like “girl dinner” this year, 2024 will be the year of late-night snacking, with more consumers ordering delivery for food at night.
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