Research Brief: Implications of the global home food delivery revolution

What’s on the menu for today’s consumers? Eating in. Globally, people have increasingly been getting their meals delivered by third parties such as DoorDash, Grubhub or Uber Eats. Global revenues for the online food delivery sector have increased dramatically—from $90 billion in 2018 to $294 billion in 2021—and are expected to exceed $466 billion by 2026. 

According to a paper published today in Science, this revolution in food delivery has considerable implications for nutrition, the environment, job creation, work and public policy options.

The paper’s authors, including the University of Minnesota’s Marc Bellemare, Distinguished McKnight University Professor in the Department of Applied Economics, outline the drivers of this food delivery revolution and its context within a broader transformation of the entire food system, noting that the consequences and policy implications remain poorly understood and deserve greater attention.