Getting a restaurant meal delivered to your home is cheaper than it was a year ago, at least when it comes to the fees.
But it’s also slower.
That’s the biggest takeaway from a Restaurant Business/Nation’s Restaurant News exclusive study on the performance of delivery services, in conjunction with the mystery shopping firm Intouch Insight.
Among the findings from the study:
- Delivery services are getting better at estimating delivery times, but overall delivery times dropped;
- Food orders from restaurants are less likely this year to be the right temperature;
- Delivery fees charged to consumers dropped, but the menu prices are higher than they are in the restaurant;
- Uber Eats had the highest overall satisfaction among third-party providers, but DoorDash scored highest in several key areas;
- Convenience stores, a growing competitor for many fast-food chains, are closing the gap with restaurants when it comes to delivery on a number of different measures;
- Delivery companies are offering fewer promotions, even as their fees have decreased, despite a value push by restaurants.
To conduct the study, Intouch shoppers ordered delivery from 600 restaurants and convenience stores from each of the three major third-party delivery services, along with first-party delivery offered by companies in both industries.
Among the first-party brands were pizza chains Domino’s, Papa Johns and Marco’s Pizza. But it also included several fast-food chains that contract with delivery companies to provide first-party service through chains’ own mobile apps and websites.
Delivery has become a growing source of sales and traffic for restaurants over the past few years, thanks largely to the emergence of providers such as DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub.
The growing importance of the channel makes it important to measure companies for the services they’re providing to consumers.
The study reveals the strengths of delivery services while demonstrating their growing maturity, particularly in the way they interact with consumers. For instance, delivery is easy to order. Ninety seven percent of delivery orders were considered “easy,” and in most cases that ease increased. But every service scored at least 97% and first-party providers scored 95%.
The delivery services are nearly perfect at getting the location right, with 99% of orders sent to the right spot, up from 98% last year. Both DoorDash and first-party brands were right on that 100% of the time. No service scored 100% a year ago.
Meanwhile, delivery services are better at estimating the time it takes to get food to a customer’s door—even if they tend to promise speedier delivery initially.
Overall, 57% of customers said their delivery was early compared with the estimated delivery time, up from 54% a year ago, while 37% of orders were late, down from 42%.
Each service saw improvement. Grubhub, at 63%, had the highest “early” rate, followed closely by first-party providers. The biggest improvement came from DoorDash, where the percentage of early orders increased to 58% from 54%.
Yet while they the estimated delivery time is getting better, the delivery services are less likely to match the times they initially promise.
Overall, 34% of deliveries came in slower than the promoted time, up from 27%, while 62% of orders came in quicker than the promoted time, down from 72%.
And the actual speed of delivery slowed, and overall satisfaction with speed of service at restaurants did, too.
Overall, the average delivery time increased by nearly a minute at restaurants, to 34 minutes, 17 seconds, from 32 minutes, 25 seconds. Getting a delivery order from a restaurant is now nearly two minutes slower than it is to get one from a convenience store, where the average time is 32 minutes, 25 seconds.
DoorDash remained the fastest overall, both for restaurants (30 minutes, 59 seconds) and convenience stores (27 minutes, 38 seconds). But DoorDash’s delivery to restaurants slowed by more than four minutes. At Uber Eats, delivery times improved by more than two minutes, to 35 minutes, 47 seconds.
First-party delivery was faster than anybody, at least from restaurants: The average delivery time was 30 minutes, 8 seconds.
Overall satisfaction with speed of service slowed overall, with 91% of consumers satisfied with the speed of service, down from 94% a year ago. Yet consumer satisfaction with Uber Eats’ speed dropped, despite its improvement in delivery times.
Order accuracy at restaurants was down slightly, with 89% of orders accurate, compared with 90% a year ago. But DoorDash had the biggest drop on that front: 88% of its orders were accurate, down from 98% last year. Every other service saw improvements.
But the food came in colder, perhaps because the delivery times were longer, at least at restaurants. Eighty-nine percent of restaurant orders were at the right temperature, down from 94% a year ago. Convenience stores scored better on that one: 90% of their food orders were at the right temperature.
That said, the fees charged to consumers were lower. The average delivery fee was $5.14, down from $5.96 a year ago. DoorDash had the biggest drop in fees. Its average delivery fee was $4.08, down from $5.85 a year ago. Uber Eats was the most expensive third-party provider at $5.79, down from $6.38.
Yet first-party delivery was the most expensive to the consumer, at $5.95, compared with the average third-party fees of $4.86.
And the prices charged for menu items offered on the delivery apps increased compared with a year ago.
Many restaurants raise the prices they charge on the apps to make up for the fees they pay for delivery services, which can increase the price consumers pay.
Overall, the price for main items ordered from third-party services was $1.85 higher than the regular menu item, compared with $1.71 a year ago. Delivery service markups were higher this year than a year ago on both Uber Eats and Grubhub. But they were lower on DoorDash than they were a year ago ($1.63 higher compared with $1.71).
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