The food delivery market has seen significant growth over the past five years. Led by platform-to-consumer services, such as DoorDash and Uber Eats, food delivery has expanded from takeaways to anything and everything, adding billions of dollars in potential revenue capture.
The network effects of more delivery riders, alongside route optimisations technologies, has enabled faster and cheaper delivery. This has created a flywheel effect for many of the food delivery operators, which continue to try and undercut competition on razor thin profit margins as they battle for market share.
Several of the aggregators (Just Eat, Grubhub) have recently incorporated this platform-to-consumer system, in which they are responsible for the delivery as well as the ordering process.
The past few years has also seen more consolidation, as the larger businesses attempt to reduce the amount of competition in the market.
COVID-19 has propelled the industry a few years into the future, as millions of people in lockdown ordered food online for the first time. Grocery delivery service Instacart said it achieved its 2022 goals in the third week of lockdown.
Uber Eats, Deliveroo and DoorDash all reported a massive acceleration in orders between February and March, as the world went into lockdown.
This surge in demand has cooled off a bit since 2020, although Deliveroo, DoorDash and Uber all reported higher revenue and gross bookings in 2021 than 2020. Several apps launched rapid grocery delivery services, to compete with Getir and Gorillas.
In 2022, valuations of most food delivery apps have declined significantly from 2020. Market sentiment has moved from growth to profitability, and most food delivery apps remained unprofitable throughout the pandemic.
We have collected data and statistics on the food delivery app market. Read on below to find out more.
Key food delivery statistics
- China is the largest market for food delivery, with a market size of $42.5 billion in 2022. Meituan and Ele.me control about 90% of all food delivery in the country
- The entire food delivery app industry is expected to reach $165 billion market size by 2029
- Uber Eats is the most popular food delivery app, Delivery Hero has the most collective users
- In the US, DoorDash is the most popular food delivery app, with over 50% market share
Want to learn more about the food delivery app industry? Our Food Delivery App report includes breakdowns of all of the top apps by revenue, GMV and orders, alongside regional market share statistics, usage, and downloads. 
Food Delivery App Report 2023
Top food delivery apps
| Title | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/uber-eats-statistics/ | Uber Eats | The most widely available food delivery service with activity in six continents |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/just-eat-statistics/ | Just Eat | Leader of food delivery in the UK and active in Europe and Australia |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/doordash-statistics/ | DoorDash | Current leader in online food delivery in the US, which also pioneered the platform-to-consumer model |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/deliveroo-statistics/ | Deliveroo | Pioneer of platform-to-consumer service in the UK, now operates in 13 countries |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/grubhub-statistics/ | Grubhub | Original takeaway aggregator in America with a large userbase in New York City |
| https://www.businessofapps.com/data/postmates-statistics/ | Postmates | A subsidiary of Uber Eats since 2019, responsible for about five percent of deliveries in US |
| http://takeaway.com/ | Takeaway.com | A European aggregator responsible for most online food delivery in Germany, Netherlands and Belgium |
| https://www.deliveryhero.com/brands-countries/ | Delivery Hero | Through its many subsidiaries, Delivery Hero has a controlling interest in food delivery platforms in over 40 countries |
| https://www.ele.me/ | Ele.me | Alibaba owned food delivery app which is second place in the Chinese market |
| https://about.meituan.com/en | Meituan | Largest food delivery service by revenue, volume, and usage with over 600 million users |
| https://about.rappi.com/ | Rappi | A contender in the South American market with activity in nine countries |
| https://www.ifood.com.br/ | iFood | Brazil's most popular aggregator by a significant margin, accounting for over 70 percent of takeaway orders in the country |
| https://www.zomato.com/ | Zomato | Most popular of the homegrown food delivery apps in India, which acquired Uber Eats India in January 2020 |
Food delivery revenue by country
China is ahead in total revenue for food delivery, at $42.5 billion in 2022. Meituan contributed to $30 billion of that revenue, as the largest food delivery app in the world by revenue and usage.
Food delivery revenue by country 2022 ($bn)
Projected food delivery market size
The food delivery industry is expected to grow to $165 billion by 2029. It saw its largest growth in five years in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Projected food delivery market size 2022 to 2029 ($bn)
Food delivery users by app
Delivery Hero, through its subsidiary brands which include foodpanda, Glovo, PedidosYa, tabalat and Beamin, has the most active users. Uber Eats has the highest single app users, outside of China.
Food delivery users by app 2022 (mm)
US food delivery market share
DoorDash pulled ahead of the competition in 2020 and currently has 65 percent of market share in the United States, the second largest market for food delivery.
US food delivery market share 2016 to 2022 (%)
Food delivery downloads by app
Delivery Hero is once again ahead in total app downloads, although Zomato had the most single app downloads with 55 million downloads in 2022.
Food delivery app downloads 2022 (mm)
More Delivery App Data
- Getir Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Grubhub Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Postmates Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Deliveroo Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Uber Eats Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- GoPuff Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Instacart Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Gorillas Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- DoorDash Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
- Rapid Delivery App Revenue and Usage Statistics (2023)
