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Delivery companies predict food trends of 2020

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Vegan food is here to stay, and food producers are advised to double down on meat replacements going into the new year.

The ‘big four’ companies in modern food delivery – Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash – have shared their yearly data to construct a thorough retrospective of the year in food. These four companies make up around 95% of the foodservice delivery market share in the US, and their collated information is telling when it comes to what people are craving, and what they’re willing to pay delivery fees for (especially now Deliveroo Plus has gone up in price, booo…)

Extrapolating from data, they’ve come up with a few future predictions on what the predominantly Millennial and Gen Z meatless crowd will be chowing down on, and therefore saturating the market with, in the year to come.

Not surprisingly, the first thing to note is the move towards vegan orders and meatless alternatives. Postmates saw a spike in plant-based orders across the board. This was helped by greasy fast food joints craved by the late-night crowd adding vegan alternatives to its menus. Not only did Burger King and White Castle generate buzz with the Impossible Whopper and Impossible Slider respectively, but Del Taco and Dunkin’ teamed up with Beyond Meat to create burgers that would lure in the leafy lot.

Vegan and vegetarian dishes nabbed seven of Grubhub’s top ten most increased order slots, compared to just three in 2018. Vegan order rose 27% in popularity overall.

For your viewing pleasure, the top 10 ordering trends and their percentage increases are:

Spicy brussels sprouts: 622%
Portobello empanada: 601%
Black bean & sweet potato taco: 513%
Miso pork ramen: 413%
Chicken burger: 318%
Bone broth: 298%
Brown sugar milk (bubble) tea: 281%
Vegan pad thai: 280%
Impossible burger: 203%

Yea, don’t ask me about the sprouts I don’t know either.

Uber Eats year-end report also reported a veggie dish as its most popular request for 2019, though listed ‘fries’ as its own individual dish does seem a bit like cheating. But Eats reckons that there’s a significant uptick in sushi, salads, and broths – particularly Asian soups like ramen and pho. As a huge pho fan, I approve this message.

So what will you be ordering in 2020?

You know when veganism first started really taking off, and you were sitting around thinking tofu was probably going to be all the rage, and then your local meatless neighbour politely informed you that actually it wasn’t really about tofu anymore but instead everyone was eating something called ‘tempeh’?

Well if this specific situation doesn’t exactly apply to you, then take it from me, it doesn’t pay to be uninformed about food trends, you look so passé. These companies have helped you out by making some informed predictions about the big food trends and meat alternatives for 2020 so you don’t need to worry about leaning too heavily on your knowledge of oat milk around the water cooler.

These are the 20 orders we’ll see most of in the new year, according to Uber Eats:

Starfruit
Squid ink
Collagen
Reishi
Keto
Brussels sprouts
Farro
Harissa
Pho
Bone broth
Chickpea hummus
Cold brew
Cauliflower
Udon
Cabbage
Kale
Impossible burger
Kimchi
Ginger
Oat milk

Lots of these have been around for a little while now, steadily gaining popularity – starfruit began to be heavily used as a meat alternative this year and can just about be considered mainstream now. But there are a few genuine rogue shouts in here that even I, now a self-proclaimed vegan know-it-all myself, hadn’t heard of.

For the uninitiated: Reishi is a type of organic mushroom, farro is an extremely healthy-looking grain that experts reckon could be the new quinoa, harissa is an African spice, and kimchi is a Korean dish of fermented vegetables that’s good for gut health. And, for those confused by the addition of ‘squid ink’: it can be added to carbs like pasta or risotto, changing nothing whilst giving your dish an edgy black tinge. Radical, man.

The surge in orders involving cabbage, kimchi, and kale is a nod towards the preoccupation with gut health adopted by Gen Z from the Millennial crowd. Tied to the wellness trend that’s led to skyrocketing kombucha prices, any yoga-mat wielding vegan worth their salt is all over the kimchi.

‘Bone broth’ is the only non-vegetarian trend predicted for 2020, and that largely has to do with Asian soups are becoming more popular. Rather than betraying a step back towards meat, this largely shows that modern day diners are broadening their delivery horizons beyond burgers and pizzas – Vietnamese and Lebanese cuisines have both experienced a significant uptick in interest in the UK and the US, as the average punter is seeming to tire of chicken pad thai.

All in all, these trends are a positive indication that alternative meat options are even more lucrative than the market initially predicted. Investing opportunities in things like lab grown meats will likely increase tenfold in the coming years. A win for animals, the environment, and humans everywhere.

As a closing tidbit, it’s also interesting to note that DoorDash’s non-food data revealed that a whopping 66% of their customers reported food delivery as their preferred way to eat dinner – more than cooking their own meal, picking up takeaway, or going to a restaurant. Are Gen Z secretly just a bunch of homebodies? You decide.

But also yes.

Departed London, UK

My interests include social and climate justice, women’s issues, and human rights. If you\’re keen on current affairs and social change, check out my profile! Follow me on Twitter and drop me some ideas/feedback via email.

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