There was a time when if you had a sudden craving for, say, French fries or a spicy chicken sandwich, you had to hop in your car and hit the drive-thru.
Then came GrubHub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash: Late-night munchies have never been the same.
Food delivery has existed forever, of course. In some cities like New York and San Francisco, some restaurants even had staff who would deliver orders that came in over the phone.
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It wasn’t until 2013 — when technology made it possible for restaurants to take online orders and then have the food delivered at scale — that DoorDash was born. Not too long after that came GrubHub and UberEATS, which along with DoorDash are the three biggest players in the food-delivery space.
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The sector grew quickly: By 2019, the total addressable market for food delivery was $107 billion.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic.
From February to December 2020 alone, food delivery transactions grew by 96%, according to data company Routific, which helps companies optimize delivery routes.
Today the market is expected to reach $470 billion in 2025. In other words, food delivery is here to stay.
DoorDash is one of the three biggest food delivery services around.
Image source: Shutterstock
DoorDash delivers these foods the most
In the last decade, all three of the major food-delivery providers have expanded well beyond food. These days you can order groceries, household items, and alcohol and have it all delivered to your door, sometimes in a matter of minutes.
But most people still just want their fries.
DoorDash has delivered around 600 million orders of French fries during the last decade, according to the company’s 2024 Restaurant & Alcohol Online Ordering Trends.
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The foods most ordered for DoorDash delivery are French fries, chicken quesadillas, mozzarella sticks, garlic naan, and spicy chicken sandwiches.
DoorDash experimenting with robot delivery
While most deliveries are made via bike, scooter, or car, a few delivery services have experimented with drone delivery.
Last year DoorDash teamed up with Wing to deliver select items from Wendy’s to customers in Christianburg, Virg.
And now, DoorDash is working with robotics company Coco Robotics to test autonomous “sidewalk robot delivery” for DoorDash customers in Los Angeles and Chicago.
Related: Popular delivery service makes harsh decision amid struggles
The move is not without detractors, who say the robots will make already-congested sidewalks even more crowded (although supposedly nobody walks in L.A., so perhaps concerns are overblown?).
Coco promises “food arrives to customers exactly as [restaurants] prepared and packed it.” This might happen even faster than if it were being delivered via bike or car, since the zero-emissions robots can traverse the most optimized route.
The robots have the shape and size of a typical child’s wagon, but with a cover designed to keep food warm or cool. Coco and DoorDash will partner with some 600 merchants in Los Angeles. According to Coco’s website, the robots have already completed 400,000 deliveries.
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