AMERSTERDAM — A recent trip to Europe showed the streets of Krakow, Budapest, and Prague are all very different except for the bicycles making endless food deliveries. Anyone with a food safety mindset has to wonder about the thousands of deliveries in those boxes that are carried by two-wheelers.
They clearly are not cleaned and sanitized between deliveries. Some of those boxes are quite large, a box that’s the size of a small coffin, and rests over an axel is popular in Amersterdam.
What they call “post-pandemic” food delivery trends are being closely monitored in Europe. The Stockholm-based Dometic, which tracks “mobile living,” is out with a new report that says food deliveries in 2022 are a bit behind 2021.
During the peak of the pandemic, Europe experienced a dramatic rise in the number of food delivery services and businesses significantly changed food and grocery delivery trends along with consumer habits. “Yet as parts of Europe began to re-open, with sweeping restrictions lifted for indoor dining, the report demonstrates an overall decline in consumer demand which has impacted the rate of market growth,” according to Dometic. It reports that:
— Total respondents who ordered home food deliveries decreased from 62 percent in 2021 to 56 percent in 2022.
— Of those, who ordered food delivery to their home at least once per month dropped from 37 percent in May 2021 to 29 percent in May 2022.
Food deliveries in Europe are still seen to be on an upward trend. The firm Research & Markets predicts the online food delivery market will reach $66.2 billion by 2027.
“With the fast-paced lives in Europe,” it says “online food delivery has a priority audience of the millennials for food delivery services. They tend to spend a more significant share of their budgets on prepared food than other generations.”
The Dometic report says that from 2021 to 2022, food delivery orders from people 15 to 34 years of age increased, while the 35-plus demographic is ordering less. The report also indicates consumers have higher expectations now than before the pandemic.
The younger demographic has the highest expectations. The biggest concern for consumers is warm food being cold at delivery followed by food being shaken or having a less-than-pleasing appearance.
The report says that with the re-opening of Europe’s bars, restaurants, and other outlets, “there is very little margin for dissatisfied customers.”
The U.S.-based Research and Markets put the European online food delivery market size in 2022 at $36 billion.
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