One of the notable features of the Covid pandemic was the enormous growth in home delivery services that helped people get through the various lockdown measures that were introduced. Indeed, revenues of the sector ballooned from $90 billion in 2018 to an enormous $294 billion in 2021. They are widely expected to reach over $450 billion by 2026.

A recent study from the University of Minnesota explores some of the implications of the rise in Grubhub, DoorDash, Uber Eats et al in terms of job creation, the environment, and even nutrition.

Food delivery revolution

The analysis found that the transformation in food delivery undoubtedly created a significant number of new jobs, albeit there are a number of possible implications for migrant workers that need further examination. These jobs often have poor safety standards, are precarious, and provide workers with highly unpredictable schedules.

The authors also believe that there are considerable nutritional consequences from the growth in home delivery as well. For instance, the trend is underpinned by a strong desire for convenient foods, but this may run counter to policy ambitions to promote healthier diets that reduce obesity.

There are also implications for the environment, as home delivery is almost certain to result in greater packaging waste than preparing meals at home. For instance, the researchers note that the use of single-use packaging has risen considerably as a result of home delivery. There are also concerns around the carbon footprint of home delivery as well as the potential for food waste.

In the longer-term, they expect the trend for home delivery to continue, as while there was an obvious driver in terms of Covid, they believe the habits we developed during the pandemic are likely to endure after it.

“COVID-19 shifted much of the demand for food consumed away from home to food prepared away from home,” they explain. “With lockdowns and other COVID-19 measures being lifted in many countries, this trend is reversing somewhat, but we have good reason to believe that newly acquired food habits are here to stay.”

There have already been policies introduced in a number of countries to hopefully ensure that the sector becomes more sustainable, but there is clearly still a lot of work to be done to understand this high-growth domain. The study provides a reasonable starting point for that process.