Condensed Version

The State of
Food Delivery
Apps 2021
—
An Analysis of Food Delivery
Category Trends and Top Apps
in the U.S. and Europe
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

The State of Food Delivery Apps: Table of Contents

The State of Food Delivery Apps report offers analysis on the latest trends for the category:

4. Market Overview
An overview of the Food & Drink category along with its top subcategories and apps

11. Food Delivery App Market - United States

Examining the top food delivery apps in the U.S. and the impact of COVID-19

22. Food Delivery App Market - Europe

A look at the top food delivery apps in Europe, including a case study on Deliveroo

32. Conclusion
A summary of the key takeaways from the report

2
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

U.S. Adoption Soared 29 Percent Year-Over-Year

Quarterly U.S. downloads of food & drink apps on the App Store and Google Play

App Store Google Play

120M
U.S. food & drink app installs surpassed 400
million in 2020, with Q2 being the record
quarter. Despite the slowdown in adoption
100M +15%
32M growth, the Food & Drink category saw first-
26M
time installs of 64 million in the first two
+3% 27M
months of 2021, on track to meet the 105
80M 26M
million downloads from Q1 2020.
23M
23M
+63% 24M 24M 23M
19M
60M
The App Store drove the growth of food &
13M drink app installs amid the outbreak of
13M
11M 11M
82M COVID-19, with 73 percent of adoption
40M 80M
8M
72M
67M
coming from the platform. DoorDash, Uber
7M
56M 55M 55M
60M 58M Eats, and McDonald’s were especially
52M

20M 42M 39M

successful on both stores.
38M 37M
29M 30M

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Market Overview 3
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Consumers Flocked to Familiar Brands Amid COVID-19

Top food & drink apps by U.S. downloads on the App Store and Google Play

2017 2018 2019 2020

1 Uber Eats 1 Uber Eats - 1 DoorDash +3 1 DoorDash -

Uber Uber Technologies DoorDash DoorDash

2 Yelp 2 McDonald's +1 2 Uber Eats -1 2 Uber Eats -

Yelp McDonald’s Uber Uber

3 McDonald's 3 Yelp -1 3 Grubhub +3 3 McDonald's +1

McDonald’s Yelp GrubHub McDonald’s

4 Starbucks 4 DoorDash +2 4 McDonald's -2 4 Grubhub -1

Starbucks DoorDash McDonald’s GrubHub

5 Domino's Pizza 5 Starbucks -1 5 Yelp -2 5 Starbucks +2

Domino’s Starbucks Yelp Starbucks

6 DoorDash 6 Grubhub +4 6 Postmates +3 6 Chick-fil-A +2

DoorDash GrubHub Postmates Chick-fil-A

7 Dunkin' 7 Chick-fil-A +1 7 Starbucks -2 7 Instacart NEW

Dunkin' Donuts Chick-fil-A Starbucks Instacart

8 Chick-fil-A 8 Domino's Pizza -3 8 Chick-fil-A -1 8 Yelp -3

Chick-fil-A Domino’s Chick-fil-A Yelp

9 Postmates 9 Postmates - 9 Domino's Pizza -1 9 Postmates -3

Postmates Postmates Domino’s Postmates

10 Grubhub 10 Burger King NEW 10 Burger King - 10 Domino's Pizza -1

GrubHub Restaurant Brands Int’l Restaurant Brands Int’l Domino’s

Market Overview 4
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Fast Food Apps Climbed 21% Year-Over-Year Amid COVID-19

U.S. downloads among the top 10 food & drink apps by subcategory for 2019 and 2020

2019 2020
120M
The top 10 Food Delivery apps accumulated
91 million U.S. downloads in 2020, seeing
moderate growth of 3 percent year-over-
100M
+3%
year. Food Delivery apps had been
performing exceptionally well even before
+21%
COVID-19, positioning to reach record
80M
downloads during the outbreak.

60M
Fast Food, Fast Casual, and Grocery Store
apps saw a major boost in adoption during
91M
89M
83M +23% the COVID-19. Many fast food apps saw lift in
40M
69M 2020, including non-delivery apps such as
Subway and Taco Bell which saw Y/Y growth
20M 39M
+56%
+47% +9%
of 46 percent and 60 percent, respectively.
32M

19M 17M 16M

15M
12M 12M
0
Food Delivery Fast Food Fast Casual Grocery Store Casual Dining Cooking

Market Overview 5
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Food & Drink Saw Record Adoption in Europe During Q4 2020

Quarterly European downloads of food & drink apps on the App Store and Google Play

App Store Google Play

120M
Food & Drink category installs surpassed
100 million in Q3 and Q4 2020, setting a new
record each quarter and climbing at a year-
100M +29%
over-year growth rate of 29 percent in Q4.
This category has been on the rise in Europe,
+23% and saw a total of 386 million downloads
80M
63M
during 2020.
58M

+42% 49M
53M
60M 44M
Google Play contributed vast majority new
39M
35M 36M
36M
installs for the category, accounting for 58
28M
percent in 2020. In light of lockdown orders,
40M 26M
23M 24M Food & Drink is off to a strong start in 2021 in
13M
18M Europe, accumulating 74 million downloads
14M
20M 40M 42M 43M in the first two months of the year and
39M 36M
27M 27M
33M 32M
29M
34M
placing it 82 percent of the way to Q1 2020’s
25M 24M
21M 18M 21M
download total.
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Market Overview 6
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Food Delivery Reaches 35 Percent European Market Share

Proportion of European installs by subcategory among the top 100 food & drink apps

Food Delivery Fast Food Grocery Store Cooking Food Waste

Restaurants (Fast Casual + Casual Dining) Other
Food Delivery apps accounted for 35 percent
of European Food & Drink category
27% 29% 7% 10% 5% 21% downloads in the first two months of 2021.
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Uber Eats, Just Eat Takeaway, and Deliveroo

were the top three Food Delivery apps in
Europe during the first two months of 2021.
27% 36% 6% 8% 3% 5% 15%
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Grocery Store apps have also been on a rise in

29% 33% 7% 7% 5% 5% 13% Europe, accounting for a 16 percent share of
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the Food & Drink category in the beginning of

20

2021. Brick-and-mortar grocery store apps with

delivery ranked among the top of the
34% 28% 14% 7% 5% 5% 7% subcategory, such as Pyaterochka (based in
20

Russia), REWE (Germany), and Morrisons (U.K.).

20

Note:
35% 26% 16% 9% 7% 2% 6% Restaurants includes fast casual and casual dining apps.
21 b
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Apps in the Other category include apps such as food

n-
Ja

scanner, reward programs, food waste, as well as various

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%
other Food & Delivery apps.

Market Overview 7
 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

U.S. Food Delivery Downloads Spiked Again in January 2021

Monthly downloads of top food delivery apps in the U.S.

5M
DoorDash saw its highest monthly downloads
DoorDash Uber Eats GrubHub Instacart Postmates Shipt in April 2020, surpassing 4 million installs.
January 2021 saw a spike in downloads with 22
4M
COVID-19 Outbreak percent year-over-year growth to surpass 3
million installs.

3M Although Uber Eats didn’t see a large install

spike in April 2020, the app saw steady
downloads throughout the year. Uber Eats
DoorDash
2M
surpassed 1.4 million downloads in January
2021, accounting for 12 percent growth over
Uber Eats the prior year.

1M GrubHub
Instacart

Postmates

Shipt
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Food Delivery U.S. 8

 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Instacart’s Increased Market Share Carried into the New Year

Proportion of U.S. downloads among the top food delivery apps

DoorDash Uber Eats Grubhub Instacart Postmates Shipt Other

DoorDash continued to lead the Food Delivery
app space in the U.S. in the first two months
12% 39% 11% 5% 11% 1% 22% of 2021, accounting for 33 percent of the
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market among the top apps. DoorDash’s share

has remained above 30 percent since it
surpassed Uber Eats to reach No. 1 in 2019.
19% 31% 15% 6% 10% 1% 16%
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Instacart adoption surged during lockdown

32% 20% 16% 5% 14% 2% 11%
due to the high demand for grocery delivery,
and it controlled 12 percent of the Food
19
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Delivery market in 2020. This success was not

short-lived as Instacart’s share remained at
32% 18% 15% 12% 9% 3% 11% 12 percent in the first two months of 2021.
20
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33% 21% 14% 12% 7% 3% 11%

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0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Food Delivery U.S. 9

 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Third-Party Delivery Services Outperformed Competitors

Delivery services that experienced the greatest growth during COVID-19

12M
Among food and drink apps that offer
Install Growth in Mar. to May 2020 delivery, third-party delivery apps saw the
Third-Party Food Delivery most growth during the viral outbreak.
10.1M
10M Grocery Store Delivery
Fast Food Delivery DoorDash downloads soared 30 percent year-
over-year during March to May 2020,
Best Month
Installs Installs
for Mar. Pre-March
to May 2019 2020
immediately after the outbreak.
8M

A major beneficiary of the increased demand

6M
5.4M for delivery was Instacart, which saw
4.7M downloads climb 313 percent Y/Y within the
first three months of the outbreak. Instacart’s
4M 7.8M 3.6M
competitor Shipt saw similar yearly growth of
243 percent Y/Y.
2M
2M 3.9M
1.4M
2.9M 1.1M 1.1M
871K
1.4M 594K
1.3M
453K 222K 321K 177K
0

DoorDash Instacart Grubhub McDonald's Little Caesars Popeyes Panda Express Shipt Publix Casey's

Food Delivery U.S. 10

 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Top Food Delivery Titles are Trending Up in Europe

Monthly downloads of top food delivery apps in Europe

3M
Top European Food Delivery apps were able
Uber Eats Just Eat Takeaway Deliveroo Yemeksepeti Delivery Club SberMarket to retain the download growth seen during
COVID-19 near the end of 2020 and the
COVID-19 Outbreak beginning of 2021. Uber Eats in particular
surpassed 2 million downloads in January
Uber Eats
2021, 10 percent higher than what it had seen
2M
in March 2020.

Just Eat Takeaway

Top apps are still climbing. Deliveroo
surpassed 1 million downloads in the first
Deliveroo month of the new year, clearly reaching its
1M
download record of 1.3 million in May 2020.
Yemeksepeti Demand for food delivery continues to soar as
Delivery Club British food delivery app Deliveroo recently
SberMarket
listed its shares in London, preparing the firm
for an IPO in April 2021.
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Food Delivery Europe 11

 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Uber Eats is in a Tight Race with Just Eat Takeaway

Proportion of European downloads among the top food delivery apps

Uber Eats Just Eat Takeaway Deliveroo Yemeksepeti Delivery Club SberMarket OtherOther
Uber Eats controlled the highest share of
market in the first two months of 2021,
16% 32% 10% 6% 13% 22% accounting for 22 percent, while its biggest
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competitor, Just Eat Takeaway, accounted for

18 percent. The two apps have a major focus
on the U.K. market, being the top two Food
21% 30% 10% 7% 9% 24%
Delivery apps there, accumulating 5.5 million
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1%
and 4.5 million downloads in the U.K. in 2020,
respectively.
25% 25% 12% 7% 10% 21%
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As the third largest delivery service by

downloads in Europe, Deliveroo sustained a
20% 22% 11% 7% 9% 7% 25% stable market share within the competitive
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space. Deliveroo took 12 percent of the

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downloads among the top apps during the

first two months of 2021.
22% 18% 12% 9% 7% 6% 26%
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0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

Food Delivery Europe 12

 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

Food Delivery Apps are Soaring in France

Monthly downloads for the top 20 food delivery apps in Europe by country

3M Russia U.K. France Turkey Italy Spain

Food Delivery app downloads in Russia
reached a record high in April 2020, when the
top apps of this type combined for nearly 2.9
million downloads. Although it will be difficult
to reach this level again, Russian Food Delivery
downloads grew to 2.5 million in December
2M Russia
2020 after hovering around 2 million for the
second half of 2020.

France
U.K.
The U.K. market saw consistency in
downloads, signaling a stable demand for
1M
food delivery, while France growth surged.
Turkey Food Delivery apps surpassed 1 million
downloads in January 2021 in France, 51
Italy percent growth over January 2020.
Spain

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Food Delivery Europe 13

 © 2021 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

European Food Delivery Apps Climb in Monthly Time Spent

Monthly average seconds spent in top Google Play food delivery apps by publisher country

Germany U.K. Russia Top Europe-based Food Delivery Apps

2,000
European-published Food Delivery apps
soared 51 percent in average monthly time
spent per user on Google Play at the end of
1,700 Q4 2020, compared to Q1 2020. The top food
delivery apps from European publishers
surpassed 23 minutes in average monthly time
Top Europe-based
spent per user in Q4 2020.
1,400

Germany-based delivery apps such as

1,100
Lieferando, Foodpanda, and Foodora were
among the standouts in terms of user time
spent on Google Play in 2020, reaching an
average of 28 minutes per month per user in
800 Q4 2020.

Note Regarding Time Spent

Time spent estimates reflect the weighted average monthly
500
time spent on Google Play of the top 3-5 food delivery apps
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by publisher country as well as top 10 food delivery apps in
20

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Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4
Europe overall in 2020.

Food Delivery Europe 14

 © 2020 Sensor Tower Inc. - All Rights Reserved

The State of Food Delivery Apps:

There’s More!

The full State of Food Delivery Apps report is available exclusively to Sensor Tower Enterprise
customers. Request the full report from our sales team (sales@sensortower.com):

Additional Insights in the Full State of Food Delivery Report (27 more
pages)

• Monthly active user data of food delivery titles

• Time spent trends by subcategory and country

• ASO strategies of DoorDash and Uber Eats

• Shifts in demographics among top food delivery titles in Europe

• And more!

Request the Full Food Delivery Report

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