Top Trends in Restaurant Delivery and Takeout

Diners are second-guessing their holiday plans, according to the third installment of BentoBox’s Restaurant Delivery Consumer Trend Report. The year-long study is tracking how U.S. consumers’ delivery and takeout habits evolve through COVID-19 recovery. Sixty-four percent of diners are very or somewhat likely to change their dining habits over the next few months given the Delta variant and surging cases nationally. This could be sign that takeout and delivery ordering could rebound in Q4. Seventy-six percent of diners ordered takeout or delivery at least once per week in October, down from 85 percent in June as restaurants reopened for indoor dining over the summer months. Additionally, nearly one-in-four (23 percent) diners did not order takeout or delivery at all on a weekly basis, up from 15 percent in the June survey. 

When asked about why they would opt for delivery and takeout this holiday season in lieu of visiting a restaurant, 49 percent of diners said that ordering…