Speaking at the recent Restaurant R200 conference in London, Omar Habbal, head of strategic partnerships at Just Eat, which was headline partner for the event, said that the opportunities for restaurant businesses to get involved with delivery and act on areas of rising demand is growing.
Lunch orders, in particular, have spiked, and made up 23% of all Just Eat volume during the summer of 2021, according to Habbal.
"Whereas delivery was previously seen more as a treat, now it's part and parcel of daily life, and what that means there are new ways for people to experience restaurant brands at home," he said.
With more people returning to offices following the cessation of all Covid restrictions, Habbal said Just Eat's corporate ordering arm, Just Eat for Business, which it purchased as City Pantry in 2019 and then rebranded last year, had seen orders double.
"Big businesses are using [food delivery] to draw staff back into the office and provide them with more of an experience, and for the restaurant owners it’s a great way to sweat their asset a bit more.
"A lot of feedback we get is that there’s a period before lunch where you can do a big volume of pre orders and have them ready before the usual lunchtime orders kick in, and Just Eat for Business fits in well there.
"Our office customers also tell us they’re doing away with in-house canteens, and so we think this area of the market will be going from strength to strength."
Data from a recent Lumina Intelligence report revealed that the foodservice delivery market is forecast to grow by £0.7bn in 2022 to a value of £13.3bn, with the market value expected to total £14.6bn by 2025.
From an aggregator perspective, Just Eat has grown its share of all foodservice delivery occasions to account for more than one in three (36%) in 2022, according to the report.
One key growing area of customer engagement noted by Habbal is sustainability. A recent joint study carried out by Just Eat and Unilever found that 33% of purchases are made with 'sustainability in mind', and as such the demand for plant-based options and the need for restaurants to use compostable packaging is high.
"Customers care about sustainability," he said. "And people are voting with their fingers."
Just Eat is currently in the process of rolling out its Scoober model across mainland Europe and the UK, which sees hubs installed in inner-city locations that provide a location for couriers to begin and end their shifts, and to house Scoober’s fleet of e-bikes and materials.
Habbal stressed the importance of thinking about the delivery experience, not only for Just Eat but also its restaurant partners.
"What we should take away from this is delivery is firmly part of the conversation, and whether you choose to engage with it or not, you have to discuss it because it represents real implementability for your brand and offers a different way for consumers to experience it."
