In 2024, Uber Inc. generated approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars in revenues in its 'Delivery' segment, which includes Uber Eats and Uber Direct. This figure constitutes an increase compared to the previous year's revenue of **** billion dollars. The success story When the ride-hailing company, Uber Inc., launched its food delivery spinoff ‘UberEats’ in the United States in 2014, few would have imagined it would go on to dominate the online food delivery market, overtaking then-market leader Grubhub. As of March 2024, UberEats controlled*** percent of the online food delivery market in the United States, while Grubhub held an eight percent market share. A global market leader? Although UberEats only launched outside the United States in 2016, the company is today the leading food delivery operator globally, generating more revenues than industry heavyweights Delivery Hero, DoorDash, and Just Eat Takeaway. With more than ** million app downloads, UberEats also ranked as the second most downloaded food delivery app worldwide in 2024 after Zepto.

In 2024, the total market size of the online food delivery industry in the United States was estimated at approximately ***** billion U.S. dollars, with the grocery delivery segment generating an estimated *** billion U.S. dollars in revenue, and the meal delivery segment around ** billion dollars. A leading market The United States is home to the second biggest online food delivery market in the world after China. While grocery delivery accounts for nearly two-thirds of the food delivery market in the U.S., the meal delivery segment is increasingly relevant, as homegrown players continue expanding their reach beyond borders. The race for market share between DoorDash and Uber Eats may have crowned the former leader of its home market, but the latter dominates on the global front. In 2023, Uber Eats was the leading online food delivery company in the world with nearly **** billion U.S. dollars in revenues. DoorDash’s global ambitions DoorDash achieved impressive success in recent years. As data on the total dollar value of orders made on DoorDash marketplaces demonstrates, the San Francisco-based startup’s GMV reached nearly ** billion U.S. dollars in 2023, up from a mere * billion dollars in 2019. That’s more than 700 percent growth in just 4 years. In addition to this, DoorDash revealed its ambitions of global expansion with its recent acquisition of Helsinki-based company Wolt, a major player in the European food delivery market. As of 2024, DoorDash operated in ** countries.

In 2024, the total market size of the online food delivery industry in the United States was estimated at approximately 353.3 billion U.S. dollars, with the grocery delivery segment generating an estimated 257 billion U.S. dollars in revenue, and the meal delivery segment around 96 billion dollars. A leading market The United States is home to the second biggest online food delivery market in the world after China. While grocery delivery accounts for nearly two-thirds of the food delivery market in the U.S., the meal delivery segment is increasingly relevant, as homegrown players continue expanding their reach beyond borders. The race for market share between DoorDash and Uber Eats may have crowned the former leader of its home market, but the latter dominates on the global front. In 2023, Uber Eats was the leading online food delivery company in the world with nearly 12.2 billion U.S. dollars in revenues. DoorDash’s global ambitions DoorDash achieved impressive success in recent years. As data on the total dollar value of orders made on DoorDash marketplaces demonstrates, the San Francisco-based startup’s GMV reached nearly 67 billion U.S. dollars in 2023, up from a mere eight billion dollars in 2019. That’s more than 700 percent growth in just four years. In addition to this, DoorDash revealed its ambitions of global expansion with its recent acquisition of Helsinki-based company Wolt, a major player in the European food delivery market. As of 2024, DoorDash operated in 27 countries.

In 2024, Uber Technologies generated more than ** billion U.S. dollars in revenue from its mobility segment, which includes its ride-sharing operations. The delivery segment, which includes Uber Eats operations, generated around ***** billion U.S. dollars in revenues that year. Market leadership in food delivery Uber's delivery service 'Uber Eats' has been able to build on the boost it received during the COVID-19 pandemic. The segment's revenue more than doubled in size between 2020 and 2021, growing by an additional ** percent in the following two years. Uber Eats has been able to establish itself as the global leader in food delivery services, generating around *** billion U.S. dollars more in annual revenues than its closest rival, Delivery Hero. Reaching profitability Uber has been able to establish itself as the global market leader in both of its core business segments, food delivery and ride-hailing. In the ride-hailing sector, Uber holds an even stronger position than in the food delivery business, controlling around a quarter of the global market. Its strong market position and favorable operating environment in 2023, allowed Uber to generate a net profit of *** billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This was the first time Uber had been profitable since 2018, following several years of net losses reaching as high as *** billion U.S. dollars in 2022.

The battle for supremacy between specialist food delivery services continued across the United States in 2018. With a market share of 34 percent, Grubhub was ranked as the leading service, while competitors Uber Eats and DoorDash were ranked second and third, respectively.

Is technology transforming food delivery? In 2018, around 45 percent of adults in the United States used online ordering to have their food delivered. The use of mobile delivery apps is growing, particularly among young adults, but the leading method of ordering food for delivery was via the restaurant’s own delivery service. The boom in food delivery has led to soaring revenues for some of the largest delivery companies: the worldwide revenue of Grubhub nearly doubled between 2017 and 2019.

Big spenders in the Big Apple In 2019, New Yorkers spent the most per capita on food delivery in the United States – consumers in the city spent around 200 U.S. dollars per capita more than those in San Francisco. In 2017, Grubhub was the leading takeout food delivery service in New York, with an overwhelming market share. However, consumers in San Francisco favored another delivery service: Caviar. The company had a market share of 24.1 percent in the Californian city, whereas its market share in New York was only 4.5 percent.

In 2024, online food delivery users in Europe were forecast to reach about *** million for meal delivery and around *** million for grocery delivery. Overall, both segments are expected to see their user base increase in the coming years, reaching an estimated *** million meal delivery users and *** million grocery delivery users.

Transatlantic competition Europe was the second largest region for online food delivery users in 2024, ranking after the populous continent of Asia. Notably, Europe’s share of global online food delivery users surpassed that of North America, another key market for food delivery companies. Many of them are headquartered in Europe, competing head-to-head with U.S.-based companies. In fact, the leading online food delivery company worldwide is U.S.-based Uber Eats, followed closely in second place by Berlin-based Delivery Hero.

Delivery Hero: a global titan from Berlin

With annual revenues reaching nearly ** billion euros in 2023, Delivery Hero extended its consumer reach far and wide beyond its home base. Its extensive brand portfolio includes PedidosYa, foodpanda, talabat, Yemeksepeti, and Glov, among others. In 2023, the two most lucrative regions for the company were Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), a stunning testament to the global reach the Berlin-based company has achieved in recent years.

Revenues from food retail in non-specialised stores in Latvia are projected to grow from 2.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2011 to over 3.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2023, fuelled by the robust distribution processes, attractive pricing strategies, wide variety of products on offer and the growing number of retail grocery chains. The market is largely dominated by supermarkets, followed by hypermarkets and local stores. Maxima, followed by Top! and Rimi are a few of the leading supermarket chains in the country, with the latter having 130 stores and sales of over 785 million euros in 2019. Leading German discount store, Lidl, is also set to enter the market in 2020, with ten stores scheduled to open in the capital city of Riga. Online food delivery gaining fast traction Owing to their robust last mile free delivery services and deep discounting strategies, online food delivery apps and aggregators are gaining rapid popularity in the country. In fact, revenues in the online food delivery segment are projected to grow over three-fold between 2017-2024. Uber Eats followed by Wolt, and Deliveroo are some of the popular food delivery apps.

There were ****** Starbucks stores worldwide in 2024. This figure also included other segments owned by the coffee-chain, such as Siren Retail. Starbucks units have grown almost every year over the past twenty years. The only drop was in 2009, most likely due to the global financial crisis. Global expansion has ultimately allowed the coffee-chain to almost double its number of locations over the past 10 years. Where are Starbucks stores located? When looking at Starbucks stores by country, most were located in the U.S., the company’s home nation. In 2024, there were more than ** thousand Starbucks locations in the U.S. alone. Despite the U.S. having more stores than any other country, the company’s international presence has shown tremendous growth. Beginning in 2018, there were more international Starbucks stores than in the U.S., a gap which has since widened considerably. Will Starbucks do delivery? Starbucks launched a pilot partnership with Uber Eats in late 2018, allowing them to deliver items from a selected delivery menu to consumers’ homes. The company also developed the Starbucks app for customers to pre-order and pay for items before pick-up. With the global revenue of the online food delivery market reaching *** trillion U.S. dollars in 2024, Starbucks along with many other companies has evolved to capitalize on this online market.