Annual Consumer Study Released for First Time Since COVID-19 Reshaped Industry

Tillster, the global leader in digital ordering and engagement solutions for restaurants, releases its fourth Delivery Index, revealing how customer attitudes towards delivery programs from Quick Service (QSR) and Fast Casual restaurants have shifted since the pandemic struck in 2020.

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“The pandemic completely upended the restaurant industry in 2020, forcing restaurants to adopt a decade’s worth of technology in a matter of weeks, just to stay alive”

The Delivery Index shows that QSR and Fast Casual restaurants saw rising consumer demand for branded delivery experiences in the post-COVID marketplace: 81% of survey respondents say they’ll order online for delivery the same amount or more often in 2022.

“The pandemic completely upended the restaurant industry in 2020, forcing restaurants to adopt a decade’s worth of technology in a matter of weeks, just to stay alive,” says Hope Neiman, Chief Marketing Officer at Tillster. “But, as our 2022 Delivery Index reveals, consumers today are more comfortable with delivery technology, and as such, behaving more predictably in the ways they utilize these channels. Restaurant brands can use this knowledge to drive continued growth in delivery tech adoptions and create customer experiences that will deliver higher profits for their brand.”

The index also finds that organic and third-party delivery programs are received differently across three key demographic variables: age, region and household size. Those findings are among many in the full index.

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Three key consumer takeaways from the 2022 Delivery Index include:

Pandemic Accelerated Adoption
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated delivery adoption among guests, and this trend toward delivery shows no signs of slowing down in the months ahead.

Customer Desires Clarified
Customers are driven by convenience, transparency, short wait times and bad memories. They prefer transparency in fees, delivery under 40 minutes, tech-driven convenience factors like location-based delivery and high-quality food above all else.

Age Defined Delivery Preferences
Age is much more than a number when it comes to delivery, instead offering a consistently useful determinant of preferences among delivery consumers.