One of the top meal delivery platforms in the United States, Grubhub, just released a Year in Food report that analyzed the order trend on their platform in 2019.
The company’s findings were based on order trends of their over 21 million users from January to November 2019. They then compared the results to that of the previous year.
The number one Grubhub order overall? It’s Cauliflower pizza. From 7th place in 2018, it rose to clinch the top spot this year. This somehow reflects the order trend’s shift toward vegetarian or vegan food. These make up seven of the top 10 items in Grubhub’s list compared to just 3 in 2018.
Trailing behind the cauliflower pizza is spicy Brussels sprouts at number 2. This is then followed by portobello mushroom empanadas, black bean and sweet potato tacos, and the Japanese favorite miso pork ramen.
Each state in the U.S. has its own top Grubhub order. Interestingly, they vary from American classics to popular International favorites, veggie meals to hearty meat dishes.
Classic American comfort food is still king for Florida with chicken macaroni and cheese, West Virginia with chicken and waffles, Georgia with gumbo, Massachusetts with clam chowder, Iowa with Chicago-style hot dog, North Carolina with shrimp and grits, South Dakota with cheesesteak, and Idaho with chili.
International favorites reign supreme in some states. Thailand’s Tom Yum soup is the most popular in Maine, Japan’s beef ramen in Minnesota, and Greece’s gyro in North Dakota. Japanese fave salmon sashimi is highly-sellable in Washington and Chinese-inspired lobster lo mein is the top choice in Pennsylvania.
The Southern states of New Mexico and Texas both love tacos, with its respective top orders of barbecued brisket taco and brisket taco. People from Michigan also love their wet burrito. Meanwhile, it’s all about finger food for Rhode Island and their ravioli, Maryland and their Old Bay fries, Wyoming and their mozzarella sticks, Delaware and their buffalo chicken dip, and Utah and their lamb samosa.
Alabama, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma prove that they are meat-loving states (at least the Grubhub users in the area are) with their respective preferred meal delivery choice of pork ribs, lamb shank, country-fried steak, baby back ribs, and twice-cooked pork.
On the other hand, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Oregon, South Carolina, and Indiana prefer vegetarian/vegan-friendly dishes with their top Grubhub orders. The platform’s users in these states usually order vegetable chow fun, fried green tomatoes, fried Brussels sprouts, fried tofu, fried mushrooms, and fried pickles respectively.
It seems like Americans love chicken recipes looking at these states’ Grubhub favorites. Nebraska is nuts for cashew chicken, Montana dreams of butter chicken, Hawaii loves lemon chicken, while Arizona lives for orange chicken. Other chicken dishes like chicken fried rice, chicken meatballs, chicken samosa, chicken chili, barbecue chicken pizza, and chicken corn powder are the most popular in Alaska, Illinois, New Hampshire, Ohio, Vermont, and Virginia respectively.
These states all prefer sandwiches, but they differ in terms of what’s between the bread. Arkansas prefers pulled pork, Connecticut wants eggplant, Missouri has French dip, Nevada likes spicy chicken, New Jersey opts meatball Parmesan, Wisconsin loves a corned beef sandwich, and New York usually has the good ‘ol breakfast item of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
Grubhub, which also owns other food-related brands like Seamless, experienced a cut in its market value in half in 2019. However, according to consumer analytics firm Second Measure, Grubhub still has a decent 30% share of the meal delivery market, which is now worth billions of dollars. Its competitors, DoorDash and Uber Eats, hold 35% and 20% of the market share respectively.