Grubhub has published its “State of the Plate” report, looking at food trends this year, with the pandemic having resulted in much more use of the food-delivery app.
The numbers show spicy chicken sandwiches saw a huge uptick in popularity with 299 percent increase in demand, and plant-based burgers weren’t far behind with 291 percent. Vanilla shakes were popular with a 273 percent increase, and iced lattes were 261 percent more popular, according to Grubhub.
Elsewhere on the list, cinnamon rolls, potato tacos and taro milk tea also saw considerable upshots in popularity with 205 percent, 169 percent and 168 percent increases respectively.
As quarantine started in San Francisco on March 18, Grubhub reported that the usage of contact-free food delivery apps increased and people began to use them more to order things like comfort food, alcohol and coffee, with cold brew coffee seeing a 232 percent increase as people planned their breakfasts. The most popular orders searched included wine, cake, boba tea, beer and donuts.
Among the highest percentages for alcohol orders were pinot grigio, hot sake, light beer, IPA and merlot.
The report also details trends in food preference based on seasons. For the spring, Grubhub reports donuts were 214 percent more popular and bacon, egg and cheese biscuits were 169 percent more popular.
For the summer, Grubhub predicted vegetable biryani, spinach and artichoke wanton, Mexican shrimp cocktails and black bean and quinoa bowls would be popular, based on trends from the past few years.
The company also looked specifically at vegan trends. According to Grubhub, the top vegan burger trends included black bean burgers, grilled portobello mushroom burgers, Impossible burgers, quinoa-based burgers and eggplant burgers.
In other news, Blue Apron also began to see more traffic during the quarantine. The meal kit service reported an 8 percent spike in activity due to the shutdown orders, which had more people looking to cook at home. In light of that, the company said it would be putting measures in place to boost its operations to meet the rising demand.
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