Breakfast Delivery, Coming Right Up

It’s not exactly novel that a big bowl of pork belly ramen is just a click away tonight, but what about the pancakes tomorrow morning? According to The NPD Group, a New York-based market research company, the food delivery sector in the US has seen a 20 percent increase in delivery sales and 10 percent increase in delivery visits, and all of that growth was seen specifically in breakfast and lunch delivery. In contrast, dinner delivery growth has remained flat for the past five years.

“Restaurants need delivery in today’s environment in order to gain and maintain share. It has become a consumer expectation," Warren Solochek, NPD’s senior vice president of industry relations, said in a statement.

As those expectations around delivery are shifting, third-party delivery companies are eager to capitalize on the increased demand. One tenet of Uber Eats' recent redesign is its focus on “practical eating,” or everyday meals. This is evident within the app, but also by the fanfare which it heralded breakfast delivery in large markets, like last year's New York City and Singapore breakfast delivery announcements.

When Jeanette Mellinger, head of research for Uber Everything, spoke with Skift Table in December, she outlined the team’s desire to change consumers’ perception of food delivery as a dinner-only option.

“How do we reach anyone, and how do we do this at any time? These are the pieces that, as we reflect, we know we need to grow into," she said.

An increasing interest in delivering breakfast and lunch as well as dinner is good news for the major restaurant groups that have signed up for partnerships with third-party delivery services as well. Access to a McDonald’s Sausage Egg McMuffin at 8 a.m. tomorrow without leaving the house? Count me in.