Comparative Analysis of Online On-Demand Food Delivery Service Usage Pre- and Post-COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Food delivery service demand has rapidly been on the rise over the past few years. Thanks to advanced information and communication technologies, consumers’ habitual travel behaviour has been changed from dining out in-person at a restaurant to digitally ordering their favourite cuisines from a variety of the restaurants to be delivered to their home. Instead of conventionally placing orders by phone, the entire food ordering process of order placement, payment and delivery can effortlessly be made through mobile application platforms. Moreover, amid greater public health concerns regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, self-preventive measures such as social distancing and travel restrictions have been encouraged worldwide, thus leading to more frequent and extensive uses of the online on-demand food delivery services.  

Against this background, this research aims to investigate how and to what extent travel behaviours of the urban diners have temporarily and/or permanently changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, in relation to their online food ordering behaviours. A stated preference questionnaire survey was carried out mainly among Chiang Mai University students who are familiar with food delivery applications. The results of the exploratory data analysis comparing their behaviours between the pre- and post-pandemic show, as expected, a drastic shift in demand for online food delivery services. Factors influencing their behavioural decision on ordering food online or travelling out to a restaurant during the pandemic are identified. However, these changes are unlikely to persist afterward. The results further indicate that, although the diners will continue to use the food delivery applications, the prevalence and frequency of the uses will be lower than during the pandemic.