Use of Online Food Delivery Services to Order Food Prepared Away-From-Home and Associated Sociodemographic Characteristics: A Cross-Sectional, Multi-Country Analysis

Matthew Keeble, Jean Adams, Gary Sacks, Lana Vanderlee, Christine M. White, David Hammond and Thomas Burgoine
Additional contact information
Matthew Keeble: UKCRC Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Box 285 Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB22 0QQ, UK
Jean Adams: UKCRC Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Box 285 Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB22 0QQ, UK
Gary Sacks: Global Obesity Centre, Deakin University, Geelong VIC 3220, Australia
Lana Vanderlee: School of Nutrition, Université Laval, Quebec, QC G1V 0A6, Canada
Christine M. White: School of Public Health and Health Systems, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
David Hammond: School of Public Health and Health Systems, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
Thomas Burgoine: UKCRC Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR), MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Box 285 Institute of Metabolic Science, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB22 0QQ, UK

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-17

Abstract: Online food delivery services like Just Eat and Grubhub facilitate online ordering and home delivery of food prepared away-from-home. It is poorly understood how these services are used and by whom. This study investigated the prevalence of online food delivery service use and sociodemographic characteristics of customers, in and across Australia, Canada, Mexico, the UK, and the USA. We analyzed online survey data ( n = 19,378) from the International Food Policy Study, conducted in 2018. We identified respondents who reported any online food delivery service use in the past 7 days and calculated the frequency of use and number of meals ordered. We investigated whether odds of any online food delivery service use in the past 7 days differed by sociodemographic characteristics using adjusted logistic regression. Overall, 15% of respondents ( n = 2929) reported online food delivery service use, with the greatest prevalence amongst respondents in Mexico ( n = 839 (26%)). Online food delivery services had most frequently been used once and the median number of meals purchased through this mode of order was two. Odds of any online food delivery service use were lower per additional year of age (OR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.94, 0.95) and greater for respondents who were male (OR: 1.50; 95% CI: 1.35, 1.66), that identified with an ethnic minority (OR: 1.57; 95% CI: 1.38, 1.78), were highly educated (OR: 1.66; 95% CI: 1.46, 1.90), or living with children (OR: 2.71; 95% CI: 2.44, 3.01). Further research is required to explore how online food delivery services may influence diet and health.

Keywords: fast food; food accessibility; food delivery; food environment; online food delivery services; out-of-home food; public health; takeaway food (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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