News

Grubhub: Plant-based offerings firmly rooted in center of American plates

June 26, 2019

Online ordering and delivery platform, Grubhub, used data from more than 500,000 orders which it said take place "on an average day" through the service to provide a half-year report on trends this year. And the bottom line — for all those meat-eating nay-sayers out there — plant-based cuisine has taken root and vegan and vegetarian center-of-the-plate items are here from here on out. 

Grubhub said in its news release about the "State of the Plate" report that vegan-friendly food order have increased an eye-popping 25% so far in 2019 — compared to the same January through May period last year — with orders for Impossible burgers that are spreading like, well, plants, up 82 percent in that period.  

The biggest vegan — as in individuals who choose to eat nothing derived from animals — strongholds for Grubhub orders were as follows: 

• Los Angeles.
• Brooklyn, New York.
• Portland, Oregon.
• Las Vegas.
• Rochester, New York.
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• Detroit, Michigan.
• San Diego, California. 

To come up with that list Grubhub said it looked at factors like number of vegan restaurants on its platform, ratings, order volume and overall number of vegan items available in each city, compared to the rest of the country.

For every hunger there's a season

Take note restaurant operators, these are the top dishes by season, ordered on Grubhub, beginning with winter: 

1. Chicken shish kabob.
2. Chicken tinga.
3. Spicy potato taco.
4. Mushroom stroganoff.
5. Cuban picadillo empanadas.

And for spring this year, the top picks were: 

1. Cauliflower bites. 
2. Ahi tuna salad.
3. Mixed berry acai bowls.
4. Chicken poblano.
5. Quinoa taco.

And those choices and other data helped Grubhub make some predictions about what would be hot dishes for the rest of the year in restaurant plant-based food orders. For instance, this summer, the platform expects barbecue pork buns to lead the list, followed by truffle parm frie and then quinoa and arugula salad. In the fall, pesto pasta is expected to lead the vegetable-based parade, followed that crunchy, albeit slimy delight of the south — fried okra and finally lemongrass soup. 

For its forecasts, Grubhub said it evaluated top foods on its platform over the past two years, as well as more recent trends and seasonal favorites. 

What you like — meaty or otherwise — depends on where you are

The company said its data digest relayed that what kinds of plant-based options people most prefer these days tends to depend a lot on where you are nationally, with the Midwest choosing that plant-based options first and foremost, like the famous Impossible burger, followed by cheese quesadillas and waffle fries. 

Up in the Northeast corner of the nation, the big favorite was harvest bowls, followed by guay tiew pad see eiw and bagel and egg sandwiches. Down south, shrimp linguini alfredo took home the top prize, followed by baked potato soup and somewhat ironically, New England clam chowder. 

Finally, out West, meat vanquished plants, with glazed baby back ribs in the top spot, followed by pork burritos and finally, : Impossible Burgers. To come up with those choices, Grubhub looked at top regional orders from Jan.1 to May 31, compared to last year's top picks in each region, to determine the top items on the move up. 

Lastly the company said it's modifying some of its top meal choices from its previously released 2018 "Year in Food" report to include more indulgent breakfast items with lots of sweet and salty combinations, like chicken and waffles and sausage egg and cheese biscuits, while desserts are leaning more told the frozen delights, like brownie sundaes, cake batter frozen yogurt and doughnut ice cream sandwiches. 

Grubhub now has more than 115,000 restaurant partners in more than 2,200 U.S. cities and London.