Food service and drinking place sales decreased 3.9% in November from October figures. The November sales estimate was $53.2 billion which represents a 17.2% year-over-year decrease. But unlike traditional brick-and-mortar food service and drinking place retail, online food delivery is operating at record highs as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Similar to foodservice and drinking place November estimates, online food delivery monthly sales decreased in November from the prior month.

Month-over-month food delivery monthly sales contracted in November from October's record-high sales. Despite the contraction in November, food delivery monthly sales are still near the record high. November food delivery sales increased by more than 125% year-over-year.

Graph: Food Delivery Monthly Sales by Service, January 2018 to November 2020

DoorDash obtained the majority of food delivery sales in November with a 50% share of sales. Uber Eats had the second most sales with 23%. Grubhub took third with 18% of food delivery sales in November. Postmates, which was acquired by Uber towards the end of November acquired a 7% share of U.S. food delivery monthly sales in November.

November U.S. Food Delivery Headlines

While November saw a slight downtick from the prior month, there were significant market maneuvers by some of the key players:

  • Postmates partnered with Estee Lauder’s Le Labo, Parachute Home, and Buck Mason to launch a new “virtual storefront” retail platform prior to the holidays that allows consumers to receive instantaneous delivery from home, clothing, beauty, and wellness retailers.
  • DoorDash made its public market entrance with shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange. DoorDash started trading at $182 per share and closed more than 85% in their debut, giving DoorDash a market valuation of about $60.2 billion.
  • Uber completed its acquisition of Postmates for $2.65 billion in an all-stock transaction.
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