Food Apps Survey: Quick Service Restaurants Dominate Category

Food apps are becoming more common. Quick service restaurants in particular have found new and unique ways to interact with mobile consumers via apps, according to data from Business Insider. But other food businesses like stores and retail brands can also potentially use mobile apps as part of their strategies. So how many consumers use mobile apps to find food options or otherwise shop for food or drink products? We asked 1,000 respondents about their thoughts on food related mobile apps.

Food Apps

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, 14% of respondents said that they’ve used multiple food related mobile apps at some point. And 13% said they’ve used one such app. Yelp, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Starbucks, GrubHub and Taco Bell were the most popular mobile apps mentioned by respondents who have used apps to find or order food options.

App Functions

Actually placing food orders seems to be the most popular function for mobile app users. 68% said that they look for food apps that give them the ability to order food or drink items. 65% look for the ability to locate restaurants near them. 59% appreciate access to coupons or discounts. 45% like the ability to access customer reviews of different restaurants or stores. 42% like having the ability to locate food retailers in their area. 32% like food apps that give them access to recipes. 30% look for apps that give them information about healthy food options. And 20% look for apps that can give them recommendations based on their past activity.

Future Users

Overall, 29% of respondents said that they are at least somewhat likely to use or download food related mobile apps within the next year. Of those who have already used food apps, 65% said they are likely to use or download new apps in that time. In addition, Personality Radar indicates that those who are likely to download food apps are those who tend to spend money on leisure activities and unique hobbies. And they're also likely to subscribe to magazines, so targeting ads and marketing materials in magazines that focus on specific hobbies, especially outdoor hobbies, could potentially be beneficial for companies that make food apps.

Key Takeaways

Food related apps aren’t quite as popular as some other mobile app categories. But the market is still poised for a moderate amount of growth in the near future. In the immediate future, apps for quick service restaurants that make ordering and paying for food easier seem to be in the most demand. The ability to quickly order food and potentially even get a discount for using a mobile app can certainly be appealing for target consumers who prefer to spend their time on other interests and hobbies. However, there’s not much in the way of competition for apps that want to focus on unique niches like healthy recipes or personalized restaurant suggestions. So there could potentially be opportunities for businesses to offer different functions that could appeal to those same mobile consumers. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Smartphone chat by Lars Plougmann under CC BY-SA 2.0What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on January 24-25 via AYTM’s online survey panel.