FACTSHEET November 2019 ORDERING FOOD ONLINE (OUT OF HOME) Food purchased ‘Out of Home’ refers to any food or drink purchased outside of the home intended for immediate consumption, for example in cafes or restaurants. In Scotland, we purchase around a quarter of our calories out of home. For more information, see our out of home briefing. Out of home food also includes takeaways and home deliveries, which can be ordered online, through apps or food delivery services. Ordering food online for delivery has increased in recent years, with the introduction of novel food delivery service apps. There is little research exploring the implications of this shift. We must ensure measures that enable healthier choices such as calorie-labelling, portion size improvements and healthier options apply to online out of home. In 2006, the launch of food delivery platforms connecting restaurants to customers, such as Just Eat, marked the start of evolution in the food delivery market.1 Following in the success of Just Eat, competing services such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats were launched, introducing platforms that also deal with processing and delivering orders. The food delivery service market is expected to continue to increase: Digital orders for takeaway, deliveries and grab These are expected to occur alongside » ‘n’ go are projected to exceed 1 billion in the » the rise in in-home entertainment services UK for the first time by 2020, with the use of such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, causing apps expected to rapidly increase by as much people to stay indoors and ‘order-in’.3 It is as 88% between the start of 2019 and the end therefore predicted that we will see more 2 of 2020 food delivery services partnering with in-home entertainment providers Delivery is expected to account for around » 10% of all out of home spend on food services The NPD group predict that this trend will in the UK by 20202 » encourage the industry to invest more in On-premise’ visits are expected to decline by delivery services, leading to an annual delivery FOOD DELIVERY SERVICES » 8% by 2020 to 4 billion visits, compared to market value of £5.8 billion by the end of 2 2018 figures.2 As menu prices are projected 2020. This estimate varies, with the MCA Food to increase, this is not expected to result in Service Delivery Report estimating that food decline in spending delivery was worth £8.1 billion in 20184 1 5 Just Eat In 2018 in the UK: CASE In 2018, Just Eat released Just Eat had 12.2m active customers, a 16% their Annual Report showing » increase from the year before STUDY that by 2018, they had over Customers spent an average of £18.79 per head 26 million customers and » per shopping event had partnered with more than 100,000 restaurants » Customers placed a total of 123m orders worldwide. Just Eat’s revenue 20% of the overall UK adult population chose Just increased by 43% within a » Eat as their platform of choice year: from £546 m in 2017 to £779m in 2018. » Just Eat registered a gross revenue of £385m WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? The majority of takeaway food is high in calories, salt and » saturated fat6 Research has shown that consumers significantly » underestimate the calorie content of takeaway meals.7,8 This is also made difficult as out of home businesses do not have to provide calorie information Consumers might therefore be unknowingly » overconsuming calories from food ordered online A 2019 unpublished research project from the University of Glasgow showed that convenience, wanting to treat oneself and lack of time were the main reasons for university students to order food online.9 It was found that in this group of students, calorie and nutritional labelling and apps signposting healthier options, would likely help them make healthier choices. This is in agreement with the ‘Healthier Fast Food’ report by Shift,7 which suggests that introducing such interventions to online platforms such as Just Eat would be easy to scale and have greater impact if “embedded into the architecture of online platforms”.7 POLICY Food Standards Scotland consulted on measures to improve the out of home » environment in Scotland.10 Analysis of consultation responses found that the majority of respondents believed that online food delivery services should be included in an out of home strategy, that small or half portions should be available, full nutrition information should be provided online, and calorie labelling should be mandatory in order to support informed choice and create a level playing field11 The UK Government consulted on calorie labelling in the out of home sector in » 2018.12 In July 2019, the UK Government announced in their prevention green paper that they would set details of their policy in a consultation response13 Public Health England’s Calorie Reduction Programme challenges the food indus- » try (including out of home) to reduce the calories in their products by 20% by 2024.14 If achieved, over 5 years this is projected to save the NHS £4.5bn in healthcare costs and prevent 35,370 premature deaths14 2 KEY RECOMMENDED ACTIONS Introduce mandatory calorie labelling on online » menus to help consumers make an informed choice Improvement in portion size options, ensuring an » option for smaller portions is always availableapplied to online shopping environments » Standardise nutrition labelling on menus Online platforms should highlight healthier options » to make choosing healthier options easier Research is needed to explore the implications of the » recent and growing phenomenon of ordering takeaway food online obesityactionscotland.org 7. Cook C, Holmes C, Collett K (2017) Healthier Fast Food: Mapping the Fast Food Environment in Hackney. London REFERENCES 8. Food Standards Scotland (2019) Qualitative Consumer Research on eating outside the home 9. University of Glasgow (2019) An intervention to promote healthier 1. Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (2019) Evolution food choices among young people ordering food online in of the booming food delivery market. https://ahdb.org.uk/news/ Scotland. Glasgow consumer-insight-evolution-of-the-booming-food-delivery-market. Accessed 9 Sep 2019 10. Food Standards Scotland (2018) Consultation on Proposals to Improve the Out of Home Environment in Scotland - Food 2. NPD Group (2019) “NPD Group says British foodservice industry Standards Scotland. Aberdeen visits will fall over next two years but spend will increase to record £60 billion as operators increase menu prices.” https:// 11. Food Standards Scotland (2019) Analysis of a Food Standards www.npdgroup.co.uk/wps/portal/npd/uk/news/press-releases/ Scotland Public Consultation on Improving the Out of Home Food npd-group-says-british-foodservice-industry-visits-will-fall-over- Environment in Scotland. Final Report August 2019. Comissioned next-two-years-but-spend-will-increase-to-record-60-billion-as- by Food Standards Scotland. Aberdeen operators-increase-menu-prices/. Accessed 9 Sep 2019 12. Department of Health and Social Care (2018) Calorie labelling for 3. NPD Group (2018) “NPD GROUP: Five Eating Out Trends to food and drink served outside of the home - closed consultation. Watch in 2019.” https://www.npdgroup.co.uk/wps/portal/npd/uk/ https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/calorie-labelling- news/press-releases/npd-group-five-eating-out-trends-to-watch- for-food-and-drink-served-outside-of-the-home. Accessed 13 Aug in-2019/. Accessed 9 Sep 2019 2019 4. MCA (2018) UK Foodservice Delivery Market Report 2018 13. UK Government (2019) Advancing our health : prevention in the 2020s. United Kingdom 5. Just Eat plc (2019) Annual Report and Accounts 2018. London 14. Public Health England (2018) Calorie reduction: the scope and 6. National Health Service (2018) Healthier Takeaways. https://www. ambition for action. nhs.uk/live-well/eat-well/healthier-takeaways/. Accessed 9 Sep 2019 Obesity Action Scotland | c/o Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow | 232-242 St Vincent Street Glasgow G2 5RJ | 0141 221 6072 3.