Summary of findings
To our knowledge, this is the first published study in the public health literature to investigate experiences of using online food delivery services from the perspective of frequent customers.
Participants recognised that their location and the time of day meant that they could often access different types of food through multiple purchasing formats, at the same time. Participants stated that purchasing takeaway food was appropriate in many situations and typically favoured using online food delivery services. For many participants, using these services was now part of routines in their increasingly digital lives. As such, using online food delivery services appeared to be synonymous with takeaway food purchasing. This meant that participants expected food sold online to be unhealthy and that it was inappropriate to purchase healthy food in this manner. Participants consistently thought about how features of online food delivery services were an advantage or a drawback within the context of their location at any given point in time. This was a complex and dynamic thought process. Participants described how the advantages of these services were a strong enough reason to continue use, overcoming drawbacks such as the acknowledged unhealthfulness of takeaway food. Participants reported that using online food delivery services involved little effort as they were provided with food outlet information, menus, and payment facilities on one platform that had been optimised for use. Moreover, although the cost of food was an important consideration for participants, they were willing to pay a fee in exchange for the opportunity to complete tasks whilst waiting for meal preparation and delivery. Finally, using online food delivery services substituted purchasing takeaway food in other ways. Nevertheless, participants reported that cooking at home was a distinct food practice that occurred more frequently and was irreplaceable.
Interpretations
Participants described sociocultural values assigned to takeaway food. These values are proposed to develop from previous experiences [
38,
39]. For our participants, purchasing takeaway food at the weekend was a traditional routine that celebrated the end of the working week. In the past, this tradition might have meant visiting food outlets in the neighbourhood food environment. However, online food delivery services are now used and favoured. Since participants reported that it was takeaway food in and of itself that was a fundamental reason for seeking out online food delivery services, it is reasonable to conclude that sociocultural values linked to this food exist, and transfer, across purchasing formats.
Food purchasing has been recognised as situational and made in the context of place and time [
40,
41], with convenience reported as a consistent consideration [
42]. Participants in our study reported that takeaway food was appropriate in many situations and acknowledged that it could often be accessed through multiple purchasing formats. Using one purchasing format over another came after considering multiple factors, including the level of effort required to find a suitable food outlet and place orders. As using online food delivery services took little effort, this purchasing format was often most convenient. However, participants were clear that although their decision had seemingly been made, it could be changed, especially if an online food delivery service feature that was supposedly an advantage became a drawback. For example, if estimated delivery times were too long or delivery fees were too high an alternative option would be considered. Our findings support that the decision about if and how to purchase takeaway food is dynamic and influenced by place and time [
32].
Food access has previously been summarised within the domains of availability, accessibility, affordability, accommodation, and acceptability [
15]. Although Caspi and colleagues described these domains in the context of physical food access, they are applicable to digital food environments. Broadly speaking, our research investigated the ‘acceptability’ of using online food delivery services, and participants made explicit reference to the domains of food ‘accessibility’ and ‘affordability’.
For example, participants told us that one particularly valuable aspect of using online food delivery services was the ability to access a greater number of food outlets compared with other purchasing formats. This finding speaks to our previous research that found a positive association between having the highest number of food outlets accessible online and any use of online food delivery services in the previous week amongst adults living in the UK [
17]. The experiences of using online food delivery services reported in the current study support the possibility that having more food outlet choice contributes to the decision to adopt, and maintain, use of these services rather than necessarily increasing the frequency in which they are used. Other features of online food delivery services, such as having information about each of the accessible food outlets on one platform, likely amplify the perceived benefit of greater food outlet access. Notably, however, access to an increased number of food outlets was not always advantageous. This finding recognises a general awareness about the negative aspects of takeaway food consumption, previously captured from the perspectives of young adults in Australia and Canada [
38,
43].
Participants also discussed how the price of food influenced their use of online food delivery services. This reflects that food affordability is a fundamental purchasing consideration [
32]. Beyond this, our findings provide insight into actions that food outlets registered to accept orders online might take to attract customers. Given that online food delivery service customers can often select from multiple food outlets at the same time, food outlets might aim to compete with one another by lowering the price of food sold or by introducing price-promotions in an attempt to capitalise on customer demand. Particularly in the case of the latter, participants acknowledged the importance of price-promotions. Previous evidence shows that price-promotions contribute to unhealthy food purchasing practices [
44,
45]. Access to price-promotions through online food delivery services has not been systematically documented. However, it is possible that their availability is positively associated with the number of food outlets accessible online. Since both price-promotions and the number of food outlets accessible online appear to influence online food delivery service use, the possibility of interaction between them is concerning for overall consumption of food prepared out-of-home, and subsequently, diet quality and health.
In some cases, participants reported that they used online food delivery services because they did not have time to cook at home. A number of tasks, including household chores, work, travel, and childcare, can limit the time available for, and take priority over, home cooking [
46]. Using online food delivery services (and paying associated delivery fees) instead of cooking at home allowed participants in our study to complete non-food related tasks whilst waiting for meal preparation and delivery. Due to sociocultural values and perceived ‘rules’ about how frequently takeaway food 'should' be purchased, participants did not see online food delivery services as a complete replacement for cooking at home. Nevertheless, even partial replacement has implications for diet quality and health, especially since the food available and purchased online was acknowledged as unhealthy by participants in the current study.
Possible implications for public health and future research
Participants reported that using online food delivery services had mostly substituted, not supplemented, their use of other purchasing formats. Given the perspectives of participants in our study, an increasing number of food outlets could be registering to accept orders online to supply an apparent customer demand. Further research is required to understand the extent to which customer demand is driven by food outlet accessibility, and vice versa.
Participants in our study reported that despite using online food delivery services frequently, their overall takeaway food consumption had remained the same. We do not yet know if this perception would be reflected in objective assessment of takeaway food consumption. Further research that quantifies the use of multiple purchasing formats and takeaway food consumption over time is required to understand the potential public health implications as a result of using online food delivery services. Although evidence from Australia suggests that food sold through online food delivery services tends to be energy-dense and nutrient-poor [
47], this has not been established in the UK, to our knowledge. Nor does it necessarily reflect the balance of what food is purchased. Objective assessment of the nutritional quality of foods available, and purchased, through online food delivery services in the UK could be the focus of future research. This evidence will help to better understand the extent to which public health concern is warranted.
With a few exceptions, food sold through online food delivery services is prepared in food outlets that are also physically accessible in the neighbourhood food environment [
13]. From a public health perspective, this reinforces the intrinsic link between neighbourhood and digital food environments [
48]. Therefore, public health interventions adopted in the neighbourhood food environment may also influence the digital food environment. For example, urban planning policies have been adopted to prevent new takeaway food outlets from opening in neighbourhoods [
49]. By extension, this stops new food outlets from becoming accessible online. Other public health interventions that operate synergistically between physical and digital food environments might be increasingly required in the future. It will also be vital for any future interventions to consider how the geographical coverage of online food delivery services expands neighbourhood food outlet access [
50], potentially undermining the effectiveness of interventions adopted in the neighbourhood food environment. Doing so would help address concerns that these services increase access to food prepared out-of-home [
4,
13]. Interventions of this nature could be particularly important in more deprived areas that have the highest number of accessible food outlets across multiple purchasing formats [
16,
51].
Participants recognised that online food delivery services provide access to takeaway food that was associated with being unhealthy. Participants were aware that they
could purchase healthy food through online food delivery services, but this did not mean that they
would. From a public health perspective, this finding indicates that the success of interventions intended to promote healthier takeaway food purchasing through online food delivery services might be limited by existing sociocultural values if they are not taken into consideration. A possible way to navigate this would be to improve the nutritional quality of food available online without necessarily making any changes salient. Interventions of this nature include healthier frying practices and reduced food packaging size [
52,
53]. Although these interventions were acceptable and feasible when implemented inside takeaway food outlets [
54], further investigation is required to understand the extent to which they are appropriate in the context of online food delivery services. Changing the types of food available to purchase through online food delivery services could also lead to improved food access for those with limited kitchen facilities at home or limited mobility.
Public health interventions intended specifically for online food delivery services could also be developed. Potential approaches include preferential placement of healthy menu items, introducing calorie labelling and offering healthier food swaps. Embedding these approaches within existing online food delivery service infrastructures would allow implementation to be uniform [
55], and their implementation could be optimised to enhance customer awareness and interaction. The potential success of approaches of this nature requires exploration. Nevertheless, in February 2022, the UK Behavioural Insights Team (formerly of the UK Government) published a protocol to investigate approaches to promoting the purchase of lower energy density foods through a simulated online food delivery service platform [
56].
Price-promotions influenced and justified the use of online food delivery services. Legislation to restrict the use of volume-based price-promotions (e.g. buy-one-get-one-free, 50% extra free) on less healthy pre-packaged food sold both in-store and online were due to be introduced in England in October 2022 [
57]. However, the introduction of this legislation has now been delayed. Although hot food served ready-to-consume was due to be excluded, given what is known about the impact of price-promotions on purchasing other food [
58], and our participants’ description of the importance of price-promotions on their purchasing practices, extension of these restrictions to hot food served ready-to-consume might be warranted. Understanding how price-promotions influence food purchased from online food delivery services represents a first step to understand the need for future regulation.
Limitations
We recruited participants through two social media platforms, which means that our study sample was formed from a subset of all social media users. However, online recruitment was appropriate since we wanted to understand experiences of using a digital purchasing format. Moreover, the participants we recruited were mostly highly educated, potentially reflecting reported online food delivery service use amongst this socioeconomic group [
22,
23]. After 12 telephone interviews we acknowledged this and adjusted our recruitment strategy to ensure a more balanced sample with respect to level of education. Nevertheless, future research should explore the perspectives of frequent online food delivery service customers with lower levels of education, since it is possible that they have different reasons for using these services. Although we did not recruit infrequent online food delivery service customers or non-customers, they would not have been well-positioned to help us investigate our study aims. However, since we have described experiences of using online food delivery services from the perspective of frequent customers, future work should seek to understand perspectives of non-customers, customers who use them less frequently, and customers who use them for specific reasons.
As the first study in the public health literature to investigate frequent customer experiences of using online food delivery services, we chose a descriptive methodological orientation. Our descriptive approach meant that we did not investigate the underlying meaning of the language used by participants, however, this was not aligned with our aims. Furthermore, our descriptive methodological orientation allowed us to use codebook thematic analysis and include multiple researchers in analysis. Coding a 10% sample of interviews transcripts and discussing analytic themes would have been less appropriate with reflexive approaches to thematic analysis [
34,
35,
59], but assisted with our interpretations.
We conducted fieldwork during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, which might have altered the recent experiences of online food delivery service use and participant perspectives. However, MK asked participants to think about the time before the COVID-19 pandemic and reflected on their ability to do so. This reflexivity is in line with established practices regarding qualitative rigour [
20,
60], and allowed us to determine when it would be most appropriate to stop fieldwork. Nonetheless, we acknowledge the possibility that food-related practices have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it is possible that online food delivery services are now used for different reasons, both initially and over time, and by individuals with different sociodemographic characteristics than those in our study.