Spend in food delivery could hit £7.1bn in 2020 – a huge rise of 42%, frequency of visits up 16%: The food delivery market could hit £7.1bn this year, which would represent a huge rise of 42% on 2019 while the frequency of delivery visits has also been predicted to soar by 16%, according to research by insights business NPD Group. Comparing January to October 2020 with the same period in 2019, delivery is up 14% in frequency of visits to 804 million and there has been a 40% increase in spend to £5.7bn. The NPD Group said delivery could finish 2020 in the 12 months up 16% to reach 1.1 billion visits with spend projected up by 42% at £7.1bn. That would be the equivalent of a 12 million monthly increase in visits versus 2019 and a £177m monthly boost to spend. The NPD Group insights director (foodservice) Dominic Allport said: “Delivery is the silver lining in the otherwise very black cloud that hangs over Britain’s foodservice sector and has been the stand-out performer in 2020. Delivery spend peaked in July at 51% above pre-covid levels but this trailed off as foodservice operators reopened and with August’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme. It’s now rising again amid the return to stricter lockdown rules and we expect it to see further success in the colder winter months and on into 2021.” Delivery now accounts for 16% of the foodservice industry’s £41bn spend compared to 9% pre-covid. This has meant much stronger business for the top three aggregator platforms Just Eat, Deliveroo and UberEats, which have seen January to October business expand 20% to hit 352 million visits. In total, delivery aggregators have increased their share of the market’s spend nearly threefold and now account for more than 8% of the total foodservice industry. According to NPD’s analysis, delivery aggregators could finish 2020 with sales of more than £3bn, up £811m compared to 2019, a significant achievement in an extremely challenging time for the foodservice sector. Pizza tops the list at 808 million deliveries between January and October this year, chips is runner-up at 147 million and burgers third at 71 million. However, NPD’s latest Sentiment Survey shows Britons still value eating out in restaurants, with 50% saying they prefer to dine out or get a takeaway from a restaurant when spending time with friends. Almost six in 10 (58%) say they choose restaurants to eat “something special”. Allport added: “Our Sentiment Survey provides a much-needed ray of hope for restaurant operators and suggests diners will be keen to enjoy the experience of eating out with their friends, and some special meals in restaurants when they can.”