Abstract
This study presents an in-depth analysis of California’s restaurant meal delivery market, focusing on the transformative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We analyze an online meal delivery dataset from NielsenIQ’s online panel, which encompasses over 26,000 customers and 160,000 transactions, to examine the evolving trends in meal delivery services across three major Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in California: Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, and Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario. Our results show a significant surge in meal delivery demand during the pandemic, followed by a noticeable decrease as the pandemic eased in 2022. Results from our spatial Durbin model highlight varying relationships between meal delivery demand and factors such as age group, education, income, and race across different MSAs and time periods. Regardless of the region and time, some variables consistently influence meal delivery demand, including urban classification, the number of jobs in an area, and the number of restaurants offering delivery services. Overall, our results outline the important role of meal delivery services in improving food accessibility, particularly in socioeconomically vulnerable communities. Meal delivery provided a crucial means of accessing diverse food options during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings demonstrate the potential of meal delivery to address gaps in food accessibility during challenging times.
Presenters
Jean Daniel SaphoresProfessor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Irvine, California, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Meal Deliveries, Restaurants, California, COVID-19, Spatial Durbin Models
