Nearly half of men and 40 per cent of women order delivery weekly
A recent study shows that ordering delivery or take out may actually help you to eat less.
People are becoming more conscious of making healthy food choices when ordering delivery and takeout versus eating in a restaurant, according to a new study on the food ordering habits of urban Americans by Seamless.
The study shows that cooking is still the most popular way for people to enjoy dinner, but ordering delivery and takeout is on the rise.
Additionally, people are making healthier choices when they get delivery or takeout than when dining at a restaurant:
- People are 10 times more likely to consume bread at a restaurant than when it accompanies delivery or takeout.
- People are twice as likely to order an appetizer at a restaurant than when getting food delivered.
- Only eight percent of all respondents eat dessert when ordering in or taking out versus one quarter that order at restaurants.
- Nearly 40 per cent of respondents said that they typically order side dishes at a restaurant versus 25 per cent when ordering for delivery or takeout.
No longer are delivery and takeout only about pizza and wings.
More and more, people are watching their waistlines when ordering in and taking out.
In 2012, Seamless customers ordered salads four times more than pizza and 16 times more than wings.
“Ordering in and ordering online provides hungry consumers with more options, many of which allow them to eat healthier,” says Seamless Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Zabusky. “We’re finding our customers aren’t as inclined to mindlessly eat bread or dessert when they see all of their choices.”
“Our overall mission is to make our more than two million hungry members happy, while offering them more healthy choices,” adds Zabusky.
Seamless aims to simplify eating healthy when ordering in or taking out by making it easier to select healthy substitutions and by offering food categories, like Healthy restaurants, Gluten-Free restaurants, Vegetarian restaurants and Vegan restaurants, among its 76 total categories and cuisines.
“Making healthy choices doesn’t have to mean depriving yourself,” says Board Certified Health and Cooking Coach Robyn Youkilis. “Seamless makes it easy to make healthful choices and include special requests with orders, so that people can find something delicious, satisfying and good no matter what type of mood they’re in.”
Youkilis offers these tips for eating healthier when ordering in or taking out:
- Order extra so you have leftovers, but make sure not to eat it. According to the study, more than half of females between ages 30 to 34 purchase more food than they plan to eat when ordering delivery so that they have leftovers.
- In your special instructions, ask the restaurant to hold the bread. The study found that people are significantly more likely to waste calories on bread while dining in a restaurant. Taking away the temptation allows you to enjoy your meal and watch your waistline.
- Save some calories by selecting the healthier options. The study found that almost 50 percent of survey respondents have asked for healthier substitutions for dinner. Take the healthier options, like “dressing on the side” or “brown rice” that are already pre-populated for you.
Whether dieting or just trying to be healthier, Seamless makes it easy for people to eat whatever they want, whenever they want.
Seamless’ website and mobile apps offer numerous sorting, searching and filtering options that give consumers the ability to find healthy dishes, cuisines, and restaurants.
These options also enable users to explore and discover new restaurants and healthier alternatives.
And if a customer searches by calories, any restaurant that includes calorie counts will come up in the search.
For more information on Seamless, please visit seamless.com or follow @Seamless on Twitter.
