Dive Brief:
- McDonald’s added delivery service to 1,000 more restaurants through UberEats, the ridesharing company’s restaurant delivery application. The classic burger chain, which has more than 14,000 restaurants nationwide, plans to expand delivery service to a total of 3,500 restaurants by the end of June, according to a statement by the company.
- McDelivery is now available in New York, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Fresno, California, and Washington, D.C., in addition to the first wave of partnering restaurants.
- Steve Easterbook, president and CEO of McDonald’s, said the delivery service is particularly popular among younger customers. “Nearly 60% of orders are being placed during the evening or late night,” he said at an investor conference in New York. Delivery times average about 30 minutes, he said.
Dive Insight:
UberEats delivery is a key part of the growth strategy for McDonald’s, which has struggled to regain relevance as consumers' eating habits have changed over time. With nearly 75% of the target population living within three miles of a McDonald’s in its five largest markets, McDonald’s sees significant potential with delivery.
The chain has worked to improve customer service and revamp its menu to appeal to millennials — who typically like to eat out or order in but often not with fast food chains, according to data from the USDA via Forbes. A top McDonald’s franchisee found last year that 80% of that key demographic had never tried a Big Mac, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal. McDonald's wants to change that by adjusting its strategy to its customers' preferences.
UberEats is likely a good fit for McDonald’s, which gets about 70% of its U.S. business from drive-through windows. Even more problematic for the chain, the wait times at drive-through windows rose to nearly 3.5 minutes last year from 2.8 minutes a decade earlier, according to QSR magazine. Will its customers be more forgiving by waiting 30 minutes for the convenience of getting their food delivered?
