Prepare for More Food Delivery as Political Unrest Continues

Avoiding the outside world, consumers take advantage of food delivery.

Since last Tuesday’s election results, it appears as if the country has emotionally erupted with one half of voters taking it to the streets in protests from big cities to small and the other half satisfied with the results, but angered by the reaction of Clinton supporters. 

What's the impact on your food delivery grocery business? It could be a boon to sales as more people decide to stay home, both to save money as well as to avoid possible confrontation on the streets. You might even want to outfit your delivery people with garb that cries out for solidarity and offer them a bit extra as "hazard pay." While all this might sound a bit opportunistic, the reality is that more people are ordering in, and we except this trend to continue and intensify. 

And the spread of #notmypresident protests, to name a few, from Durham, North Carolina to Los Angeles, California to San Antonio, Texas to Trump’s own neighborhood where the largest so far rally occurred in Manhattan on Saturday, are not limited to marches. The cries and debates are flooding social media feeds, and there have been many reports that incidences of racist incidents, vandalism and threats are on the uptick. In fact, the “safety pin for solidarity” movement has spread so people in public situations can show they are a safe person to approach if someone is experiencing attack. 

In a recent report from Mintel, data show that 60% of Americans have ordered food delivery in the last three months to avoid going out into the world. Forty-one percent cited the reason being to catch up on TV shows, and 25% said they just like eating alone. And now will the political climate give consumers more reasons to stay home? 

Consider the evidence that Americans are already more interested in ordering food than ever before whether it’s from a restaurant or Amazon, Uber and Google. And even if it’s not brought to their doorstep, other services like Kroger’s Clicklist - order online and pickup without ever leaving your car - are becoming more appealing. 

Add to that a growing sense of fear and agitation, the threat of attack from strangers, the crowds of people, the overall sense of less safety and more inconvenience on the outside world than inside the home, and we predict food delivery increasing even more. 

It bears consideration that the political unrest isn’t showing signs of slowing down, particularly with Trump’s plans unfolding, announcements of controversial choices for appointed officials, an electoral college vote on December 19th, and an inauguration on January 20th, 2017. In fact, a one million woman march has been set in place for Inauguration Day in Washington D.C., an event that is sure to be mimicked in other cities as well.  

And particularly for the food world, Trump’s forming team shows resistance to minimum wage increases and changes in immigration policies that could shift agricultural production dramatically - all becoming issues to surely affect the overall staffing of food industries.  

Prepare yourselves food delivery retailers! Things may get a little busier.