One out of ten people reading this article will have food delivered to their home this month via their smartphone. Data from eMarketer.com shows 38 million people in the US now use food delivery apps at least once a month, up 21% from last year. Private company DoorDash is the largest player in the delivery space, closely followed by Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) and Uber Eats from Uber Technologies (NYSE: UBER).
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Restaurants are turning to these delivery apps out of necessity. Comparable sales measure repeat revenue at existing locations; traffic measures repeat customers. And for years both metrics have repeatedly disappointed in the restaurant industry.