Uber Eats conducted a survey of 1,000 people to better understand Americans' eating habits, and it produced some fascinating findings. For one, half of those surveyed admitted to eating food off of the floor.
"The eating habits of Americans are ever-evolving, and we believe it’s important to just as constantly find ways to more deeply understand what, where, and when people eat, and ultimately why," Head of Uber Eats User Research, Jeanette Mellinger, wrote in an explanation of the survey. "If we better understand our eaters, we can better serve through products built with their needs in mind."
With all the apps we use on a regular basis, it is relatively easy for companies to get to know their customers. They know what we like to eat, when we eat, how often we don't feel like cooking, and much more. And what they don't know, they ask. "How America Eats" is the first survey carried out by Uber Eats and it comes out with answers that are as widely varying as they are fascinating.
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Some of the key takeaways from the survey were surprising. For example, brunch is on its way out. As popular as it may still seem on social media, people are starting to prefer a late night meal instead. As mentioned before, half of those surveyed admitted to eating food that has fallen on the floor, but an even greater number (56 percent) admitted to eating food they know is expired. (Five-second rule though, right?) Delivery apps enable you to get just about anything you can think of, which is good because according to the survey, 43 percent of Americans consider themselves picky eaters.
This type of information can revolutionize the restaurant industry. The more data that's collected by apps and surveys, the more efficient companies can be. For instance, if restaurants were able to know when customers were more likely to order takeout, they could adjust their hours to meet the demand.
That said, we're not sure how useful it would be for restaurants to know that half of us eat food that's fallen off our plate.