The burger-fries-cola combo reigns supreme, but the delivery is too expensive

INSIGHT - While the combination of fries, a hamburger, and a soda remains the best-selling home delivery option in Belgium, the euphoria of the Covid years has subsided. The reason? A decline in order frequency. Not due to weariness, but because of a significantly higher price barrier.

What makes Belgians' mouths water when they open their delivery app? Unsurprisingly, it's the burger that emerges as the perfect companion to fries. To tie it all together, mayonnaise confirms its status as the queen of sauces.

When it comes to beverages, the situation is more nuanced. They are only added to 33.8% of orders, with consumers often choosing from their own refrigerators. Nevertheless, the undisputed leader remains Coca-Cola.

In both volume and value, the American giant crushes the competition, selling ten times more than Jupiler. The latter, however, remains the number one alcoholic beverage, inextricably linked to "snacks & fried food" moments.

Deeply ingrained habits, a few surprises

This logic of "tried and true values" extends to other culinary worlds. For Asian cuisine, the noodle-chicken duo remains the quintessential standardized combination.

However, some interesting trends are emerging. While desserts struggle to gain traction in delivery (barely 5.9% of orders), tiramisu is thriving, becoming the preferred pairing for pasta dishes. This is a remarkable achievement for a category often considered superfluous by online shoppers.

A kind of more casual luxury

But beyond the food itself, it's consumer behavior that's raising eyebrows. The Belgian delivery market, worth 500 million euros, has suffered a significant slowdown. The exponential growth of 2019-2023, vital for the survival of many restaurants during the health crisis, is now a thing of the past.

The observation made by our partner Sirius Insights is clear: although one in two households still orders at least once a year, regularity is collapsing.

Since 2022, the proportion of households ordering at least three times a month has fallen from 15% to less than 10%. Delivery is no longer automatic; it is once again becoming a kind of occasional, deliberate luxury. And this decline does not signal market maturity, but rather a loss of competitiveness.

Unlike our neighbors, Belgium remains behind: delivered or takeaway sales only account for about 1% of the Food & Beverage market, compared to 5% in France or the Netherlands, and up to 10% in the United Kingdom.

The costly example

To understand this growing dislike, one only needs to look at the bill. Let's take the concrete example of a renowned Brussels chip shop. Eating in, two burgers, two fries, and two drinks cost 27 euros. Whereas with delivery, the same order jumps to 41.50 euros.

This difference of nearly €13 is explained by the mechanics of the model. Platform commissions (20 to 30%) are added to an average delivery cost of €4.50. Even for a consumer not particularly price-sensitive, this gap acts as a psychological and financial barrier.

Delivery remains a tremendous source of growth in Belgium, but it is currently facing an economic obstacle. To get things moving again, the challenge will not only be to change what Belgians eat, but also to urgently rethink the affordability of the model.