Unlocking Food Delivery Beverage Sales: The Importance of 360° Research

The Challenge:

Post-pandemic, fountain beverage sales via food delivery services fell to an all-time low, despite food delivery surging to levels never seen before. We needed to understand why consumers weren’t adding fountain beverages to their food delivery order. ​

What aspects of the experience were not working well? What were the challenges at each stage of the process? Where were the key tensions, and how could we resolve them?

The Solution:

We used a holistic approach, engaging multi-audience stakeholders: restaurant managers, delivery drivers, and consumers from across the U.S. ​

A combination of ethnographic, in-person qualitative techniques across key U.S. locations allowed us to uncover key pain-points and tension across the beverage preparation and delivery journey (process, packaging, ordering, delivery). Crucially, this uncovered areas of optimisation to address the core issues and drive fountain beverage sales.

The Result:

We gained a clear understanding of the end-to-end journey of fountain beverage ordering, prep and delivery, and how restaurants, drivers, and consumers engaged with the process at each stage.​

An in-person, hands-on workshop brought key stakeholders from operations, marketing, packaging, and product together to build on the findings collaboratively. Participants placed a live order from a local restaurant to test the experience in real time, grounding the discussion in real-world context. The session was structured yet creative, enabling the team to translate insights into practical, market-ready, and commercially focused solutions designed to reignite growth in the channel.

Would you like to uncover the barriers in your customer journey and discover new growth opportunities?

Get in touch with Karen Schofield, Head of Qual, [email protected] to start the conversation.