The Impossible Cheeseburger Claimed the Top Spot on Grubhub’s “Year in Food” Report

Each year, food delivery platform Grubhub releases its “Year in Food” report, which analyzes millions of deliveries and highlights top orders. This year, the Impossible Cheeseburger made with plant-based ingredients beat out the spicy chicken sandwich for the top order position, increasing in popularity by 442 percent in 2021. Here are some more notable statistics from Grubhub’s “Year in Food” report.

Vegan Orders on the Rise

2021 was a significant year for vegan orders on the platform, which went up 16 percent from the previous year. Some prominent vegan orders included handmade vegan chorizo taco (up 236 percent), vegan hot cocoa (up 320 percent) and vegan mint chocolate chip cookie (up 236 percent).

The report noted that while vegetarian-friendly orders rose to prominence in 2019 and 2020 was the year of comfort foods, 2021 saw a mix of the two categories. But Grubhub has been keeping track of the rise of vegan orders since around 2016 when it acknowledged that they were among the top trends alongside gluten-free, low-fat and paleo.

This year’s report is not the first time Impossible Foods made the list. In Grubhub’s 2019 “State of the Plate” report, the Impossible Burger was named the most popular late-night snack and it grew in popularity by 82 percent during the analysis period. Moreover, in last year’s “Year in Food” report, the company pointed to the ongoing upward trajectory of plant-based meat alternatives, which spiked in popularity by 463 percent in 2020.

In terms of states with the most vegan orders, the top five are California, New York, Florida, Texas and Georgia. The delivery platform also unveiled state-specific statistics in its report, revealing that California has the highest percentage of pickup orders, Alaska has the highest average spend per order and New York has the highest number of orders out of all states.

Related: How COVID-19 Gave Rise to Food Delivery Robots

Classic Dishes Made the Cut

In Grubhub’s “Year in Food” report, the company analyzed more than 32 million orders and concluded that the Impossible Burger reigns supreme. And while Impossible Foods is hoping that Americans are shifting away from animal products for good, the report’s other top contenders paint a different picture. Shredded pork tacos took the second spot (up 310 percent) and Detroit-style pizza (up 263 percent), pork dumplings (up 173 percent) and chicken burritos (up 166 percent) also made the top ten.

The report would be incomplete without looking at beverage orders. With many consumers settling into their new work-from-home morning routines, coffee orders on the platform rose 100 percent from the previous year, with notable orders including pumpkin spice lattes, vanilla lattes and cold brew. Alcohol orders also increased by 11 percent and the margarita topped the list, followed by Mexican beer and mango mojitos.

The report outlined several predictions for the coming year. “While it’s hard to predict the future of food, we’ve given it our best shot by analyzing hundreds of millions of orders over the past three years to provide you with our prediction on the top foods of 2022,” the company said in a press release. The predictions included Margherita flatbread pizza, buffalo chicken tots, peanut butter protein smoothie and cajun steakburger.

While classic dishes and beverages are unlikely to decline in popularity, the Impossible Cheeseburger is giving them a run for their money.