NJ’s Top Eats In 2019, According To Food Delivery Services

NEW JERSEY - The results are in and the most ordered food item of 2019 in New Jersey are burritos.

Actually, the Garden State loves a few different Mexican dishes, according to DoorDash, one of the country's most-used food delivery services.

In 2019, the top takeout orders through DoorDash in New Jersey were burritos, followed by chips and guacamole. Chicken quesadillas also made the list.

New Jersey’s Top 10 Takeout Orders

• Burritos
• Chips & guacamole
• Chicken sandwich
• Mozzarella sticks
• Pad Thai
• Chicken quesadilla
• Macaroni and cheese
• Caesar salad
• Chicken Parmesan
• Cheeseburgers

But, as we know, tastes, preferences and even food lingo vary in our great state. Need we bring up the Taylor ham-pork roll debate?

So, we asked DoorDash to break down the most popular items by region. While the company said it could not provide county-by-county data, it did give us a regional look at 2019's biggest takeout orders.

Northerners and Southerners share some common ground - an appetite for burritos, Liz King, a DoorDash spokesperson pointed out. "But, North Jersey loves them just a little more," she said.

And while we both like some good old fashioned Italian takeout, we both vary on a go-to order, King said.

The northern half of the state "prefers mozzarella sticks over chicken Parmesan, which is one of South Jersey's favorites," she said.

See More: NJ Has 3 Of America's Best Restaurants, New List Says

How else do we differ? South Jersey isn't a fan of Thai food, which "made its way into North Jersey's top items," King said.

Most Popular Orders In North Jersey (defined by DoorDash as the New York metropolitan region)

• Burritos
• Chips & Guacamole
• Mozzarella sticks
• Pad Thai
• California Roll

Most Popular Orders In South Jersey (defined by DoorDash as the Philadelphia metropolitan region)

• French Fries
• Burritos
• Chicken Parmesan
• Caesar Salad
• Spicy Tuna Roll

Last month, DoorDash released its first ever year-end trend report to find the most popular foods it delivered in 2019 and what to expect in 2020.

In order to compile “The DoorDash Dish: 2019-2020 Trend Report,” the food delivery service said it analyzed millions of orders from January 2019 through November 2019, and from January 2018 to November 2018. The San Francisco-based app also said it polled over 1,200 customers on preferences.

In 2019, burrito bowls were the most popular order in America on DoorDash. Chicken tacos followed, then cheeseburgers with french fries, make-your-own pizza and bean burritos.

Preferences varied in different cities across America, however. In New York City, quesadillas were the most popular food item, while Philadelphians opted for cheesesteaks. Other metropolitan preferences include: sushi in Los Angeles, hot dogs in Chicago, macaroni and cheese in Denver and chicken wings in Miami.

DoorDash isn’t the only delivery service doing number crunching on all your munching.

With the online food delivery market expected to surge to become a $200 billion industry by 2025, the various delivery platforms that carry out our orders are taking a closer look at customers to learn how best to serve them, according to Forbes.com.

Grubhub, Uber Eats and Postmates also recently released their year-end reports. Those four companies, by the way, make up 95% of the orders in the U.S., Forbes reported.

Grubhub says cauliflower pizza took the top spot overall, followed by spicy Brussels sprouts, then then portobello mushroom empanadas, black bean and sweet potato tacos and miso pork ramen. In New Jersey, meatball Parmesan sandwiches were the most popular item. Check out Grubhub's report here.

Uber Eat's most popular request for 2019 was French fries. Salads and soups (specifically bone broth, udon and ramen) were also heavily requested, follow by sushi and mozzarella sticks. See Uber Eat's report here.

Postmates reported that French fries were the number one most requested item this year and fast food restaurants were the top place customers chosen to get their food from using the delivery platform. Postmates' full report can be found here.

Postmates, Grubhub, Uber Eats and DoorDash have all noted a spike in plant-based orders across the board this year and expect it to continue into 2020.

What else will we will be craving?

Grubhub’s data shows rising orders of celery juice, oat milk, street corn, poke, avocado toast and kale.

Uber Eats picks for 2020s top eats: Starfruit, Squid ink, Collagen, Reishi, Keto, Brussels sprouts, Farro, Harissa, Pho, Bone broth, Chickpea hummus, Cold brew, Cauliflower, Udon, Cabbage, Kale, Impossible burger, Kimchi, Ginger and Oat milk.

DoorDash also offered its predictions: apple pie, cream cheese Rangoon, molten chocolate cake, hash browns, Brussels sprouts, tortilla soup, create-your-own sushi/pizza, fried fish sandwiches, French toast, broccoli cheddar soup, pesto Cavatappi, egg rolls, chicken fajitas, mac and cheese and stuffed jalapeños.

Some Takeout Takeaways

• Italy was named the #1 country Americans would choose to live in, based on its food scene (DoorDash)
• Pumpkin Spice item sales declined this year, Postmates reported. The platform saw 9.4% fewer orders than it did in 2018.
• Move over, Taco Tuesday. Sunday is the day people are most likely to order the crunchy, Mexican favorite, Postmates found.
• Food delivery was the #1 most popular method of eating dinner. Sixty six percent of Americans reported it was their preferred way over cooking a meal and picking up takeout, according to DoorDash
• 7 p.m. is the most popular time that people order food delivery and 94% of people save delivery leftovers to repurpose into other meals, DoorDash reported.
• Americans are news hungry - literally, DoorDash found. When the Mueller report was released on April 18, orders for iced tea spiked 500% and during the May 19 “Game of Thrones” finale, DoorDash saw a surge in milkshake orders. And, when the Royal Family welcomed Baby Archie, Americans celebrated with a British classic- fish & chips. On May 16, orders jumped for the dish by 457%.
• According to Uber Eats, so much sushi was delivered this year that the total weighs almost as much as eight humpback whales. And if you lined up all the mozzarella sticks delivered in 2019, it would be 47 times deeper than the deepest part of the ocean.
• 2019’s biggest Postmate order came from Taco Bell - 20 Quesaritos, 60 Soft Tacos, 120 Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos and 20 Crunchwrap Supremes.
• Popeyes new chicken sandwich outsold Chick-fil-A's by 42% when it debuted on Aug. 23, according to Postmates.

Related:

• 6 In New Jersey Are Among 101 Best Pizzas In America In 2019
• 11 NJ Restaurants Among North America's Best: New Report
• 30 Best Restaurants in New Jersey 2019: New NJ Monthly Rankings
• NJ Burger Named Among Nation's Best
• 3 NJ 'Hole-In-The-Wall' Restaurants Listed Among Best In America
• Best Restaurants In (Or Close To) NJ: Daily Meal's 2019 List