Why Restaurants Should Prioritize Seamless Online Ordering Experiences

In today’s uncertain economic landscape, restaurants have to walk a fine line between being cost-effective and meeting diners’ expectations — and all while maintaining profitability. 

A new study from Wunderkind found that despite rising costs, many consumers, especially younger ones, are still planning to eat out regularly: More than one-third of Millennials (37%) and Gen Z (35%) dine out two to three times per week, with an additional 10% of Gen Z eating out every day. To stay competitive, restaurants need to meet these diners where they’re at, and for a lot of them, that means online ordering via first- or third-party services. 

A few key highlights around online ordering from Wunderkind’s 2025 Consumer Insights study for restaurants:

• Third-party services such as DoorDash and Uber Eats are most popular among younger consumers, used by 29% of millennials and 18% of Gen Z, while 22% of Gen X prefers to order directly from a restaurant website or mobile app. 
• Consumers’ top priority when ordering food online from restaurants is transparent pricing, cited by 33% of all survey respondents. Also important is speed of order placement (26%) and ease of use (25%) — with easy ordering even more important for the oldest diners, cited by 35% of Boomers. 
• Also gaining traction is real-time order tracking (16%), particularly among younger consumers, while discounts and promotions (21%) play a key role in decision-making as well. 
• Of course, many restaurants would prefer to have customers use their branded apps instead of third-party services. Wunderkind found that the biggest incentive for diners to download a restaurant’s owned app is mobile ordering and easy checkout, cited by 41% of respondents. Other factors include loyalty program integration (39%) and exclusive app-only deals (34%). 

Wunderkind notes, “Restaurants that optimize their digital ordering experience with speed, transparency, and convenience will have the best chance of turning browsers into diners.”

To learn more, you can download Wunderkind's 2025 U.S. Restaurant Consumer Insights Report here.