The emergence of food delivery in Africa: A systematic review

Online food delivery is now the new normal in the food industry, attributed to consumers' changing lifestyles and dietary patterns. The busy schedule of consumers does not allow them to prepare a meal at home or wait long hours in a restaurant or a food joint. Instead, consumers have switched to a more reliable and quick way to deliver food to the doorstep: online food delivery, particularly in Africa. Therefore, this study was undertaken to conduct a systematic review of previous and present studies on online food delivery to unearth crucial patterns pertinent to understanding food delivery in Africa, given that there have been limited but nascent studies on food delivery. From the results, 22 articles were selected from three African countries (South Africa, Ghana, and Tanzania). The 22 articles reviewed were published from 2014 to 2022. The review highlighted three themes: the emergence of food delivery in Africa, food delivery applications, and the factors influencing consumer decisions to use food delivery platforms. Under the factors influencing consumer decision to use food delivery platforms, nine factors were identified and discussed. These factors include social status, time-saving orientation, privacy and security, safety and hygiene, convenience motivation, perceived ease of use, prior online purchase, price-saving orientation, and reviews uploaded to online food delivery apps. It is recommended that customers should check reviews and ratings on food delivery apps for safe food. Restaurants should provide proper training for their delivery staff and address delivery delays to improve customer satisfaction. Food regulatory bodies should also establish and enforce policies to enhance food safety and quality in restaurants.