Ordering food online has its fair share of advantages, but a negative experience can easily turn a happy person into a hangry customer – with searches for ‘complaint to Uber Eats’ rising by 90% in the UK*, the surge in orders during lockdown has left a sour taste in Brits’ mouths.
But which UK cities have the worst food delivery services? The experts from online cake shop Jack & Beyond sought to find out by scraping text reviews and star ratings of one of the biggest delivery services in the UK’s top 30 cities.
Northampton is the city with the worst food delivery service. With almost half (45.1%) of their reviews being negative, some of the main customer complaints involved the ‘wrong order’ and ‘cold food’ on arrival. Brits from this city are most likely to have a bad experience when ordering Belgian waffles (88% of negative mentions) and Balkan food (56%).
In second place is Kingston upon Hull with 43.4% of their reviews including negative mentions. Interestingly, “never got my food” and “never received my order” were among customers’ biggest complaints. When it comes to cuisine, Asian food (55%) and fried chicken (50%) brought about the most negative reviews.
Making the top 3 is Southampton with 41.2% of negative mentions. Following closely behind with 41% is Plymouth in fourth place. Newcastle upon Tyne lands in fifth with 40.7% of customers’ reviews analysed including negative words.
Completing the list of top 10 cities with the worst food delivery are:
6th: Stoke-on-Trent (40.1%)
7th: Brighton and Portsmouth (39%)
8th: Liverpool(38.9%)
9th: Aberdeen(38.8%)
10th: Bristol (38.6%)
Which city in the UK has the best food delivery service?
With only 28.2% of negative mentions, Edinburgh is the UK city with the best food delivery service. Despite being a city with fewer negative reviews, Jack & Beyond found that Scottish customers’ common complaints included ‘missing items’ and ‘late delivery’.
Which UK regions have the worst food delivery service?
South West England comes in first place with a total of 40.2% negative mentions. Plymouth (41%), Bristol (38.6%) and Bournemouth (37.1%) were the worst 3 cities in this region for unsatisfactory experiences with delivery.
In second place is the West Midlands with 38.2% negative mentions. Stoke-on-Trent (40.1%), Wolverhampton (37%), Coventry (36.3%) and Birmingham (32.2%) are on the list of UK cities with the worst delivery services in the region.
With 34.9% negative mentions, London appears in a satisfactory position (10th) considering the 12 regions, with London city ranking 20th with also 34.9%. When it comes to a better delivery experience, Scotland (33.6%) is doing well, followed by the UK region with the fewest negative mentions, Northern Ireland (28.7%).
