The Definitive Guide to Fast Food Delivery 2020

Americans love fast food and the convenience of delivery, so it just makes sense that fast food delivery is something most of us get super excited about the moment the idea occurs to us. And yes, it is possible.

People all over the United States have always been able to order pizza delivery or add fast food favorites like french fries and soda onto their restaurant delivery order. But now you can order fries directly from your favorite fast food spot, along with ice cream, a burger, or anything else on their normal menu, and have it delivered to your door.

You’re no longer limited to fancier local restaurants. You can now get delivery from your favorite fast food restaurants with ease. If you’re wondering how all this works, keep reading.

This article will walk you through everything you need to know about fast food delivery, including what kind of fast food you can get delivered, where fast food delivery is available, and how to make it all happen.

What Kind of Fast Food Can You Get Delivered?

While you might think of fast food as just American food, there are several restaurants that qualify as fast food and are not American cuisine. You can find Mexican-style fast food with places like Taco Bell, or explore fast food restaurants with cuisines like Chinese, Italian, Indian, and Middle Eastern. Exactly what will be available will depend on what your local restaurants offer.

Some of the most popular national fast food restaurants that you can get delivery service from are Popeyes, KFC, and Jack in the Box.

And it gets even better because some fast food restaurants like Wendy’s offer gluten-free options and others like Subway have vegan options. Having dietary restrictions no longer stops you from being able to enjoy fast food, which means you can take advantage of fast food delivery on most diets. (As always, if you have an allergy or other dietary restriction, be sure to let the restaurant know when you order so they can be extra careful when preparing your food order.)

Where Can You Get Fast Food Delivery?

Fast food delivery is available across the United States. Bigger cities like NYC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago have more fast food restaurants and more options than smaller cities like Boston, Miami, Denver, and Philadelphia. Small towns have the fewest restaurant choices but there will inevitably be at least a few fast food options in any town big enough to be on a delivery service app like the ones below.

Many of these apps also work internationally in Europe and Asia. Grubhub and Uber Eats have both expanded internationally and others are expected to follow in the coming years.

How to Get Fast Food Delivered

Unlike your other local favorite restaurants, fast food restaurants don’t have their own delivery staff so if you want fast food delivery, you’re going to need to use one of the services below.

Grubhub

Based in Chicago, Grubhub is one of the most popular food delivery services in the United States. Grubhub processes over 467,500 orders every single day from over 2,000 restaurant partners across the United States and internationally.

Some of those restaurant partners are national fast food restaurants like Taco Bell and Arby’s and others are local restaurants like Mimi’s Cafe Chicken in Las Vegas and Spinnerie in San Francisco.

Seamless

Seamless is another incredibly popular food delivery service and is part of the Grubhub Inc. group of companies. Founded in 1999, Seamless is one of the oldest food delivery services in the United States and is still going strong. As part of their 20th birthday celebrations, Seamless is rolling out special offers and deals throughout 2020.

Seamless allows you to order from many of your favorite local fast food delivery menus and from national chains like KFC, Checkers, and Popeyes. Examples of popular local fast food restaurants on the Seamless platform include Sfila Pizza & Gnocchi Bar Italian food in Manhattan, NYC, and Los Verdes in Sunnyside, NYC.

Uber Eats

Uber Eats is a branch of the Uber brand and allows you to browse, order, and track your food items in one easy step. Many Uber rideshare drivers also work for Uber Eats so don’t be surprised if your ride home from the bar last night is also the guy delivering your hangover cure today.

Uber Eats’ fast food delivery options include national brands like McDonald’s, Popeyes, and Subway, as well as local chains like Skywing’s in Miami and Andy’s Burgers in Los Angeles (which also serves Mexican food).

Because Uber Eats has piggybacked on the already-established Uber network of drivers, you can use the app to order food in places like China, South Africa, and Argentina.

DoorDash

DoorDash is a smaller food delivery company but it is rapidly expanding. Founded in 2013 in Palo Alto, California, DoorDash already operates in 600 North American cities and is eyeing international expansion.

Despite being one of the smaller food delivery services, DoorDash offers delivery from a wide range of local restaurants, including fast food restaurants. If DoorDash operates in your city, you may see some options on the DoorDash platform you can’t find anywhere else.

The most popular national fast food chains on DoorDash are Burger King and Wendy’s. DoorDash offers delivery from lots of local restaurants like Tamale Kitchen in Denver and Do-Rite Donuts in Chicago.

Postmates

While Postmates started out focusing on grocery delivery, they soon realized that prepared food delivery was a huge market they were missing out on. Postmates offers food delivery in over 550 cities in the United States and has expanded internationally to Mexico with more countries planned.

Some of the most popular national delivery items on the Postmates app include Jack in the Box and Firehouse Subs. Local favorites include Allstar Donuts in San Francisco and Farmer Boy’s in Las Vegas.

Postmates allows you to search for food items by cuisine, which includes all the normal options like “Mexican,” “Chinese,” and “Italian,” but also “Fast Food” which makes things a little quicker when what you want is your junk food fix.

Amazon Restaurants

As of January 2018, Amazon Restaurants was only available in 20 metropolitan areas but was able to offer food delivery from 7,601 restaurant partners. Amazon Restaurants is piggybacking on the Amazon Prime Now service, which allows for one-hour delivery of certain items.

Because Amazon Restaurants bases delivery zones around ZIP codes, not every area of a given city will have delivery options. For example, while Amazon Restaurants technically offers food delivery services in New York City, right now that only means to Manhattan and Brooklyn, not Queens, the Bronx, or Staten Island. As Amazon Prime Now expands to new ZIP codes and cities, so will Amazon Restaurants.

Using Amazon Restaurants is just like using any other food delivery service. You will need to enter your ZIP code, browse food delivery options near you, select your items, and check out. You can use Amazon Restaurants with your current Amazon account.

Amazon Restaurants doesn’t yet offer delivery from national fast food restaurant chains like KFC and McDonalds. But you can order from local fast food favorites like Underwest Donuts in New York City and Nacho Daddy in Las Vegas.

Enjoy Your Fast Food Delivery

Whether you want your favorite fast food to show up at your door as a treat or to get you through that nasty hangover, you now have a lot of delivery options. Some food delivery services like Grubhub and Uber Eats are already available across the United States and internationally and others like DoorDash and Amazon Restaurants are still expanding.

No matter which food delivery services are available to you, you can probably get your favorite fast food delivered today, whether it’s KFC American-style fried chicken or Taco Bell’s version of Mexican food. It won’t be the healthiest meal ever but it’ll be delicious and just what you’re craving, without the effort of going to pick it up yourself.

Enjoy!