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Delish's Recipe To Targeting A New Generation of Digital Foodies

A data visualization on the pandemic's impact on food, social media, and Gen Z

Did the COVID-19 Pandemic leave Team Delish CRAVING new social content ideas? Don't worry! This data-filled recipe is just the kick you need to cook up some new content.

The flavor key to success? Diversifying the brand's target audience to cater to its current audience (Millenials, parents, and females ages 25 to 54) while also targeting a new digitally versed and trending audience of foodies — Generation Z (ages 10 to 25). All it takes to reach a new audience horizon is a few key ingredients and the data visualization assistance of an overly passionate Delish-made home-chef & brand superfan...

INGREDIENTS:

A dash of national data on the COVID-19 Pandemic's influence on food trends.
1/2 cup of foodie visualizations showing social media usage during and since the pandemic.
1 heaping cup of student-generated data highlighting Gen Z's desire to become the next #internet-foodies by following video recipes on social media.
A generous splash of new content ideas.

DIRECTIONS:

1

Understanding National Food Trends and Their 2020 Shifts

An Egg-cellent Way to Spice Your Content Up!

Anchor 1

The first step to diversifying Delish's target audience is understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the food industry and its trends by transforming the restaurant industry into a digital format. And we can get our first taste of creating trending content for Gen Z by visualizing food trends over the years on one of the generation's favorite social media platforms, Instagram...

Visualizing Instagram's Most Popular Food Trend by Year...

Today, in 2022, oat milk lattes, avocado toast bakeries, and cheese board-inspired parties are trending across social media platforms. For a little pro-tip, be sure to click on any of the timeline posts above to see the trends in action! By using the trends that were sparked in 2020 Delish can create social content that satisfies the trendsetting generation's biggest foodie cravings.

The number of home chefs across the globe has also been on the rise since the pandemic's safer at home days. For many, the safer-at-home orders meant Americans had to either learn how to cook for themselves, spend more on mobile ordering apps like DoorDash, or be condemned to an underseasoned life of endless frozen meals...

Mobile Food Ordering and Cooking Patterns of Adults in the United States (2020)

How has your mobile ordering patterns changed during the pandemic? I use mobile food apps...

How have your cooking patterns changed during the pandemic? I have been cooking...

How do you think your cooking patterns will look once the pandemic is over?

38%

of U.S. adults said they used mobile food ordering apps more during the pandemic than before it!

Market Shares in 2020 Bar Graph - KP-01.png

And this usage continued after the pandemic too. The market share and number of mobile delivery apps have increased since 2020. Binging the diverse data sets provided by these mobile companies can help Delish understand #fire national food trends and serve new content to new audiences.

But first, we need to know which food delivery app has that perfect secret ingredient we are after.

Grubhub is Delish's secret ingredient to success.

What meals were users ordering on these apps? Let's see what food Americans' preferred 2020 mobile-ordering food truck consisted of to see what recipes we can make...

Recipes that help home chefs remake their favorite spicy-chicken sandwiches, hummus forward wraps, vegan pizzas, sushi bowls, and more from the comfort of their home kitchens can help Delish serve a new national audience.

But what can the 2020 data from mobile ordering apps tell Delish about the local New York City food industry?

Market Share of Food Delivery Apps in New York City (2020)

150 %

in popularity in New York City

according to orders placed on Grubhub.

In 2020 Mushroom Burgers grew

Grubhub is key, even in NYC!

691 %

in popularity in New York City

according to orders placed on Grubhub.

In 2021 Toasted Monte Cristo Paninis grew

According to Grubhub's annual State of Plate report, New York City is America's top vegan city. This data uncovered that New York has the largest number of vegan restaurants. Additionally, the report found, through mobile ordering data from 2021, that New Yorkers have the highest order frequency of vegan-friendly meals compared to the other 49 states.

With this secret ingredient, information Delish can start serving up vegan-friendly and data-backed content that is sure to go viral with Gen Z home chefs across the nation!

Mixing in Social Media Data

The Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Combo of Gen Z Content Marketing!

2

Mixing in some social media statistics can help Delish visualize the future of viral content creation and understand where to target new audiences with some comforting, pop culture-infused recipes.

So where were our beginner pandemic-home chefs discovering their culinary passions in 2020? And where are they finding their digital recipes today? For the answers to these questions let's check which social media platforms are considered "Michelin Star-worthy" today...

A quick recipe check of Delish's top platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok) shows similar trends in usage data in 2020 to that of 2022 shown above. Facebook dominates a large share of monthly active users in the global market — with 2,910 million active users in January 2022 alone.

Based on this data it's easy to assume that Facebook is king when it comes to developing viral social content. And this platform has served Delish well so far...but the demographic on Facebook is aging and the competition is shifting focus to the social media apps that are reaching a younger generation of chefs.

When we break those users down by age we can see a new way to convince a young and growing demographic to "come for Delish's impeccable food and stay for the unique layers of content fun."

US Adult Demographic Social Media Usage-01.png

95%

of US adults on the most used social media platform across the demographics, YouTube, are ages 18-29.

How often do you think you will use YouTube after the pandemic?

YouTube grew tremendously in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to YouTube's 2020 Culture and Trends report users were indulging in a wide range of recipes. From decadent desserts, bubble tea, french fries, and "quarinitinis" first-time foodies discovered new ways to connect during a period of mass disconnect through food content on YouTube.

But how did audeinces view their YouTube consumption during the pandemic? Will targeting home chefs on this platform continue to be a sustainable strategy for Delish based on audience sentiment?

Let's take a look at the whole pizza pie, rather than just a few slices of data, to find out...

The 2020 data reveals that a large slice of our audiences (63.7 %) thought they would use YouTube more after the pandemic than they did before — and the data we dished out in future years backs this trend up.

But what are these potential foodie audiences watching? A deep "dish" into the most viewed cooking videos on YouTube (by the millions of viewers) can help Delish create video content that consumes pop culture trends...

Most Viewed Cooking Videos on YouTube-01.png

You can stream these trendsetting videos and their 2018 stats below:

1. How to Make a Frozen Princess Cake by Rosanna Pansino (180 million views)

2. 35 Unbelievable Cooking Hacks by 5-minute Crafts (60.5 million views)

3. Gordon Ramsay's Scrambled Eggs by WatchTheDaily (31 million views)

4. Minecraft Cake Village by How To Cook That (26 million views)

5. Perfect Egg Roll Recipe Tamagoyaki by Eugenie Kitchen (18 million views)

6. How to Cook Bacon so It's Crispy, Tender, and The Most Perfect Ever by America's Test Kitchen (16 million views)

Delish's starter pack to targeting Gen Z includes understanding the effects of trending food video content on YouTube and the second top rising app with this demographic, TikTok. Videos on these platforms that include convenient cooking hacks, flavor-packed meals, and infuse notes of pop culture into recipes go viral.

These top videos push us one step closer to reaching Gen Z. But sprinkling in some student-collected data will help Delish actually achieve this goal.

3

Shifting the Focus to Gen Z

Ready Spaghetti?

I have a confession to make...I am a novice Gen Z home chef who only discovered the wonders of team Delish in 2020. Before the pandemic, I knew I wanted to cook but I wasn't sure how to when living in a tight apartment space and on a broke college student's budget. I also knew absolutely nothing about Delish, I am ashamed to admit. That was until I discovered the answers to my culinary dilemmas in Delish's "Budget Eats" YouTube series.

Today Delish is my favorite digital community and I am an overly passionate home chef and "Julia Tries Everything" megafan...But who can blame me? I mean have you seen Julia Smith's dog, Gus? They are truly an iconic and adorable duo.

In 2021, I was curious to see if fellow Zoomers shared my passion for cooking, how they handled their lack of counter-space and tight budgets, and where they were finding food media online.

So I conducted a four-step research project on my college campus in Fort Collins, Colorado to uncover Delish's undercooked audience potential in Gen Z. This audience research project's ingredients/steps included desk research, qualitative interviews, quantitative social media surveys, and a marketing strategy to support Delish in a retargeting endeavor.

My top secret motives? Convince more people in my generation to join Team Delish and spread brand awareness for the unique video content the brand creates.

What did I discover? Delish has huge audience potential in targeting Gen Z online because they actively seek out and follow digital recipes and many of them are trying to learn how to recreate childhood comfort meals from affordable scratch in condensed kitchen spaces. Visualizing this data can help Delish get a step ahead of the competition, which is still targeting older generations through their video content. So let's dive into the survey data!

Where Gen Z First Searches for a Recipe Online By Percentage of Survey Participants (2021)

When targeting this generation it is vital to make sure keywords from social media content come up on both Google and Pinterest — the first places Gen Z goes to search for recipes online.

But once they find the perfect recipe for the night's apartment-style dinner online where they would be willing to follow that recipe is a different story...

68%

of Gen Z respondents preferred digital recipes to print recipes.

Where Gen Z Would Follow a Recipe Online-01.png

Google is still the best way to reach this audience, but YouTube, TikTok, and other video content platforms (Instagram stories and reels) take the cake when it comes to getting them to follow a recipe.

“I like that with TikTok and video recipes they are fast. So it is easy to understand what to do in a minute and how long it will take for each step. You get to see the whole process and how it is supposed to look. So you can be like hmm...this looks incorrect...maybe I should put more cheese on it, instead of having to scroll through words.”

~Lauren Farel (a study interviewee)

What other factors determine the recipes that Gen Z audiences will crave?

Determining Factors Gen Z Look for in a Recipe they FollowAnd Their Level of Priority (2021)

Flavor, affordability, and convenience are key ingredients to targeting Gen Z with food content. Some additional interesting data-packed flavor notes to hit when targeting this demographic include savory meat-based meals and super-sweet baked treats...

Where do Gen Z members think they spend the most time on social media? Is this consistent with the data we uncovered earlier?

62%

of Gen Z respondents said they preferred to bake more than cook.

Baking or Cooking?

70%

of Gen Z respondents said they prefer meat-based meals to vegetarian ones.

Meat-based meals or vegetarian?

Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok were the top three used apps among my survey respondents. The general consensus was that videos were easier and quicker to follow than written recipes. Additionally, they loved to see the food they were making and they were interested in learning more about cooking to avoid the endless cycle of frozen meals that the COVID-19 pandemic brought on.

Yet small kitchen space, a lack of time, and limited kitchen tools prevented them from following most of the recipes they saw online. This is where Delish can tap into its undercooked audience potential through new content ideas...

4

New Content Ideas

The cherry on top!

1. "Tasting the Internet": Recreating top/favorite restaurant dishes from home on a budget — a new variation of "Budget Eats." Or trying the top trending meals from mobile eating apps — a new variation of "Julia Tries Everything." Think spicy chicken sandwiches, killer homemade pizzas, and some fun vegan dishes to feed NYC's vegan cravings...or maybe even just making a "Vegan Eats" series.

2. "Convenience Eats": A video series dedicated to making meals that taste good, are made in a short time, and are made in a tight apartment space.

3. "COVID Eats": Trying food from COVID-19 sparked "Instagram take-out restaurants" and maybe creating Delish's own version of one of these restaurants to run on Instagram for a day?

4. "Trending Eats": Food and cocktail recipes on TikTok inspired by pop culture events or trending albums. Think drinks inspired by each of the songs on Taylor Swift's "Evermore" album! Or dinner party meal ideas inspired by the Met Gala for Gen Z to host incredible parties from their apartments. Or even desserts inspired by trends on Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok.

5. "You Craved, We Made": Have your Instagram followers partake in the next video series. Asking them poll questions in your Instagram stories to see what affordable yet delicious meals they are craving and to spark audience engagement.

7. "Add a Bit of Spice": Spicing up TikTok content to reflect past Instagram trends or to give new spins on current trends to ensure some uniquely viral content!

6. "Comfort Eats": Recreating "comfort meals" from scratch in an apartment kitchen and on a budget. Think decadently affordable and unique versions of "mac and cheese recipes, shepherd's pie, and even Pho" — to name a few favorites my survey participants listed.

8. "Meals On The Streets": Go out on the street and ask Gen Z members what their favorite meal is, what they want but don't know how to make, their craziest culinary vision, their favorite meal in NYC, or what they can't afford and teach them how to make it!

video Recipe

Video Recipe

Gen Z Data and Audience Insights Visualized Through Video Production...

5

SOURCES (Brought to You by Duncan The Egg):

Step 1 sources:
Step 2 sources:
Step 3 sources:
- The data in this section was collected by Kaylee Pierskalla in 2021 through a Google Forms survey with 39 Generation respondents from Fort Collins, Colorado; an Instagram poll series with 47 Generation Z respondents in the United States; and two qualitative interviews of two Generation Z interviewees conducted in Fort Collins, Colorado. View the data in the links below:
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lowiikzeEkPlInuhpyL4aF52jzxsPTmWbCZY4nQlD0c/edit?usp=sharing
- https://drive.google.com/file/d/1D1as8wQIyWrDUsw_f7vM38HPSRQrU-jZ/view?usp=sharing
Designs:
- All designs and vectors were made by Kaylee Pierskalla on Adobe Illustrator after being hand-drawn in real life!
Delish-specific resources that were not hyperlinked throughout this recipe:
- https://www.delish.com/
- https://www.delish.com/about/a33262193/delish-media-kit/