Food and bev apps are hungry for data. Why is user appetite to share so low?

When it comes to measuring success, food and beverage apps look to several KPIs to track their progress: sales revenue is critical of course, as is customer lifetime value (CLTV) and retention rates. But they also look at customer satisfaction (CSAT), order fulfillment accuracy, and customer feedback surveys to gauge if their products and their process satisfy their audience.

Going through the survey response data in our 2025 In-App User Privacy Report, we discovered that consumers are actually much less willing to share certain types of data that could lead to better retention and CLTV – data such as name, phone number, and email address. 

Convenience wins: users willing to share health data, region 

An easy win for food and beverage apps is to ask for a user’s health data and region/location. The survey data shows that the willingness to share these data points increased the most from 2024 to 2025: region by +4.6% and health data by +3.2%. 

No surprise there, as health data is necessary for ordering foods safely (e.g., identifying allergens or specific diets) and region/location data allows products to be delivered to your doorstep. It’s a clear value exchange then, where user data is given up for better convenience –  a way to speed up the process so consumers receive the correct goods more efficiently. 

But they won’t share identity data due to hackers

On the other hand, crucial data points such as name, email address, and mobile phone number – the type of information that typically guarantees CLTV – have slipped in favor from 2024. Names were the data point that food and bev app users are least willing to share (experiencing a -7.4% decrease), followed by email addresses (-5.2%) and mobile phone numbers (-3.2%).  

A big reason is that hackers frequently target food and bev accounts. The average account takeover attack rate across all other industries stands at around 2.5%, but food and beverage services experience a whopping 20% attack rate. Lack of security is one contributing factor. Only 3.5% of food and bev logins use two-factor authorization (2FA), far less often than in other app categories. Not sharing name, email, or mobile number thus mitigates the risk of unauthorized access to your account.   

Should food and bev apps ask for identity data up front?

Not immediately. Let users browse the menus and see the food promotions, let them use the app anonymously to begin with. Incentivize them to share their info with the promise of coupons or discounts. After all, 74% of consumers say they would exchange personal data for convenience, coupons, or exclusive perks. Then wait until they’re finally ordering before requesting a name, email address, or mobile phone number. 

Highlights by country and gender

When you break down the data further by country and gender, there are interesting highlights.

Firstly: among those that answered “N/A – I’m not willing to share any personal data with this type of app/platform,” UK females showed the largest increase in unwillingness to share any data at all among any demographic (a 3.3% increase) followed by US females (2.7% increase). Meanwhile, males in both countries had tiny drops in unwillingness to share data: UK males with a 0.7% increase and US males with a 0.6% increase.     

Secondly: names are, by far, the data point that everyone is least willing to share, with US females experiencing the largest decrease (-11.7%), followed by US males (-9.2%), and then UK females (-8.0%). 

Thirdly: examining what data people are willing to share, region and health data are always on  top – except for US females, who saw a -2.7% decrease in willingness to share their region with food apps.  

Highlights by age group

If you look at the data by age groups, there’s a slightly different picture: it’s the youngest and the eldest groups that are most reluctant to share their data.

16-24 year-olds don’t want to share anything

The willingness to share mobile phone numbers decreased across all generations. However, the most dramatic decrease was in the 16-24 year-old group, which saw a -11.08% slump from 2024. 

This age group also saw the biggest loss in overall willingness to share any data with food apps (thanks to a 7.55% increase in those who answered “N/A”). The only data point where they saw an increase in willingness was region/location. 

25-44 year-olds: follow the trends

On the other hand, the only age group that actually saw an increase in willingness to share any data were the 35-44 year-olds (with a 4.04% decrease in “N/A” responses). But generally, for the respondents between 25 and 44, their answers followed the general trends found in the survey. 

45-54 year-olds: dramatic loss in willingness to share data

The older the demographic gets, however, the more dramatic the change in willingness to share personal data. For example, the 45-54 year-olds experienced the largest drops in willingness to share email address (-9.86%) as well as name (-10.01%), although the eldest group of 55+ year-olds weren’t that far behind.   

Food and bev apps must work harder for conversions

Looking at the various survey responses, including through the lens of country, gender, and age, presents a challenge: food and beverage app users want the convenience of food deliveries and are willing to share region and health data to get it. But as a whole, these users are now more reluctant to share identity data such as name, phone number, and email – particularly for females in both the US and UK, those between 16 to 24 years of age, and those older than 45.     

This only means that food and beverage apps have their work cut out for them; they need to convince app users that personal data will be safe and that the value exchange is worthwhile. Getting users to part with their personal data will require analyzing what incentives are currently working, and possibly creating new offers that can get users to convert.

For more information on how users see privacy, download our 2025 In-App User Privacy Report.