Could third party be seeing the end of the party as more and more consumers are stressed with financial considerations and economic impact from inflation, interest rates, and global conflict?

Operators are slowing down as well in terms of new restaurant openings. The slow return to normal and in-restaurant dining will have a slowing effect on the growth of third-party delivery.

All that said, Door Dash recorded a 69% jump in revenue from 2020 to 2021, totaling $4.89 billion for the year, according to the company's full-year 2021 earnings results.

The platform's losses also grew to $468 million for 2021 compared to 2020. DoorDash CFO Prabir Adarkar attributed this increase to the company's expansion into new verticals and investment in international growth.

Trends are down and up as we break out some of the NRA's findings around the future consumer.

More Restaurants Enter The Metaverse

Last year, Applebee's experimented with NFTs as part of a "Metaverse Mondays” which had lackluster performance simply because they were new and first movers.

The chief brand officer referred to the program as a low-risk, medium- to high-reward opportunity. He states going back to authenticity; the critical element is that it wasn't just a stunt or gimmick in terms of just an NFT that we put out there from our brand, but that we had that real-world component as well. The key for NFT and Metaverse use cases in the future will be real-world utility and the bridge that will enable how the market can develop for growth.

Bringing in that real-world experience along with the NFT just made so much sense to be able to break through some of the noise that was happening as NFTs were starting to garner a lot of attention and a lot of activity from a lot of different brands.

Panera also filed a trademark for the Paneraverse, and the potential of what they have in mind could be a big part of the brand's future. Listen to the podcast to learn more!