DoorDash reached an all-time high in total orders in Q2

DoorDash’s second-quarter sales jumped to a quarterly high against a backdrop of consumers being more intentional with their spending and households tightening their belts.

The company said Wednesday that revenue gained 33% from the same quarter a year ago to $2.13 billion. Analysts were expecting sales of $2.06 billion.

“DoorDash is becoming more of a habit and a utility than most people think,” CFO Ravi Inukonda tells Fast Company. “When we compare your purchase, it’s a $35 meal that can delight your family on a Friday night. Where most people are reducing spending is they’re going to go buy that new big box 60-inch TV.”

“People are ordering from restaurants, people are ordering groceries, so we have all the options for food on the platform,” Inukonda adds. “That’s driving the strength; [a] combination of the category being resilient, as well as the underlying platform continuing to become better from a product perspective.”

DoorDash said it reached all-time highs in total orders, marketplace gross order value, and revenue during the second quarter. Total orders for the quarter reached 532 million, up 25% from a year ago. Marketplace gross order value was up 26% to $16.47 billion.

The food and goods delivery company narrowed its net loss in the quarter to $172 million. Inukonda points to product updates that he says have retained and attracted dashers, which is what the company calls its gig workers. That’s allowed the company to spend less on acquisition costs, reaching what he says is its lowest ever in history. “And we’re doing this while driving top line as well as overall category share gains,” Inukonda adds.

Companies operating in the gig economy have been adjusting to a post-COVID world. For rideshare companies, that means reaching pre-pandemic numbers for trips. Uber, for example, said Tuesday in its report that U.S. and Canada trips are now fully recovered when compared to the second quarter of 2019. For food delivery, it’s continuing to go up against high comparables during a time when consumers were staying at home and relying on takeout more than ever.

“The business continues to do extremely well,” Inukonda says.