---
title: "Online Ordering Accounts for 39% of All Franchisee Sales During Pandemic"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/19fb439c-4637-4512-8a33-4b066f5b7f9c
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/online-ordering-accounts-for-39-of-all-franchisee-sales-during-pandemic-2714125
category: "Franchise Industry"
industry: "Franchise Industry"
topics: ["Technology"]
published: 2020-10-22T20:15:06.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T02:27:59.267Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/420c8fc2a1c440bc5b0fc70fbb1851671779.jpg
---

# Online Ordering Accounts for 39% of All Franchisee Sales During Pandemic

**TL;DR:** Online ordering accounted for 39% of all franchisee sales during the pandemic, with 72% of franchisees enhancing their delivery and digital ordering capabilities. The percentage of total sales attributed to online orders has nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic, from 20% to 39%.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2020-10-22. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/online-ordering-accounts-for-39-of-all-franchisee-sales-during-pandemic-2714125).*

## Story

**It will come as a shock to exactly no one that online ordering is up across the board for the franchise industry in 2020. Still, it’s eye-opening to see just how important digital sales have become for businesses throughout the COVID-19 crisis.**

**On Thursday, Nation’s Restaurant News published data from a TD Bank survey of franchisees showing that** **the percentage of total sales attributed to online orders has nearly doubled since the start of the pandemic****, from 20% to 39%. What’s more, a whopping 72% of all franchisees surveyed have “enhanced” their delivery and digital ordering capabilities in the past seven months.**

**Those changes are not likely to be undone with the arrival of a vaccine. Consumer preferences had long been shifting toward digital sales, the pandemic only accelerated the transition.**

> **"Franchises have invested a tremendous amount of time, money and creativity in delivery and mobile ordering, but not all restaurants have adapted to off-premise sales to the same degree as the QSR space," said Mark Wasilefsky, the head of the Restaurant Franchise Finance Group at TD Bank said in a statement. "We expect the shift to off-premise sales to be long lasting, and due to broad consumer acceptance of its added convenience, we believe it will likely become a permanent aspect of many franchises' business models."**

**The survey notes other pandemic-influence trends as well. Half of the surveyed franchisees said they changed or reduced their operating hours, 38% said they reduced their menus, and 38% said they have invested in drive-thru capabilities since March.**

**Though restaurants and retail are still struggling with vastly reduced sales heading into the winter, TD Bank’s survey offers a glimmer of hope, showing clearly that consumers are still looking for ways to safely patronize shops and businesses, and franchise owners are finding solutions to serve them.**

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Franchise Industry (sector)
- Nation's Restaurant News (publication)
- franchise sales (topic)
- pandemic impact (topic)
- online ordering (topic)
- digital ordering (topic)
- Mark Wasilefsky (person)
- delivery capabilities (topic)

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Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/online-ordering-accounts-for-39-of-all-franchisee-sales-during-pandemic-2714125). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/19fb439c-4637-4512-8a33-4b066f5b7f9c).