Do food photos increase restaurant sales? What the data says (2026)
Jul 11, 2026
If you run a restaurant, you’ve probably heard that “photos sell food.” It’s one of those claims that gets repeated so often that the numbers behind it have become fuzzy: every blog cites a different percentage, and few link to an actual source.
So we did the homework. This page collects every statistic about menu photos and restaurant sales that we could trace back to a primary source (the delivery platforms’ own published data and peer-reviewed research), and, just as important, flags the popular numbers we couldn’t verify.
What the delivery platforms’ own data says
The largest datasets come from the platforms themselves and they show a strong association. It’s worth noting that although causation is likely, to fully establish it scientifically would require further research.
| Platform | Finding | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| DoorDash | Menus with item photos generate up to 44% more monthly sales | Analysis of 15,000+ small-business menus (2022) |
| DoorDash | Photos on at least 50% of the menu lift sales by ~13% on average | Internal data, 2023–2025 |
| Uber Eats | Photos + descriptions on ≥70% of items → on average $330 more in sales per week | US & Canada merchants, first weeks on the platform |
| Grubhub | Menu best practices, including pictures and descriptions, are associated with up to 70% more orders and 65% higher sales | Grubhub partner resources |
| Glovo | Products with images tend to sell three times more | Glovo partner resource (2022; methodology unpublished) |
DoorDash: up to 44% more monthly sales
DoorDash’s most-cited number comes from a 2022 analysis of more than 15,000 local small-business menus: menus with item photos generated up to 44% more in monthly sales than menus without. The same analysis found that adding a storefront header image correlated with up to 50% more sales, and item descriptions with up to 18% more.
More recent DoorDash internal data (2023–2025) says reaching at least 50% menu photo coverage can increase sales by 13% on average. The 13% and 44% figures come from different DoorDash analyses and use different wording, so they should not be treated as the lower and upper bounds of one expected result.
Uber Eats: $330 more per week
Uber Eats publishes an unusually concrete figure. In its own words:
“Merchants in US&C who completed photos and descriptions for at least 70% of menu items within their first seven days earned on average $330 more in sales per week compared to merchants who had less than 70% of menu items with photos and descriptions.”
Two details matter: the comparison covers both photos and descriptions, so it does not isolate photography, and the 70% threshold describes the groups Uber compared rather than a magical number. If you sell on Uber Eats, make sure your images also meet the platform’s rules. We’ve compiled them in our Uber Eats photo requirements guide.
Grubhub: up to 70% more orders
Grubhub’s partner materials say restaurants following menu best practices, “such as adding pictures and descriptions,” receive up to 70% more orders and 65% higher sales than restaurants that do not.
Glovo: photos triple sales
For the Spanish market, a 2022 Glovo partner article states that “products with images tend to sell three times as much”. It also says products with images and descriptions are more likely to enter the cart and that menu content contributes to conversion, one factor in store ranking. Glovo does not publish the analysis methodology, so treat the figure as an older directional platform claim.
What behavioral research adds
Platform data shows an association; research offers a possible mechanism. A 2025 eye-tracking study published in the International Journal of Tourism Research compared basic, description, icon and photo café menus and examined visual attention, “consumption vision” (the mental simulation of consuming the dish), attitudes and purchase intention.
That mechanism matters for delivery apps in particular: on a listing screen, a photo is the only sensory information a hungry customer gets. No smell, no dining room, no waiter. Just pixels.
Popular claims we could NOT verify
Food photography statistics get laundered: a blog cites a blog that cites a blog, and somewhere along the chain a number loses its source. Before you cite these, know that we could not trace them to any primary source:
- “A 2023 study in the International Journal of Hospitality Management found customers are 65% more likely to add an item with a photo to their cart.” Widely quoted by AI food photography vendors; we could not locate this paper in the journal’s archives.
- “93% of diners look at photos before ordering.” No identifiable origin.
- “Menu photos increase sales by 30%” as a universal figure, usually attributed to unnamed “menu engineers.” The real platform data above is both more specific and more credible.
If you know a primary source for any of these, we’d genuinely like to hear about it.
What this means for a real menu
For illustration only, take a small restaurant doing $3,000/month through delivery apps with a text-only menu. Applying DoorDash’s 13% association produces $390 a month; applying its separate 44% “up to” figure produces $1,320. These are obviously back-of-the-napkin arithmetics, not real forecasts for a particular restaurants, but they give you and idea of the potential impact of these interventions.
| Option | Typical cost for a 30-item menu | Payback at +13% on $3,000/month |
|---|---|---|
| Professional studio session | $500–$2,500 | About 1.3–6.4 months |
| DIY smartphone photos | Free, but inconsistent results | Immediate, if quality is good enough |
| AI food photography (from your phone pics) | ~$20–$70 | Days |
We’ve broken down the full cost side of this comparison in how much professional food photography costs.
The bottom line
Across the cited platform data, restaurants or products with stronger menu content tend to record more sales or orders. There are sound reasons to think that high-quality images are the most impactful part of that content. DoorDash and Uber also publish coverage thresholds in their comparisons, which supports prioritizing broad coverage. FoodStage AI was built to help restaurants create consistent, high-quality menu photos from pictures of their own dishes.
Frequently asked questions
DoorDash reports a 13% average sales increase at 50%+ photo coverage in 2023–2025 internal data and up to 44% more monthly sales in a separate 2022 analysis. These are platform associations, not a guaranteed range. Uber Eats associates both photos and descriptions on at least 70% of a menu with an average $330 more per week among the US and Canada merchants it compared.
The measured effects above all come from delivery marketplaces, where your dish competes side-by-side with photographed alternatives and the image is the only sensory cue. On your own site there is less head-to-head competition, but eye-tracking research shows the same mechanism at work: photos capture attention and trigger the mental simulation of eating the dish.
DoorDash reports its average increase at 50% photo coverage, while Uber compares merchants above and below 70% coverage for both photos and descriptions. Those thresholds are useful benchmarks, not guaranteed triggers; aim for broad, accurate coverage that you can maintain.
The figures come from DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub and Glovo merchant documentation, plus a 2025 peer-reviewed eye-tracking study. Most platform figures have limited published methodology, so this page distinguishes reported associations from causal evidence and flags statistics we could not verify.
Sources
- DoorDash: How to add photos to your DoorDash menu
- DoorDash: 11 tips to design a high-performing menu
- DoorDash: 6 tips for taking amazing restaurant menu photos
- DoorDash: Top ways to grow your restaurant business
- Uber Eats: Get discovered on Uber Eats
- Grubhub: Getting started with your Grubhub menu
- Glovo: Cómo funciona el posicionamiento en Glovo
- International Journal of Tourism Research: Exploring visual attention, consumption vision, and attitude toward café menus using eye-tracking analysis (2025)
