How DoorDash is Building a Bridge Between Food Delivery And Relationship Culture

DoorDash is leaning into a direct line of real-time consumer behavior. 

With millions of daily deliveries, the brand has access to uniquely human signals. Which are what people crave, when they cave, and who they are with when they hit “order now.” This cuffing season, which is the time period where singles want to find a partner before the dreaded Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, DoorDash is turning that data into dating insights, combining delivery trends with exclusive survey findings to explore how relationships are evolving. 

The campaign comes a year after the brand celebrated National Best Friends Day, marking another effort to connect its platform to modern relationship culture through culturally relevant activations.

Cuffing season is back and starting early. DoorDash data shows 94 percent of singles are taking part this year, including nearly all of Gen Z. The week of September 1 saw a jump in users tagging delivery addresses as “bae” or “bf/gf.” Weekend toothbrush orders are up 30 percent, with one in four daters admitting they’ve left one behind on purpose. Orders for sheets and blankets also climbed 80 percent as people got ready for new connections. 

To dive more into these insights, AdBuzzDaily caught up with DoorDash’s Manager of Consumer Communications to discuss how the brand turns delivery data into cultural storytelling, what inspired this year’s cuffing season campaign, and how DoorDash continues to find new ways to connect with consumers beyond the app.

How does DoorDash’s data reflect shifting relationship behaviors among Gen Z and millennial users, particularly with nearly all singles saying they plan to participate in cuffing season this year?

We’re seeing cuffing season evolve into something almost everyone participates in, with 94% of singles overall, and 97% of Gen Z, saying they plan to this year. Younger daters are surprisingly at ease with the smaller, more intimate milestones, like leaving a toothbrush behind, but still get nervous about the big traditional ones. In fact, “meeting the parents” ranked as the most intimidating milestone for Gen Z and millennials, while Gen X placed it dead last. It’s proof that today’s daters are comfortable being close, but on their own terms. Whether it’s labeling an address “bae” or ordering in together, cuffing season today is less about defining the relationship and more about creating small moments of comfort that feel like one.

What cultural or seasonal factors might explain why cuffing season started earlier this year, as seen in the spike of users labeling delivery addresses as “bae” or “boyfriend/girlfriend” in early September?

We saw cuffing season creep in earlier this year, with “bae” and “bf/gf” address labels on DoorDash rising weeks before the usual October surge. It’s part of what we call comfort rushing, the impulse to cozy up sooner as a way to ease the end-of-summer slump. After a season of nonstop social energy, people crave grounding, and the same instinct that has them reaching for pumpkin spice before the first cold front is driving them to settle in emotionally, too. Our data captures that shift toward getting cozy season ready earlier than ever.

Weekend toothbrush orders have risen by about one third, and one in four daters admit to leaving one behind intentionally. What does this reveal about evolving dating norms and comfort levels in modern relationships?

Toothbrushes have quietly become the new love language of cuffing season. It’s a playful, modern marker of intimacy and the new “leaving your sweatshirt” move. In a lot of ways, it’s about comfort and confidence and a way of saying “I plan to be back” without needing to say it outright. And with DoorDash, people feel more free to be spontaneous, knowing they can get whatever they need, whenever they need it.

With bedding orders such as sheets, pillowcases, and blankets increasing significantly, how does DoorDash view its platform as part of how people prepare their spaces for new connections?

Bedding orders jump nearly 80% during cuffing season, and that’s not just about romance, it’s about readiness. People are refreshing their spaces and swapping out whatever might give “the ick” for something that feels more inviting, and DoorDash has become part of that preparation ritual. From new sheets to candles to a quick cleaning restock, we make it easy for people to feel confident welcoming someone into their space – planned or otherwise.

From a marketing and cultural strategy perspective, how is DoorDash using these playful but revealing insights to connect authentically with younger audiences during cuffing season?

We love tapping into the real conversations happening in culture. From the jokes, the memes, and the cuffing season debates. For us it’s about meeting our audiences, especially Gen Z, where they already are, which is turning those small, funny moments into relatable, useful ones. By spotlighting trends like “bae” address labels or the toothbrush effect, and pairing them with something tangible, like 25% off convenience orders with code BAE, we show we’re in on the moment and here to make it easier.