Food Delivery Platforms for London Restaurants: 2026 Fees

Food delivery platforms for London restaurants: which app, what it costs, what you need

Most London restaurants should join one delivery app first, not three. A takeaway with its own drivers usually starts with Just Eat on own-delivery terms. A busy central kitchen without drivers suits Deliveroo or Uber Eats with their riders. Dark kitchens usually need all three, feeding one till. Before any of it, register with your council at least 28 days before you trade.

Quick answer:

• Reported commission: about 30% + VAT when the app's riders deliver (Deliveroo quoted at 25–35%), around 12–14% + VAT when you deliver yourself.
• VAT on commission: 20%, so a 30% rate costs 36% of the order unless you reclaim that VAT.
• Before you apply: free council registration 28+ days before trading, allergen information on the menu and on the bag, a priced menu with photos.
• Adding your own ordering site: a £4,000 build pays back in roughly 8–16 weeks if 40–80 app-delivered orders a week move to collection; nearer 19–40 weeks if you already self-deliver at 14%.

How I sourced these figures: none of the three apps publishes an official UK restaurant rate card I could confirm, so commission figures are reported ranges from 2026 UK industry guides, excluding VAT. Legal points link to the Food Standards Agency guidance on GOV.UK. Anything unconfirmed becomes a question for you to ask in writing.

Which delivery app should a London restaurant join first?

• Takeaway or curry house with its own drivers: Just Eat on own delivery. Reported at about 14% + VAT, and your drivers are already paid.
• Dine-in or premium brand in dense Zone 1–2 postcodes: Deliveroo or Uber Eats with their riders. No drivers to hire; price the delivery menu for 25–35% + VAT.
• Dark kitchen or virtual brands: all three from the start, with every order in one EPOS queue.
• Brand-new opening: council registration first, then one app. Hold promotions until the kitchen copes at peak.
• Convenience or grocery shop: see the shops section below.

Should you be on all three? Only once the first app runs smoothly at peak. Each extra app adds a tablet, a menu and a promotion budget to police. If you go multi-app, pull every order into one screen, which is how our UK restaurant EPOS builds work. A takeaway that mainly wants regulars ordering direct may only need one app plus a branded food-ordering app for London.

Who owns Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat in 2026?

• Deliveroo is owned by DoorDash, which completed the acquisition in October 2025. It still trades as Deliveroo in the UK.
• Just Eat's parent, Just Eat Takeaway.com, is owned by Prosus, which completed its takeover in 2025.
• Uber Eats remains part of Uber.

Day to day nothing looks different, but terms can change after a takeover, so read any updated partner terms before accepting.

Uber Eats vs Deliveroo vs Just Eat: side-by-side comparison

Last verified: September 2026. Reported ranges, excluding VAT, not official rate cards. Confirm your rate in your partner agreement.

	Uber Eats	Deliveroo	Just Eat
Owner	Uber	DoorDash	Prosus
App's riders deliver	About 30%	25–35%, negotiated	About 30–32%
You deliver	About 12–14%	Negotiate	About 14%
Collection	Lower tier; ask	Ask if offered	Lower tier; ask
Plus 20% VAT on commission	Yes	Yes	Yes
Promotions and ads	Extra	Extra	Extra
Sign up	Uber Eats GB merchants	Deliveroo partners	Just Eat partners
Best fit	Reach in busy areas	Central, premium	Takeaways with drivers

Just Eat: the natural first app for takeaways with drivers

Pros: the own-delivery rate is less than half the courier rate, and you control delivery quality. Cons: with Just Eat's couriers it's as expensive as anyone; on own delivery, late food is your problem. Not ideal if you're a central dine-in site with no drivers.

Deliveroo (DoorDash): negotiated rates, strongest where riders are dense

Deliveroo is reported not to publish a UK rate card; your rate is set in the agreement by location, volume, delivery model and promotion opt-ins. Pros: no delivery staff, and riders are quickest in dense postcodes. Cons: the highest reported top end, and neighbours can pay different rates, so negotiate. Not ideal if your delivery margins are already thin.

Uber Eats: plan tiers, customer fees and Uber Direct

Uber sells tiered plans (named Lite, Plus and Premium on its US pricing page); higher tiers buy lower customer delivery fees and more promotion, so ask for the UK plan sheet. Uber's UK help centre says customers, not you, pay a percentage-based service fee plus delivery fees and sometimes a small-order fee, so your own website can be cheaper for the customer at identical menu prices.

Uber Direct, offered in Great Britain, sends Uber couriers to deliver orders from your own website, priced on request. Not ideal if you want the lowest rate without paying for promotion.

What you actually keep from a £25 London order

Assumptions (swap in your own): 30% commission with platform riders, 14% when you deliver; 20% VAT on commission; your rider at £4.50 a drop (mid-point of the £4–£5 one London pay-per-drop firm advertises); 2% payment fee on your own site; no delivery fee. Food, packaging and promotions excluded.

Per £25 order	App, their riders	App, you deliver	Own site, collection	Own site, you deliver
Commission + VAT	£9.00	£4.20	£0	£0
Payment fee	Check contract	Check contract	£0.50	£0.50
Rider cost	£0	£4.50	£0	£4.50
Keep, VAT not reclaimed	£16.00	£16.30	£24.50	£20.00
Keep, VAT reclaimed	£17.50	£17.00	£24.50	£20.00

Figures are before your own 20% VAT on hot food. If you're VAT-registered, about £4.17 of every £25 is output VAT whichever channel it comes through, so the comparisons still hold.

At £4.50 a drop, the app's self-delivery tier is no better than its riders, and worse once VAT on commission is reclaimed. Own drivers only pay off when they complete several drops an hour. VAT-registered restaurants can usually reclaim VAT on commission as input VAT; confirm your position with your accountant.

Price your app menu for commission

App price = what you want to net ÷ (1 − commission rate). A dish netting £10 in-store lists at about £14.29 on 30% with VAT reclaimed, or about £15.63 at an effective 36% without. Check the price-parity terms in your agreement first.

How to pay less commission

• Negotiate on volume once you have three months of order history.
• Self-deliver nearby postcodes where drivers can do several drops an hour.
• Push collection, the cheapest tier everywhere.
• Cap promotion and ad spend, judged on net takings per order.
• Mark up app prices with the formula above.

Weighing the apps against your own ordering channel? WhatsApp Ashish on +91 92771 84741 with your weekly app sales. We're based in India and work with UK restaurants remotely; I reply personally and will run these numbers on your menu.

Before you sign up: the London compliance checklist

Register with your council at least 28 days before trading

In England, a new food business, or one you take over, must register with its local authority at least 28 days before trading. It's free, can't be refused, and is done online at register.food.gov.uk. A dark kitchen is a food business in its own right, so the rule applies. Keep the confirmation for sign-up.

Hygiene rating: voluntary to display in England, public anyway

Displaying your hygiene rating is voluntary in England (unlike Wales and Northern Ireland), but every rating is public at ratings.food.gov.uk. Check how your rating appears on each listing, ask whether the platform sets a minimum, and fix hygiene problems before an app puts you in front of far more customers.

Allergens: two points for every delivery order

An online or phone takeaway order counts as distance selling, so allergen information must be available twice: before purchase (on the app menu, or verbally by phone) and on delivery (stickers, an enclosed menu, or verbally). Tag every dish and modifier against the 14 allergens. If you pack food before the customer orders, the FSA's PPDS (Natasha's Law) guidance for takeaways applies too, and its "Selling food for delivery" guidance covers keeping food safe on the road.

Licences and planning in London

• Alcohol: delivery generally needs a premises licence covering sales for consumption off the premises.
• Late night: hot food or drink supplied between 11pm and 5am is late-night refreshment and must be on your licence.
• Planning: a dark kitchen, or a restaurant turning mostly takeaway, may need permission, because a hot food takeaway is its own use class rather than Class E.

Check with your borough's licensing and planning teams before you list.

Documents platforms typically ask for

It varies by platform, but have ready: owner photo ID; company number or sole-trader details; premises address and council registration confirmation; business bank details; VAT number if registered; a menu with prices, modifiers and allergens; dish photos; opening hours and prep times.

How to sign up to Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat, step by step

Once your paperwork is ready:

1. Apply on the official partner page (linked in the comparison table), not through a reseller.
2. Complete verification with the documents above; expect a follow-up for anything missing.
3. Settle terms before you accept. Deliveroo rates are negotiated; on Uber Eats you choose a plan; on Just Eat you choose couriers or own delivery.
4. Build the menu: dishes, modifiers, allergens, photos, app prices. Check every price twice.
5. Choose tablet or EPOS for incoming orders.
6. Set a tight radius and honest prep times. Widen later.
7. Soft-launch on quieter shifts and watch accuracy and ratings.
8. Review after 30 days: net takings per order after promotions, not gross sales.

Questions to ask before you sign

Get the answers in writing:

• Payouts: how often, which day the week closes, and what's deducted first? The partner hub and agreement schedule should show it.
• Equipment: any onboarding fee or deposit, and must I use your tablet?
• Contract: minimum term, notice period, and how will I hear about new terms?
• Commission: the rate for delivery, own delivery and collection, and is VAT added?
• Exclusivity: what's offered for it, and does it restrict my own website?
• Promotions: what's billed on top, and can I cap spend?
• Refunds: who pays when an order is late, wrong or missing?

Three tablets or one queue? Getting app orders into your EPOS

Three tablets beside the till means missed orders at peak and sold-out items still live on one app. With one queue, every order lands on the same till and kitchen screen, and menu changes reach every app together.

When we consolidate a takeaway's tablets, the first job is usually reconciling three slightly different versions of the same menu. We build Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats integrations as scoped custom work, quoted before we start, not a pre-built toggle. See how that works for London restaurant EPOS, or compare off-the-shelf tills in our best restaurant POS software in the UK guide. For phone orders, delivery zones and hot-versus-cold VAT at the till, see our takeaway EPOS guide.

Adding your own ordering site or app alongside the apps

Disclosure: this is what we sell. Our UK EPOS, kitchen display and commission-free ordering builds cost £2,000–£12,000 in total (single shop £2,000–£6,000, multi-outlet £8,000–£12,000), take 3–8 weeks, and run on £40–£120 a month hosting. A branded ordering app is £3,500–£14,000, plus Apple's £79 a year and Google's one-off fee of about £20.

Break-even maths, with the assumptions shown

Assumptions: £4,000 build (inside our single-shop range), £80 a month hosting (about £18.50 a week), £25 average order, VAT on commission reclaimed. Saving per order that moves direct:

• A: app riders (30%) to your own collection: about £7.00.
• B: app riders to your own delivery with a £3 delivery fee: about £5.40 (about £2.50 with no fee).
• C: app self-delivery (14%) to your own delivery: about £3.00, as your rider cost is unchanged.

Orders moved direct per week	A: £7.00 saved	B: £5.40 saved	C: £3.00 saved
20	about 33 weeks	about 45 weeks	about 97 weeks
40	about 16 weeks	about 21 weeks	about 40 weeks
80	about 8 weeks	about 10 weeks	about 19 weeks

This only counts orders that would otherwise have gone through an app. For scale, a takeaway putting £6,000 a week through the apps that moves half direct keeps roughly £360–£840 more a week (14–30% commission minus 2% fees), before extra rider cost. On your own site you set the delivery fee and minimum order, which is how scenario B stays worthwhile.

Who delivers your own orders in London?

• Your own drivers: cheapest per drop when busy, expensive when waiting. They need insurance that covers food delivery (often called hire-and-reward or courier cover) and proper employment or contractor terms, which the £4.50 assumption excludes.
• Pay-per-drop couriers: fixed prices per delivery. Get two or three quotes.
• Uber Direct: Uber's couriers fulfilling your website orders, priced on request.

Why keep the apps at all?

The apps bring new customers but own the relationship: you typically don't get contact details you can market to. British-Asian takeaways with a loyal weekly base are the clearest case, covered on our Indian restaurants and takeaways page. The step-by-step for moving regulars across (bag inserts, loyalty, WhatsApp reorders) is in our commission-free ordering guide.

Convenience and grocery shops

Uber Eats' UK help centre has a separate "stores" merchant section for convenience and grocery retailers, so shops can join too. Ask each platform whether it takes your category and on what terms. Council registration still applies if you sell food, and one stock list feeding every app matters more with hundreds of lines.

Mistakes we see London operators make when joining delivery apps

• Copying in-store prices onto the app without costing commission and VAT.
• Opening with a wide radius: cold food and early reviews that are hard to shift.
• Allergen information on the app but not on the bag.
• Accepting renewed terms unread, especially after the ownership changes.

FAQs

How long do Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat take to pay restaurants?

None of the three publishes a UK payout schedule for restaurant partners that I could rely on. Your payout frequency and cut-off day are set in your partner agreement and shown in the partner hub. Before signing, ask in writing how often money lands, which day the week closes, and what is deducted first: commission, VAT on commission, promotions, ads, refunds and equipment. Then check your first statements against your own till.

Do I need a licence to deliver alcohol or late-night food in London?

Often, yes. Delivering alcohol generally needs a premises licence that allows sales for consumption off the premises. Supplying hot food or drink between 11pm and 5am is late-night refreshment, which must also be on your licence. A dark kitchen, or a restaurant turning mostly takeaway, may need planning permission, because a hot food takeaway is its own use class rather than Class E. Check with your borough's licensing and planning teams before you list.

Can I charge higher prices on delivery apps than in my shop?

Usually, but check the price-parity clause in your partner agreement first. To keep the same margin, divide what you want to net by one minus the commission rate. A dish netting £10 in-store lists at about £14.29 on 30% commission if you reclaim the VAT on commission, or about £15.63 if you can't (an effective 36%). Round to sensible menu prices; customers also pay the app's delivery and service fees.

Do delivery apps give restaurants their customers' contact details?

Generally not in a form you can market to. The platform owns the customer relationship: you get what you need to fulfil the order, but you typically cannot email, text or WhatsApp that customer later. That is the practical reason to run your own ordering channel alongside the apps. Put a card in every app bag giving a reason to reorder direct, and collect marketing consent properly on your own site.

Should I sign an exclusive deal with one delivery app?

Only if the numbers are in writing and the exit is clear. Exclusivity terms are negotiated case by case, so ask what the lower rate or extra visibility is, how long the exclusivity lasts, and whether it restricts your own website or phone orders. For a takeaway with its own drivers and a loyal local base, keeping your own channel free usually matters more than a small commission cut on one app.

How do I sign up for a food delivery platform in London, and how long does it take?

Register with your borough council at least 28 days before trading; it is free. Then apply on each platform's official partner page with photo ID, business and bank details, your VAT number if registered, and a priced menu with allergens and photos. Approval time depends on how quickly verification and the menu build finish, so ask your onboarding contact for a go-live date, and don't book launch promotions until the listing is live.

Want these numbers worked out for your shop?

• WhatsApp Ashish on +91 92771 84741 with your weekly app sales, and I'll send back your own break-even figures.
• See what we build: UK restaurant EPOS with commission-free online ordering.
• Prefer a form? Use our contact page to ask for a demo and a GBP quote, or browse our UK services.

About the author

Ashish Sharma founded Codingclave in 2017 in Lucknow, India; the team has since delivered 200+ projects for clients in the UK, India, Canada, the UAE and the US, with a 4.9 Google rating from 76 reviews and a 100% Upwork Job Success Score. For UK takeaways and restaurants, the team builds EPOS, kitchen display systems, commission-free ordering websites and branded ordering apps, including custom Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats integrations.

Sources

• GOV.UK / FSA: Starting a food business
• GOV.UK / FSA: Food Hygiene Rating Scheme
• GOV.UK / FSA: Allergen information for non-prepacked foods
• Just Eat partner sign-up
• Deliveroo for partners (UK)
• Uber Eats merchants (GB)
• Naspers: final results of the Prosus offer for Just Eat Takeaway.com
• Food On Demand: DoorDash completes Deliveroo acquisition
• Also used (unlinked): 2026 UK commission guides by ShopOps, 3S POS, VoiceMenu and PayoutLedger; Uber's UK help centre and US pricing page; MealShift's per-drop price.