Published Date 10th July 2026
Planning to build a food delivery app like Just Eat in the UK?
It’s absolutely a great idea and the right time to capitalize on the online food ordering and delivery market in the UK.
According to Grand View Horizon, the UK online food delivery marketplace revenue is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2025 to 2030 and will reach $37.5 billion.
Moreover, P2C (Platform-to-Consumer) is the largest and fastest-growing segment in the UK food delivery industry.
Well, this guide provides all the information you need to successfully launch your own food delivery app business like Just Eat.
From an overview of Just Eat to key milestones, business model to monetization strategies, features overview to development costs and steps to build, it covers everything one should learn.
Just Eat is an online food ordering and delivery platform. It’s a global platform that connects consumers with local restaurants and grocery stores. It acts as an intermediary and operates on a hyperlocal marketplace model. Customers can access the platform and place orders from stores and restaurants nearby. Just Eat successfully operates as a global platform and leads in the United Kingdom.
Today, Just Eat Takeaway.com is one of the leading online food delivery marketplaces in the world. The marketplace connects millions of customers with 342,000 restaurants, grocery and retail stores across 15 countries, according to its official website.
Understanding the business model is critical when planning to launch a marketplace like Just Eat. As you know, Just Eat is an online food ordering and delivery marketplace that ensures doorstep delivery.
Do you know exactly how the platform works and operates its business?
Don’t worry! Here we will be discussing the business model of Just Eat, giving you an overview of how your business will operate and what the necessary steps you need to take.
Just Eat operates as a two-sided marketplace. It connects customers with restaurants, stores and retailers.
However, from order placement to doorstep delivery, the business model entails four different users, including buyers, merchants (restaurants, stores and retailers), delivery partners and admin, who contribute to completing the transaction seamlessly.
| User Types | Roles and Responsibilities |
| Customers | Customers on Just Eat are individuals who want to order food online from nearby restaurants. |
| Partner Restaurants, Stores, or Retailers | Restaurants, stores and retailers are Just Eat partners who serve customers online. They list their menu or items on the platform in order to expand their reach and generate more revenue. |
| Delivery Partners | They are also individuals (self-employed, independent delivery partners) who list on the platform as delivery partners and ensure doorstep delivery in order to generate revenue. Moreover, many restaurants have their own fleet of employees who manage delivery. |
| Admin | The administrator is the marketplace operator who is responsible for the overall operation, management, and oversight of the food delivery platform. They manage the centralized system and ensure a balance between users, restaurants, and delivery staff, ensuring seamless transactions. |
Just Eat’s business model incorporates multiple revenue channels. Its diversified revenue streams help the company make profits and sustain in today’s competitive world.
However, Just Eat makes money from four primary and one secondary revenue streams. Let’s explore them and comprehend if Just Eat’s revenue strategy can work for your business model.
Commission is the primary source of revenue for Just Eat. The platform charges a commission on each order, typically ranging between 10% and 15%. This revenue stream ensures a consistent income for Just Eat and varies based on order volume and value.
| If It Works for Your Business Model If you are planning to launch a Just Eat-like marketplace, you can also implement the strategy and generate revenue by charging a certain commission percentage on each order. |
Delivery fees and service charges are revenue sources that help Just Eat make money, other than commission on each order.
Delivery fees can vary by restaurant or can be calculated based on the delivery distance and order time (during peak hours, you will be charged more).
On the other side, all Just Eat orders include a service charge, even orders customers collect themselves. The service charge costs a minimum of 99p and a maximum of £2.99 and is reflected on the basket and payment pages for each order.
Reference: Just Eat
| If It Works for Your Business Model Delivery charges and service fees can also be one of the straightforward revenue streams for businesses entering the online food ordering and delivery market by launching a platform like Just Eat. |
Just Eat offers a membership program, Just Eat+, that typically costs £5.99 for 90 days. It enables subscribers to leverage unlimited free delivery on eligible orders, generally above £15.
Moreover, Just Eat+ also unlocks exclusive perks, discounts, and freebies from participating restaurants and retailers. Subscription plan helps Just Eat generate recurring and predictable income.
| If It Works for Your Business Model Subscription plans are among the common revenue streams that marketplace businesses often introduce, providing access to premium services. If you are also expecting recurring income from your food delivery marketplace, subscription plans can help you generate predictable income. |
Just Eat also generates revenue from sponsored ads and advertisements. It allows partner restaurants to promote their listings by paying additional promotional charges.
The service enables restaurants, stores and retailers to improve visibility, attract more customers and generate more revenue.
| If It Works for Your Business Model Paid advertising adds an option for online food delivery platforms to make money while enabling restaurants, stores and retailers to generate more sales by reaching potential customers. |
Joining fees serve as a secondary revenue channel for Just Eat. However, it purely depends on the regions the platform is serving.
In some regions, Just Eat implements this stream and in some regions not. For example, in the UK, Just Eat charges an upfront joining fee.
| If It Works for Your Business Model Joining fees are not one of those revenue streams that online food delivery marketplaces implement. However, if it works for your business model or the market you are serving, as Just Eat does, you can think about it. |
If you want to create a food delivery app like Just Eat in the UK, you can’t miss out on the features your platform needs.
Your platform must integrate all those necessary features that the marketplace users, including customers, restaurants, delivery personnel and the admin need to seamlessly navigate and complete transactions.
Here, you will be exploring features of a Just Eat-like marketplace that are critical to enhancing the overall user experience and helping businesses retain users.
| Feature | How It Works |
| Easy Signup | This feature allows customers to easily register and create an account on the platform using their existing account. |
| Advanced Search & Filter | Advanced search and filtering capabilities enable customers to discover food items quickly by narrowing search results to the right match. |
| Add to Cart | This enables customers to add food items to the cart they are browsing and place an order at once instead of making individual purchases every time. At the same time, add to cart enables customers to add multiple items, compare and process an order, selecting the best available option. |
| Flexible Payment Option | Reliable and multiple payment options enhance the overall buying experience. Customers can choose between credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets, and online payment and make payments securely. |
| In-Built Chat | An in-app chat option often helps customers to directly chat with restaurants and delivery partners to share special instructions related to orders and delivery. |
| Order Tracking | It’s again one of the necessary features for any eCommerce platform. The order tracking feature enables customers to check the current order status in real-time. |
| Ratings & Reviews | This feature fosters trust among users. Customers often review ratings and reviews when placing orders from restaurants. It provides them with an overview of the food items, helping them make buying decisions easily. |
| Self-Pickup and Delivery | This feature allows customers to choose between self-pickup and delivery on the doorstep at the time of checkout. |
| Restaurant-Specific Features | Delivery Partner Features | Admin-Specific Features |
| Restaurant Management | Registration and Profile Management | Restaurant & Store Management |
| Listing Management | Availability Management | Order & Delivery Management |
| Inventory Management | Push Notification | Commission and Payment Control |
| Order Management | Delivery Management | Return and Refund Management |
| Payment Tracking | Route Optimization & Navigation | Dispute Management |
| Sales Report | Order Tracking & Status | Promotion and Marketing |
| Discount Management | In-app Communication | Analytics and Reporting |
| In-App Promotion & Marketing | Earnings and Payout Dashboard | Content Management System |
Ready to build your own Just Eat-like app in the UK? However, the journey of building your food delivery app is not as straightforward as it sounds until you are aware of the right steps to follow.
In this section, we will discuss the necessary steps to be taken by founders, entrepreneurs, startups and businesses when building an online food delivery marketplace. Let’s explore and learn how to launch a Just Eat-like business successfully.
Before you do anything else, the first and foremost step you should take is to conduct thorough market research.
It will help you analyze the target market. You can identify your audience, demographics, analyze preferences, needs, gaps and pain points your platform will solve and stand out.
At the same time, competitors’ analysis helps businesses define Do’s and Don’ts and refine UVP (Unique Value Proposition).
Just Eat’s business model is proven to be successful. Replicating its business model can be a great idea.
However, it can bring several challenges as well, such as building customer loyalty, ensuring seamless deliveries and establishing strong relationships with restaurants, especially in the UK, where Just Eat is already leading.
That’s where your business UVP will come in. This will help you define your business model, giving edge over established platforms in the industry.
Define your business model carefully so that it helps you ensure seamless operation, scalability and long-term financial stability.
Suggested Read: Online Food Delivery Business Models – A Detailed Guide
Once you have finalized the business model. In the next step, you need to define the necessary features and functionality.
A feature-rich online food delivery marketplace ensures a successful start and the success of your food delivery app business in the future. Tick all the features highlighted above in the key feature section.
Moreover, a well-designed platform with features out of the box helps businesses attract more customers, retain existing users and increase revenue by enhancing the overall experience.
The next step is building your Just Eat-like app. However, you need to decide on the approach to build.
Primarily, there are two popular ways to build. You can either choose custom development, or you can build your platform using a readymade food delivery software.
In custom development, the marketplace is architected from scratch, which requires significant time and money. Businesses with unique development needs often choose custom development. However, if you are also opting for the same, prioritize and build an MVP first.
On the other hand, you can choose a white-label solution to launch your food delivery marketplace quickly and efficiently. Do remember, the success of your business idea again depends on the solution you choose. Therefore, find the right food delivery software.
It’s the final step to launch your food delivery marketplace like Just Eat in the UK. It’s important to run a test before you go live to a real audience.
Ensure all the features and functionality are working as intended. Once testing is done, complete setup and launch. Also solve chicken-egg problems.
Plan marketing strategies and attract users, including restaurants and customers on the platform. Remember, it’s better to approach the restaurant first; the supply side should always be ready.
However, the job is done here. The actual journey begins after launch. Operating an online food delivery business requires continuous effort. You need to work on marketing, feature iteration, strategy planning and more.
How much does it cost to build an online food delivery app like Just Eat is one of the common questions that entrepreneurs and businesses ask.
In clear words, it varies significantly depending on several factors, including platform types, complexity, feature requirements, and the approach you choose.
However, building a Just Eat-like online food delivery marketplace typically costs $20000 for an MVP to $200000 or more for a fully functional, feature-rich marketplace with separate mobile apps and a web panel.
Wait, want to start with a minimum investment? Let me guide you through the best approach you can opt for. The cost described above is required when developing a marketplace from scratch.
What if we can skip the process?
Absolutely, a readymade food delivery software is an alternative to custom marketplace development that can help entrepreneurs and startups in the UK to significantly minimize their initial investment, enabling them to launch a Just Eat-like marketplace ecosystem starting at approximately $1499.
Want to launch your Just Eat-like food delivery app quickly and affordably? Choose Yo!Yumm, the best food ordering and delivery software. It’s a market-ready solution with robust web and mobile apps.
Being a self-hosted solution, Yo!Yumm can be considered as one of the fully customizable solutions that can be tailored to align with specific operational and business needs. Its scalable architecture also helps businesses with a future-proof platform.
The solution offers out-of-the-box features and allows businesses to flexibly operate different types of online food delivery marketplaces, including an order-only marketplace, an order-and-delivery marketplace, a fully integrated marketplace, a Reservation platform, a scheduled delivery platform, and a BOPIS (buy online and pick up in store) marketplace.
Building an online food delivery app like Just Eat in the UK can be a profitable business venture. The demand for cooked food is growing, especially among Gen Z and millennials.
Growing numbers and expected year-on-year growth rate reports from several reliable agencies also support the idea.
Building an online food delivery marketplace with the right features and functionality can enhance the overall user experience and allow businesses to capitalize on the growing UK’s online food delivery market.
If you want to kick-start your online food delivery business with a readymade solution, Yo!Yumm is one of the best solutions to get started with. It provides a complete ecosystem that a food delivery business needs.
Building a food delivery marketplace ecosystem typically takes 6 to 12 months or more for a full-scale platform with native mobile apps for customers and delivery partners and a web interface with a robust admin panel.
However, choosing Yo!Yumm, you can go live in a few weeks. It accelerates the launch process, providing a complete ecosystem, including a thriving web panel and mobile app (Android and iOS) for customers and delivery personnel.
The cost of building a Just Eat-like can range anywhere between $20000 and $200000. However, it’s not just about developing an app but about developing a food ordering and delivery ecosystem that includes an admin panel, a restaurant, a delivery partner and a customer app.
With Yo!Yumm, you can reduce the cost significantly. It allows you to launch your online food delivery app starting at $2000 to $3000.
Just Eat provides a digital platform for restaurants, allowing them to list their menus and serve customers online without developing their own infrastructure. Just Eat facilitates transactions between restaurants and customers, bridging the gap. From order placement to delivery (restaurants also deliver themselves), it takes complete charge, ensuring seamless transactions.
Yes, Yo!Yumm is a fully customizable food delivery app solution. You can tailor the software and apps according to your specific business requirements. Moreover, it’s a 100% white-label solution and provides code-level access, allowing businesses to implement architectural changes.
You can get started with Yo!Yumm simply by paying a one-time license fee. It provides a lifetime license to use the solution under a one-time payment model. Moreover, Yo!Yumm doesn’t charge any recurring or hidden costs.
All innovation starts with an idea to solve real-world problems. At FATbit Technologies we are passionate about driving digital transformation to prepare businesses for a digital-first tomorrow. Let’s discuss your BIG idea NOW.
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Vishal Tiwari is a writer with a passion for crafting engaging and informative content on diverse topics. With a keen eye for detail and a knack for storytelling, he brings a unique perspective and expertise to adapt his writing style to suit various audiences and industries.
