Build a Multi-Vendor Food Delivery App Like Just Eat in the UK

The demand for online food delivery services has skyrocketed over the past decade, and the UK is no exception. As today’s consumers continue to prioritize convenience, a shift towards online ordering has reshaped the online food delivery industry. At the forefront of this shift are apps like Just Eat, which have revolutionized how people experience food delivery. Leading this transformation, Just Eat has set the stage for others to follow.

In this guide, we will walk you through the process of building a multi-vendor food delivery app like Just Eat in the UK. From understanding the concept of a multi-vendor platform to choosing the right development approach, this blog has got you covered. Not only that, but we will also explore how Just Eat became a household name, alternatives to the app, and the revenue strategies behind its success.

Industry Stats: The Growth of Online Food Delivery in the UK

The UK food delivery market is flourishing and showing no signs of slowing down. According to Grand View Research, the revenue in the UK online food delivery segment is projected to reach £28.01 billion by the end of 2030, growing at a CAGR of 7.9% from 2025 to 2030. A significant part of this market is driven by the increasing adoption of food delivery apps like Just Eat, Deliveroo, and Uber Eats.

Key Insights:

• Mobile applications dominate the food delivery market with a share of 72.4%
• London represents the largest segment with a market share of 24.8%
• Online payment exhibits a clear dominance with 85.6% share of the total UK food delivery market
• Over 40% of UK consumers reported ordering food delivery at least once a month
• Just Eat leads with a 45% market share, followed by Deliveroo at 25%, and Uber Eats at 20%

Thus, the popularity of online food delivery services can be attributed to changing consumer behavior, where convenience, time-saving, and variety reign supreme. So, if you’re looking to capitalize on this trend and build a food delivery app, you’re entering a growing and profitable market.

What is a Multi-Vendor Food Delivery App?

A multi-vendor food delivery app is a digital platform that allows customers to order food from multiple restaurants or food vendors within a single unified system. It acts as a marketplace connecting customers, restaurant owners, delivery personnel, and app administrators.

Here’s how a typical multi-vendor app works:

• Customers: Customers browse through various restaurants, view menus, select items, and place orders.
• Restaurants/Vendors: Multiple restaurants list their offerings on the platform, manage orders, and ensure timely delivery.
• Delivery Drivers: These individuals receive notifications for order deliveries and complete the order fulfillment.
• Admin: The app admin oversees operations, payments, and ensures that everything runs smoothly.

Multi-vendor food delivery apps offer significant benefits to all their users. In fact, these platforms have become integral to the online food service ecosystem, helping restaurants expand their reach while providing customers with an endless variety of food options at their fingertips.

Benefits of Building a Multi-Vendor Food Delivery App

Building a multi-vendor food delivery app enables entrepreneurs to create a scalable platform that connects multiple restaurants with a broad customer base. By centralizing listings, streamlining order management, and enabling competitive pricing, such apps enhance user experience while unlocking diverse revenue streams and long-term growth potential.

Given below are some of the key benefits of building a multivendor food delivery app:

• Variety for Customers: A multi-vendor food delivery platform provides customers with a wide array of options in one place. It offers convenience to customers, exploring different cuisines and dishes.
• Higher Revenue Potential: You can accommodate multiple vendors in your marketplace, which allows you to scale your app quickly and expand the user base. Hence, leading to more orders and higher revenue.
• Reduced Operational Costs for Vendors: Restaurants don’t need to build their own delivery infrastructure. By joining a multi-vendor food delivery platform, they gain access to an established delivery network. Moreover, they do not need a dine-in space and operate as a cloud kitchen.
• Increased Market Reach: A multi-vendor food delivery app combines various restaurants and vendors on a single platform, attracting a larger audience and increasing market reach.
• Flexibility and Convenience: Multi-vendor apps offer users the convenience of ordering from different vendors in one transaction, increasing overall customer satisfaction.
• Scalability: As the demand grows, you can easily onboard more restaurants and vendors to the platform without affecting the performance or functionality.

How Just Eat Became So Popular in the UK?

Just Eat, founded in 2001, is one of the leading players in the UK’s food delivery industry. The app has managed to capture a massive portion of the UK market thanks to its unique selling propositions (USPs). Let’s have a look at them:

• Large Vendor Base: Just Eat connects users with thousands of restaurants and food providers across the UK, making it a one-stop destination for online food ordering.
• Convenience: Just Eat’s simple user interface reduces friction and makes ordering food incredibly easy. Moreover, the app is available and operates smoothly across both mobile and web platforms.
• Brand Recognition: With years of established trust in the UK, Just Eat has become synonymous with food delivery. The brand’s marketing campaigns, strategic partnerships, and widespread availability have helped immensely in dominating the market.
• Payment Flexibility: Customers prefer having various payment options, including credit/debit cards, PayPal, and cash on delivery, enhancing convenience, and Just Eat offers this payment flexibility.
• Customer Support: Just Eat provides excellent customer service, ensuring that users have a smooth experience even when challenges arise.
• Corporate Ordering: Apart from providing convenience to individuals, Just Eat offers group ordering for get-togethers, office meetings, and work events. 

Alternatives to Just Eat

While Just Eat is the leading food delivery platform in the UK, there are several notable competitors. Some of the most prominent alternatives include:

• Deliveroo: Known for its rapid delivery and wide selection of restaurants, Deliveroo offers an alternative for those looking for quick and high-quality service. Beyond food delivery, Deliveroo offers grocery, medicine, and flower delivery as well. 
• Uber Eats: Leveraging Uber’s ride-hailing infrastructure, Uber Eats has emerged as a significant player in the food delivery industry. It offers competitive delivery services and exclusive partnerships with high-end restaurants.
• Foodhub: It is a growing platform that allows users to order directly from restaurants. This approach avoids high commission fees often charged by other delivery service platforms.
• Domino’s and Pizza Hut Delivery: These are niche platforms focusing specifically on pizza delivery, but they have also built strong brand loyalty.

How Just Eat Makes Money? (Revenue Model)

Rather than relying on a single revenue stream, Just Eat operates on a diversified revenue model, ensuring consistent profitability and sustainability. Its revenue streams include:

• Commissions from Restaurants: Just Eat earns a commission for every order made through its platform. This can range from 10% to 30%, depending on the restaurant and its agreement with the platform.
• Advertising: Restaurants pay Just Eat for advertising and promotions on the platform to increase visibility.
• Delivery Fees: While Just Eat has gradually moved away from the delivery model, it still generates revenue through delivery charges on certain orders, especially in areas where it provides delivery logistics.

Category	Details
Self-Delivery Fee	£0.50 + VAT per order
Just Eat Delivery Service Fee	5% of order value (minimum £0.50, capped at £1.99)

• Subscription Plans: For restaurants, Just Eat offers subscription plans, which can range from £25 to £50+ VAT. Vendors pay this subscription fee for premium features such as increased visibility and delivery options.

Development Approaches to Build a Multi-Vendor Food Delivery App Like Just Eat

When it comes to building a multi-vendor food delivery app, there are two main approaches to consider:

• Custom Development: This approach involves building the app from scratch by hiring a skilled team of developers, allowing you to tailor features, workflows, and user experiences as per your business model and requirements. It offers complete flexibility and control, making it ideal for businesses with unique requirements or complex operations. However, custom development typically requires continuous involvement in planning, testing, and maintenance, along with higher financial investment.
• Readymade Food Delivery App Solutions: In contrast, ready-made solutions are pre-built software designed specifically for food delivery marketplaces. They come with essential features already integrated and can be customized to align with your business needs. This approach enables faster time-to-market, reduced development costs, and sufficient scalability, making it an ideal choice for startups and businesses aiming for quick and efficient launch.

Each approach offers distinct advantages based on your business goals, technical requirements, budget, and time-to-market expectations. Choosing the right approach plays a crucial role in determining scalability, customization flexibility, and overall development efficiency.

Custom vs. Readymade Development: Which Approach is Best?

To help you choose between custom development and readyamde solution. Here’s a comparison table highlighting the key differences between the two approaches:

Feature	Custom Development	Readymade Solutions
Time to Market	Longer (6-12+ months)	Shorter (Weeks)
Cost	High (Custom-built from scratch)	Affordable (Subscription/License fee)
Maintenance	Ongoing support, higher costs	Low maintenance, included in subscription plan
Scalability	Highly scalable	Depends on the platform, but generally scalable
Complexity	High (Requires skilled developers)	Moderate (Built-in features, easy to integrate)

Our Recommendation: Readymade Food Delivery App Solution

Given the complexity and the time it takes to build a custom solution, we recommend leveraging a readymade solution like Yo!Yumm. It is a pre-built food delivery software that you can customize as per your requirements. Let’s explore Yo!Yumm in detail.

Yo!Yumm: The Best Readymade Food Delivery Software to Build an App Like Just Eat

Launching a competitive food delivery app demands speed, scalability, and a seamless user experience. Businesses aiming to create food ordering and delivery mobile apps can leverage solutions like Yo!Yumm. With its ready-to-deploy architecture and advanced capabilities, it enables foodpreneurs to enter the market faster while maintaining flexibility, operational efficiency, and a strong foundation for long-term growth.

Designed for startups and enterprises alike, Yo!Yumm minimizes development complexities while offering the flexibility to adapt, grow, and compete effectively in the evolving online food delivery industry.

Key Features of Yo!Yumm:

• Multiple Vendor Support: Yo!Yumm allows you to onboard multiple restaurants, giving customers access to a wide range of food options.
• Real-Time Order Tracking: Users can track their orders in real time, enhancing their experience.
• Integrated Payment Gateway: The solution supports various payment methods, including credit cards, PayPal, and wallets.
• Admin Panel: The admin panel gives you full control over the platform, allowing you to manage vendors, customers, and deliveries efficiently.
• Push Notifications: For customer engagement, Yo!Yumm supports push notifications for order updates, offers, and promotions.
• Ratings and Reviews: Customers can leave feedback, helping other users make informed decisions.
• Order Management: Vendors can manage their orders efficiently, ensuring timely delivery.
• Commission System: Yo!Yumm allows admins to set different commission rates for various vendors, offering flexibility in monetization.

Why Choose Yo!Yumm?

There are several reasons why Yo!Yumm is the best choice for creating a food delivery app like Just Eat:

• Self-Hosted Solution: It is a self-hosted solution, giving you full ownership of the customizable source code. This means you are in complete control of your data, security, and infrastructure.
• Cost-Effective: Yo!Yumm is significantly more affordable than custom development.
• Quick Deployment: With Yo!Yumm, you can launch your platform in weeks rather than months.
• Customizable: Even though it is a readymade solution, Yo!Yumm allows for extensive customization to fit your branding and feature requirements.
• Reliable Support: Yo!Yumm offers 24/7 customer support, ensuring that any issues can be addressed promptly.
• Dedicated Account Manager: Yo!Yumm provides a dedicated account manager to guide you through the process, offering personalized support and assistance.

Conclusion

To tap into the rapidly growing food delivery industry, building a multi-vendor food delivery app like Just Eat in the UK stands out as an exciting venture. Whether you choose to build the app using custom development or leverage a ready-made solution, there are several steps and considerations involved in the process.

However, for most startups and small businesses, opting for a readymade solution like Yo!Yumm provides the best combination of cost-efficiency, speed, and scalability. With its rich feature set, Yo!Yumm empowers entrepreneurs to get started without the need for extensive development resources.

FAQs

How much does it cost to build an app like Just Eat?

The cost of building an app like Just Eat depends on several factors and the development approach you select. A custom-built app can range from £30,000 to £100,000+, depending on the complexity, features, and your requirements. In contrast, by leveraging a readymade solution, you can build the app from £2000 to £10,000, depending on the customization. 

How long does it take to go live with a multi-vendor app?

The timeline to deploy a multi-vendor food delivery app depends on the approach you choose to build the app. Custom development typically takes 6 months to a year to go live. Whereas, using a food delivery app solution like Yo!Yumm can reduce this timeline to a few weeks.

Can I customize a ready-made platform like Yo!Yumm?

Yes, Yo!Yumm offers a high degree of customization. It allows you to adjust the design, branding, and features to suit your specific requirements. This flexibility ensures your platform stands out while still benefiting from a ready-made, scalable solution.

Is a multi-vendor food delivery platform scalable?

Yes, readymade multi-vendor platforms like Yo!Yumm is highly scalable. It is built on a robust architecture that allows you to onboard more vendors as the user base grows and expand the platform without compromising performance.

How do I attract vendors to join my platform?

To attract vendors to your platform, offer competitive commission rates, marketing support, and a user-friendly platform. Additionally, providing analytics and insights can help vendors make data-driven decisions.

What are the most important features for my app?

The most important features for a multi-vendor food delivery app include:

• Real-time order tracking
• Multiple payment options
• A vendor management system
• A reliable delivery logistics system

How can I ensure customer retention?

To ensure customer retention, offer promotions, loyalty programs, and personalized recommendations. Apart from that, prioritize customer support and gather feedback to continually improve the user experience.