Mobile ordering app for UK restaurants and takeaways

A mobile ordering app lets customers order and pay on their phone, for collection, delivery or at the table, and sends each order straight to your kitchen. Menuthere gives you one without building an app. Customers open your menu from a link or QR code, with no download, and can save it to their home screen. Orders ring on your partner app until someone accepts them. You pay 0% commission, and you can start free.

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What a mobile ordering system does

A mobile ordering system has two sides.

For your customers:

• Browse the full menu with photos, prices, sizes and extras.
• Choose collection, delivery or table service.
• Pay online or on collection.
• See live order status.

For you:

• Every order arrives on a phone or tablet that rings.
• A kitchen ticket prints on its own.
• Prices, sold-out items and opening hours update everywhere at once.

The difference from Just Eat or Deliveroo is ownership. The customer orders from your brand, the data is yours, and there is no commission on the order.

Three ways UK customers order on their phones

1. Order ahead for collection

The busiest use in the UK. Customers order on the bus home and collect when it's ready. You set collection times, and on Lite and above you can take scheduled orders for later in the day or week. See our takeaway ordering system.

2. Delivery from your own website

Customers enter their address. You set delivery zones and fees (basic on Free, advanced on Lite and above). On Pro, your drivers use the riders app and customers get a live tracking link.

3. At the table

Each table gets a QR code. Guests order rounds from their phone, and repeat orders join the open bill. This is popular in pubs, cafés and casual restaurants. See order and pay at the table and QR code ordering.

Web app or store app: which does your restaurant need?

Many owners think "mobile ordering app" means an app in the App Store. For most UK independents, a web app is the better first step.

Rule of thumb: if you can't name a few hundred regulars who order every week, start with the web app. Your customers already find you on Google, Instagram, WhatsApp and your shop window. A link works in all of those. A store app does not.

How the web app sits on a phone

• iPhone: Share, then "Add to Home Screen".
• Android: browser menu, then "Add to Home screen" or "Install app".

It opens from an icon with your logo, like any other app.

What Menuthere's mobile ordering includes

On every plan:

• Ordering website on your Menuthere link, with QR codes.
• Collection, delivery and dine-in table ordering.
• Unlimited menu items and photos; sizes, add-ons and sold-out marking.
• Allergens and nutrition on each dish: tag any of the 14 UK allergens, calories (kcal) and a halal mark. Customers see them when they open a dish.
• Menu import from a photo or PDF.
• Partner app for Android and iPhone, with alerts that ring until accepted, and auto-accept.
• Unlimited staff logins.
• Order notifications to the dashboard, phone and kitchen printer.
• 0% commission.

On Lite (US$17 a month) and above:

• Unlimited orders.
• Card payments through your own Stripe account, with Apple Pay and Google Pay if you switch them on in Stripe.
• Your own domain, all themes and no "Ordering by Menuthere" badge.
• Scheduled orders and pre-orders, and table booking.
• Advanced delivery zones and distance fees.
• Coupons and discount codes.
• Menu push to your Google Business Profile.

On Pro:

• WhatsApp ordering on your own number, with automatic order updates. Meta charges per message, separately.
• Loyalty points and review requests.
• Riders app with live tracking.

On Branded App (US$99 a month): your own Android and iOS branded app in the app stores, with push order updates and everything in Pro. Apple and Google store fees are included. Press Get your app: nothing is paid at signup, your first month is paid before we build, and it counts from the day your app goes live. This plan has no free trial.

Several outlets: run several outlets from one head-office login on Pro.

Pro is US$39 a month. Plans are billed in US dollars; your bank converts it. Lite and Pro have a 7-day free trial: a card is needed to start, and nothing is charged until the trial ends.

What mobile ordering costs in the UK

Take a takeaway doing 400 phone orders a month at £20. That is £8,000 a month.

Delivery-app figures use typical headline rates from our Just Eat commission page. Your own rate depends on your Just Eat contract, so check your statement. Commission carries 20% VAT, which you can reclaim if you are VAT-registered.

Want counter sales in the same system? Add the POS add-on for walk-in billing: Lite US$17 + POS add-on US$10 = US$27 a month.

Most takeaways keep the apps for new customers and move regulars to their own mobile ordering. Even moving a quarter of orders saves real money each month.

Store app costs on top, if you choose one: on most platforms, the Apple Developer Program (US$99 a year, charged in local currency), Google Play (US$25 once), and the platform's own monthly fee. Branded-app platforms in the UK mostly quote on request. Menuthere's Branded App is US$99 a month, with both store fees included.

UK rules your mobile ordering must follow

• Allergens. For food sold online, allergen information must be available before the customer buys and again when the food is delivered (FSA, distance selling). Menuthere lets you tag the 14 UK allergens on each dish, on every plan, and customers see them when they open the dish. Keep a full allergen matrix too: our allergen matrix maker can load your dish allergens from Menuthere. You still need to give allergen information at hand-over, for example a sticker or a printed chart in the bag.
• Calories. In England, businesses with 250 or more employees must show kcal on menus, including online menus. Smaller venues can do it voluntarily. Menuthere has a calorie field on each dish, on every plan.
• Prices include VAT. Hot takeaway food is standard-rated at 20%; most cold takeaway food is zero-rated (HMRC VAT Notice 709/1). See VAT on takeaway food.
• No card surcharges. Surcharges on consumer cards have been banned in the UK since January 2018. Build card fees into your prices.
• Marketing consent. Sending offers by WhatsApp, email or text needs the customer's consent under UK GDPR and PECR.

How to choose a mobile ordering app

Ask every provider these questions:

1. Is there commission per order? Or a monthly fee, or both?
2. Whose card account gets the money? Your own Stripe account, or theirs with a delay?
3. Do customers have to download anything?
4. Does it handle collection, delivery and table orders from one menu?
5. Can I edit prices and sold-out items myself, any time?
6. Who owns the customer list, and can I export it? On Menuthere, Lite and above include export.
7. Is there a contract or exit fee? Menuthere is month to month.
8. Does it connect to my EPOS? Menuthere offers counter billing as a POS add-on (US$10 a month), but has no UK EPOS integrations or API. See EPOS with online ordering.

Set up mobile ordering today

1. Find your restaurant on Google. Menuthere fills in your name, address and hours.
2. Import your menu from a photo or PDF. Add sizes and extras.
3. Choose collection, delivery and table ordering. Set times, zones and fees.
4. Connect Stripe (Lite) to take card payments online.
5. Install the partner app on the counter phone or tablet.
6. Share your link on Google, Instagram and WhatsApp. Put QR codes on tables, bags and your window.

Free for 50 orders a month, no card needed.

Create your free ordering page