Easy does it: Stelios moves into takeaway sector

The EasyJet tycoon, along with business partners Gurpreet Singh Sidhuy and Jeewan Sagu, are offering restaurants and takeaways the option to pay a flat monthly fee as opposed commission on each delivery.

Easyfood will also help restaurants build their own websites and apps.

Backed by Haji-Ioannou’s Easy Group, Easyfood aims to recruit 1,000 restaurant partners in Birmingham, before expanding to more cities in north England, and then to London in 2019.

At present, 200 restaurants have signed up, and a further 800 are expected to join. The restaurants pay a flat monthly fee of either a standard £100 package, or a premium £195 package which includes hardware for taking payments and managing data.

The co-founders aim to dominate the market by offering savings for takeaways and restaurants in a similar way to how Haji-Ioannou’s EasyJet airline drove down airfares.

EasyJet says that the savings restaurants incur mean lower prices for customers, with its website stating that 85% of its customers pay less than on other takeaway platforms.

Just Eat has increased its revenue by 49% in the first quarter of 2018 having received a 32% increase in numbers.

The company bought rival platform Hungryhouse for £200m, and of the 29.7 million orders it has received since last year (an increase of 24% year on year) 1.4 million came from the acquired brand.