What it's like to order restaurant food with Deliveroo's app

Honest Burger
An Honest Burger with fries. Honest Burger Facebook

London startup Deliveroo is now in 30 UK cities and 20 others around the world but how does it work? 

Advertisement

The platform, now backed with over $200 million (£133 million), allows consumers to get restaurant food delivered to their home or office — even when that restaurant doesn't necessarily offer deliveries.

This means Londoners, for example, can get Honest Burgers delivered straight to their sofa without having to walk out of their front door. 

Deliveroo has not revealed how many transactions are occurring over its platform but it's likely that the app is proving popular with those ordering in business lunches and anyone who is hungover at the weekend and in need of something slightly more upmarket than a McDonald's or a Domino's. 

The company's revenues are twofold — with customers paying a delivery charge and restaurants giving Deliveroo a commission on each sale. 

Advertisement

Here's how to get restaurant food delivered with Deliveroo: 

Advertisement

Users start by downloading the app and setting up an account. You'll be asked to enter your name, email address and phone number. A payment method will also need to be added before any food can be ordered.

Deliveroo app
Deliveroo

This homepage of the Deliveroo mobile app gives an overview of what Deliveroo aims to do.

Deliveroo mobile app
Deliveroo

Sounds like PR copy.

Advertisement

Deliveroo uses your GPS location to determine which restaurants are nearby.

Deliveroo 2
Deliveroo

Here's a selection of what's on offer near the Business Insider UK office in Shoreditch.

Deliveroo 3
Deliveroo
Advertisement

The app provides a few details about the restaurant you're ordering from, as well as the menu and prices.

Deliveroo 4
Deliveroo

Deliveries cost £2.50 and an extra £2 is applied if they come in under £15.

Deliveroo 5
Deliveroo
Advertisement

You can also order food through the Deliveroo website.

Customer using Deliveroo
Deliveroo

Deliveroo's meals are delivered by "Route Men" who ride around on push bikes and scooters. In London, cyclists are paid £7 an hour plus £1 per delivery, while scooter riders are paid £8 an hour plus £1 per delivery.

Deliveroo Moped
Deliveroo
Advertisement

Deliveroo's "Route Men" take 32 minutes on average to make each delivery. There are approximately 1,000 Route Men in London and 2,500 worldwide.

Deliveroo bike
Deliveroo

Meals come from a wide variety of places, including Honest Burger (pictured), Dishoom, and even a Michelin-starred restaurant called Trishna.

Honest Burger Brixton
Honest Burger in Brixton Village Honest Burger
Advertisement

Here is what the food looks like when it arrives.

Shu has revealed that he still likes to make deliveries on his own push bike even though he's the boss of what's thought to be a billion dollar business.

Bikes
Thousands of cyclists hold up their bicycles after riding around the Hungarian capital Budapest on April 25, 2015, to demonstrate critical mass and demand that the city, where hundreds of thousands of people regularly use bikes to get around, develop more cycling infrastructure. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo
Advertisement

Shu and Deliveroo have competition from another restaurant food delivery service known as DoorDash. The US startup was founded in 2013 by Stanford students Evan Charles Moore, Andy Fang, Stanley Tang and Tony Xu.

Founders of DoorDash
DoorDash

DoorDash is tipped to be raising a huge funding round at a $1 billion (£660 million) valuation.

DoorDash delivery
DoorDash
London
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.