The number of takeaway orders placed on a mobile phone has rocketed in the past year, new figures show.
Restaurant website provider FOODit, a JJ Food Service company, saw orders which came via this medium go up by 69% in 2016.
The business, which provides restaurant websites to thousands of independent UK operators, expects mobile phone ordering to continue to boom in 2017.
FOODit’s senior product manager, Paul Sharp, said: “69% of our takeaway orders were placed on mobile phones in 2016, up 33% on the previous year. This makes it vital for restaurateurs to have mobile-friendly websites that are continually updated to work on any of the latest phones and devices.”
Just 21% of FOODit orders were placed on desktop or laptop computers, added Sharp, and a further 10% using tablet computers, compared with 37% and 11%, respectively, for 2015.
While mobile platforms are crucial, Sharp warns that operators mustn’t become too reliant on large takeaway websites. “The costs of working with these websites continue to climb, while the benefits are shrinking. These are worrying trends for UK takeaways,” he said.
“What’s more, it can be hard for operators to leave if their customers are using them all the time. Restaurants must take back control if they want to thrive in the long term.”
A recent report by Deloitte found that four out of five adults in the UK now have a smartphone, the equivalent of around 37m people.
FOODit offers takeaways and restaurants their own transactional website with free social media support and help to rank their business first on Google searches. Orders placed via FOODit websites grew 77% in 2016, while sales increased by 80%.
The business, which is based in Shoreditch in East London, and also works on the Central Dosh project, launched in 2013 with just two members of staff.
JJ Food Service is a family-owned foodservice specialist with a turnover of £182m a year. While headquartered in Enfield, North London, JJ Food Service delivers from eleven branches across the UK to Quick Service Restaurants, schools, hotels, local authorities and more.
