ON-demand food delivery franchise Deliveroo, which has more than 40 restaurant partners in Belfast, has marked four years in business by serving up a healthy 200 per cent increase in lunchtime orders and a significant revenue growth to its Irish restaurants.
And that has allowed the company - which now operates in 120 cities in 12 countries - to hire more staff and open new premises on the back of increased demand.
New data covering all orders in Ireland in 2016 reveals one of the key trends driving this growth in restaurants is that takeaway isn’t just for Friday nights, with 12 per cent of monthly orders shifting towards Monday-Thursday.
Deliveroo, founded in 2013 by William Shu and Greg Orlowski, now partners with more than 300 restaurants in Ireland, from large chains such as Boojum and Wagamama, to small independent outlets.
In Belfast its partners include the likes of John Long's chippy, Bubbacue in Callender Street, City Picnic in Castle Lane, Bao Botanic and Bootleggers in Church Lane.
Orders grew by 650 per cent worldwide in 2016, with the company adding new restaurants to the platform on a weekly basis, and the company now employs more than 1,000 people.
Liam Keenan from Deliveroo said: “We are on a mission to transform the way we eat in Ireland. We're fully focused on getting the best food from the best restaurants to customers morning, noon and night, and we truly believe a corner has been turned in terms of when and what people expect to be able to access at the touch of a button.
“Restaurants partnering with Deliveroo can utilise their excess kitchen capacity to generate an increase of up to 30 per cent in revenue without their own fleet of drivers and technology infrastructure, so our unique online delivery platform service is seen as a ‘win-win’.
"We’re proud to help hundreds of chefs grow their businesses and to create new job opportunities at local level. We’re getting massively positive feedback from restaurant and chefs and we’re excited about playing a leading role in driving innovation in food delivery,” he added.
Eateries claim Deliveroo makes commercial sense for them as it provides a quality online delivery service with none of the set-up costs.