Every order your regulars place through an aggregator hands away a slice of the plate — commission is commonly in the 14–30% range across aggregator tiers, on every order, forever. The honest fix isn't leaving Just Eat; it's dual-running: keep the aggregators for discovery, move your regulars to an ordering app you own. Meridianstacks builds it at a fraction of UK local-agency cost, billed by milestone in pounds, with full code and customer-data ownership. Your matched hub is Lagos (UTC+1) — a 0–1 hour offset, so our engineers share your full working day.
A custom takeaway ordering app from Meridianstacks runs £6,000–£12,000 for a Focused custom storefront — menu, checkout, collection and delivery slots — against roughly £15,000–£25,000 at a typical UK agency. Aggregators cost nothing up front but take a commission commonly in the 14–30% range on every order, indefinitely. If your regulars put a few thousand pounds a month through aggregators, an owned app typically pays for itself within its first year — and the customer list is yours, not the platform's.
Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats put your kitchen in front of thousands of hungry people who have never heard of you — search, ratings, and delivery logistics you'd struggle to replicate. For new-customer discovery, they earn their fee. We won't pretend otherwise.
The same commission applies to your regulars — the Friday-night family who'd order from you anyway. You pay a discovery fee on customers who were never lost, and the platform, not you, holds their name, number and order history.
Keep a lean aggregator presence to catch new customers. Put a card in every bag, stamps and better prices on your own app, and move the repeat trade — usually the majority of a settled takeaway's volume — to the channel where no aggregator commission is taken.
| Regulars' orders moved to your own app (monthly) | Commission avoided at an illustrative 20% | Avoided per year | Payback on a Focused build (£6,000–£12,000) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £2,000 / month | £400 / month | £4,800 | 15–30 months |
| £4,000 / month | £800 / month | £9,600 | 8–15 months |
| £6,000 / month | £1,200 / month | £14,400 | 5–10 months |
| £10,000 / month | £2,000 / month | £24,000 | 3–6 months |
Illustrative only. The 20% rate is simply a working midpoint of the commonly cited 14–30% aggregator range — substitute the rate from your own statement. Payback divides the Focused custom storefront band (£6,000–£12,000) by the monthly commission avoided. Card processing fees and hosting still apply on your own app and lengthen payback slightly; a rush of reactivated regulars shortens it.
An ordering app earns its keep when reordering Friday's usual takes three taps and the kitchen sees the ticket instantly. This is the core we build into every takeaway ordering app — then we add what's specific to your menu and your counter.
| Factor | Aggregator listing | Your own app |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per order | Commission, commonly 14–30% | Card fees only |
| Customer data | Held by the platform | Yours, UK GDPR-handled |
| New-customer discovery | Strong — their real value | You drive it |
| Branding & pricing | Their app, their rules | Fully yours |
| Loyalty & push offers | Limited | Built in |
| Build | Aggregator only | Typical UK agency | Meridianstacks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom storefront — ordering site with menu, checkout, slots (Focused tier) | £0 up front — commission forever | £15,000–£25,000 | ~£6,000–£12,000 |
| Custom ecommerce platform — adds loyalty, push offers, kitchen screen (Standard tier) | Not available — their app, their brand | £25,000–£45,000 | ~£12,000–£24,000 |
| Headless / multi-channel commerce + iOS & Android apps (Full tier) | Not available | £45,000+ | ~£18,000–£36,000 |
| Ongoing cost (monthly) | Commission on every order | £1,500–£4,000 retainer | ~£600–£1,800 retainer |
Prices published from our Open Price Book (v1.0 · July 2026 · next review October 2026). All prices exclude VAT.
Indicative ranges in pounds (GBP). The aggregator column is genuinely £0 up front — that's its appeal — but the commission never ends and scales with your success. Every Meridianstacks engagement is billed by milestone: you pay for delivered, accepted work, never ahead of it.
Book a free 30-minute scoping call with a senior engineer, in UK hours. Bring a rough monthly aggregator figure; leave with an honest payback estimate, a timeline and a milestone-billed quote in pounds — no obligation.
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Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats are trademarks of their respective owners. Meridianstacks is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Comparisons and commission ranges reflect publicly available information at the time of writing — tell us if something is out of date and we'll fix it.