As a nation, we can be quite lazy when it comes to cooking food, leaving us with no choice but to phone up the local takeaway and order in some food.
Given that this isn’t exactly a secret, it’s no surprise that there are multiple apps on the market in the modern day that offer customers a food delivery service.
In this article we are going to look at the best apps currently out there that offer food delivery to customers in the UK and what makes them stand out from the crowd.
Just Eat
Did somebody say Just Eat? We’ve all heard the advert and if you’re like me, you probably have a new unfounded hate for Snoop Dogg.
But the truth is, we’ve all used them to order food too. Just Eat have continued to grow in size, with acquiring competitors like the Grubhub app as one of their main strategies for growth.
Just Eat doesn’t pretend to be anything other than that what it is – a service used by local, independent takeaways for local customers within a certain radius.
They tend to steer clear of big brands and you rarely hear about employee discontent like you do with similar services.
The app is really easy to use, prompting you to enter in your postcode when you first open it up before being given the choice of what type of takeaway you’re after.
Just Eat will then bring up a list of all takeaways which fit your criteria, letting you know what their minimum order is for delivery and what if they have a delivery fee.
You’ll have the option to filter by gluten free too, which isn’t available in all delivery apps, so will appeal to the celiacs and intolerant amongst us.
After analysing all options you are then free to click on a takeaway and browse through their bespoke menu.
Once you’ve decided what you want to eat, simply add it to your Just Eat basket and then confirm your order when ready.
Just Eat will take a small service fee from every order, but that is to be expected considering they are essentially working as the middle man between customer and business.
Each takeaway on the app has a rating which is determined by Just Eat users. After you order from a takeaway you will be asked to leave a review which will help to either upgrade or downgrade an establishments rating.
This is based on their delivery time, This will help other users know where to trust and where to avoid – something very important when it comes to food.
The delivery fees with Just Eat are generally pretty reasonable, and they’re definitely one of the best food delivery services if you’re living outside of major cities (primarily because there’s often nothing else there aside from small local businesses!).
They have transparent pricing, an easy way to filter restaurants and whilst they’re not perfect, in most cases, they’re one of the first delivery apps you should opt for.
Uber eats
We’ve decided to bunch these two delivery services into one seen as they are near enough identical in how they work and the establishments that they work alongside.
While Just Eat tends to avoid large brands such as McDonalds, Subway and KFC, Uber Eats and Deliveroo are all over them, in addition to restaurants instead of *just* takeaways.
This means that customers who might not fancy a local, greasy takeaway and instead want food from their favourite restaurant are advised to use Uber Eats or Deliveroo.
In recent years, restaurants up and down the country signing up to these services to allow users to order food online. This gives us more variety of ordering online.
Both apps are really easy to use and update users regularly on any offers that are currently available on any of the establishments on their app.
The Uber Eats app runs a promotion every 15 minutes with a collection of stores, offering free delivery meaning that you can save a bit of cash on your order if you log on to the app at the right time.
In a similar way to Just Eat, both Deliveroo and Uber Eats categorise their content well, with Uber Eats categorising their content via ‘restaurants’, ‘grocery’, ‘convenience’ and ‘alcohol’ displaying that they are more than just your standard takeaway delivery service.
Deliveroo, on the other hand, goes for the more classic approach of categorising via food types such as ‘Chinese’, ‘Thai’, Indian’, ‘Burgers’ and more.
All in all, both apps are worth getting, as they have a good interface and it only takes a few minutes to scroll through what they have to offer.
However, you could probably get by if you only download one of them given that they tend to share the majority of the same establishments anyway. Their delivery charges are usually pretty fair, and most of the time, they’ll all of your favourite restaurants within one app.
Hello Fresh
The final food delivery app that we’d like to talk about is Hello Fresh, a completely different type of food delivery service from the other apps that we have discussed.
Hello Fresh don’t deliver your ready made food to eat that are going to kill your calorie count for the day, but rather send you bags of ingredients and bespoke recipes for customers to make their own healthy meals.
This takes the faff out of going around a supermarket with a list and trying to find all the ingredients for what you want to make and provides you with everything you need for an affordable price.
Customers who are signed up to the service can get the most out of the app, getting to pick what meals they want sending them to each week.
Before deciding on what meals you want, you can scan through what is available to you for that week and look at what’s involved in the cooking process.
The app tells you everything you need to know about each meal, including the ingredients involved, how many calories are in it, the time it takes to make and how difficult it is to make.
Once you’re happy with your selection, put them in to your basket and Hello Fresh will send them to you.
The use of the app doesn’t end there, though, because customers can also use the step by step guide for each meal when it comes to cooking time.
Each step of the cooking method includes an embedded timer so you can keep right up to date on where you should be during the cooking process at any given time.
The only drawback of apps like Hello Fresh is that they have extra fees in comparison to buying directly from the supermarket, and each order can be pretty expensive.
Nevertheless, Hello Fresh often run promotions where they host some great deals, so it could be worth giving it a try for a discounted price!
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is a well-established brand in the UK, known for its delicious and diverse pizza offerings. For those that want to order pizza, it’s a solid choice for online ordering.
With the rise of digital culture, Pizza Hut has significantly invested in its mobile application to ensure customers can enjoy their favourite pizzas with ease and convenience.
The Pizza Hut UK app is user-friendly and easy to navigate, making it accessible even to those who are not tech-savvy.
Customers can browse the full menu, customise their pizzas, choose extras like sides or desserts, and place their orders straight from the app.
The app also has a tracker feature that allows customers to monitor their order’s progress from preparation to delivery.
Pizza Hut UK app integrates various payment options for a seamless checkout experience. You can pay using debit/credit cards, PayPal, or even apply a promotional code if available.
The app also saves your previous orders for quick reordering and allows you to save your favourite delivery addresses.
The app is more than just an ordering platform. It offers exclusive deals and discounts that aren’t available anywhere else.
These deals often incentivise app usage, making it a primary ordering platform for many Pizza Hut loyalists in the UK.
Pizza Hut has a solid reputation in the UK, renowned for its tasty and quality pizzas.
The app’s reviews on platforms like the App Store and Google Play Store reflect this positive image, with users praising the intuitive user interface and reliable delivery service.
However, as with any business, there have been some critiques. Some users have pointed out occasional glitches with the app and delays in delivery during peak hours.
But the overall consensus remains that Pizza Hut provides good value for money, especially with its exclusive app deals.
In summary, the Pizza Hut UK app is a testament to the brand’s commitment to serving their customers better by leveraging technology.
It offers a comprehensive, user-friendly platform for customers to enjoy their favourite pizzas, sides, and desserts in the comfort of their homes.
Despite minor setbacks, Pizza Hut continues to be a favoured choice for pizza delivery in the UK.
A few alternatives
Though these are three of the best food delivery apps around, they’re not the only ones. The truth is that certain food delivery apps work better than others depending on the location
If you’re in and around London, then Uber Eats is pretty hard to beat, as you can get fresh food to your door in just a few taps.
- Zomato – Indian app Zomato has spread to the UK, and they do have some individual restaurants in the app that can make it worth downloading. Zomato has in-built user ratings, and allows you to select locations in your local area to find good restaurants.
- Foodhub – One of the younger food apps on the scene, Foodhub is worth checking if you live within a larger city, as they may have some of your favourite restaurants. Just bear in mind you’ll need to meet the order minimum to ensure that you don’t end up with a delivery charge on top.
- Gousto – Healthy food delivery apps have been taking over the last few years, and Hello Fresh rival Gousto is another option if you want fresh nutritious food delivered to your door each week. They’re a good choice if you don’t have time to pop into grocery stores, but still want to chow down on high quality food.
- Domino’s – If you’re only looking for a pizza, then Domino’s is probably a little better than Pizza Hut, and this is certainly true when it comes to the takeaway app and food delivery services. They generally have a very low delivery charge with no extra fees, so it’s worth keeping them saved on your homescreen.
Though they may not be the best food delivery app, these are all worthy alternatives when it comes to ordering online food.
They also have more traditional food options than your standard mobile apps, so they may be worth checking out.
Conclusion
To conclude, each app we have spoken about in this article is worth downloading.
And sometimes, you may find the McDonald’s app not working or have issues with the Subway app, so it’s worth having popular food delivery apps on speed dial.
If you are after a local, cheap takeaway then you should be all over Just Eat, as it has the most variety and can allow you to save time.
If you are after restaurant-type food but at home then get signed up to Deliveroo and Uber Eats. And finally, if you are looking for healthy food made easy, then sign up to Hello Fresh.