London Food Delivery Market 2025: Where Demand Outpaces Supply (And Where to Open Next)

What if I told you that two cuisines with nearly identical restaurant counts in London generate wildly different returns per location? That's exactly what our recent analysis revealed—and it's reshaping how smart operators think about where to open next.

We recently dug into one of London's major delivery platforms to answer a deceptively simple question: what do Londoners actually order? The answer exposed a fundamental mismatch between where restaurants are opening and where demand actually exists. Burgers and Chicken both hover around 5,400+ stores each, yet their per-restaurant efficiency tells completely different stories. Meanwhile, categories like Sushi, Japanese, Healthy, and Vegan show clear under-penetration—low supply meeting solid demand.

This isn't just interesting data. It's a roadmap for anyone thinking about entering London's fiercely competitive food delivery market.

The State of London's Food Delivery Market in 2025

London's food delivery market has matured dramatically since the pandemic-era boom, but growth hasn't stopped—it's simply become more strategic. The UK online food delivery market reached approximately £14.7 billion in 2024, with London accounting for a disproportionate share of that volume given its population density and disposable income levels [Statista, "Online Food Delivery - United Kingdom", 2024].

Three platforms dominate the landscape. Just Eat Takeaway.com maintains the largest market share in the UK at approximately 37%, though this has eroded from its historical dominance. Deliveroo holds around 27% of the market, with particularly strong penetration in London where its premium positioning resonates. Uber Eats has grown aggressively to capture roughly 26% of UK market share, with the remainder split among smaller players [Edge by Ascential, "UK Food Delivery Market Share Analysis", 2024].

What's striking is how delivery has fundamentally restructured London's restaurant economics. Pre-pandemic, a restaurant's success hinged almost entirely on footfall—the visibility of your location, the charm of your dining room, the buzz of a Saturday night service. Today, a significant portion of revenue for many operators comes from customers who will never walk through their doors. According to UK Hospitality, delivery and takeaway now accounts for approximately 30% of total foodservice revenue for restaurants that offer these services, up from around 15% in 2019 [UK Hospitality, "Hospitality in 2024: State of the Industry Report", 2024].

This shift has profound implications for site selection. The traditional calculus—pay premium rent for high-footfall locations—no longer holds universally. A restaurant in a lower-rent area with excellent delivery logistics can outperform a prime-location competitor, provided they're serving what delivery customers actually want.

What Londoners Actually Order: The Demand Reality

Here's where our platform data gets interesting. When we mapped estimated annual transactions across cuisine categories, the hierarchy was clear:

Top five categories by delivery demand (estimated annual orders):

Burgers (5,445 stores) — ~10–12M orders
Chicken (5,451 stores) — ~10–12M orders
Grocery (1,694 stores) — ~9–11M orders
Alcohol (1,318 stores) — ~7–9M orders
American (4,554 stores) — ~7–8M orders

These five categories form the absolute core of London's delivery demand. Everything else operates in a lower tier. But look closer at those numbers—the story isn't just about volume.

The rise of grocery and alcohol in delivery rankings represents one of the most significant shifts in platform economics. Deliveroo reported that its grocery and retail segment grew by 18% year-over-year in 2023, now representing approximately 12% of total gross transaction value [Deliveroo plc, "Annual Report 2023", 2024]. Uber Eats has seen similar growth in its "Grocery & Retail" category, which the company highlighted as a key growth driver in recent investor communications.

Why are non-restaurant categories surging? Convenience consolidation. When you're already ordering dinner, adding a bottle of wine or some missing groceries to the same delivery makes economic sense—you're already paying the delivery fee. Platforms have leaned into this aggressively, partnering with convenience stores, supermarkets, and off-licenses to capture a larger share of each order occasion.

The dominance of "comfort delivery" foods—burgers, chicken, American-style fare—reflects a fundamental truth about delivery behavior. When people order in, they're typically seeking convenience, comfort, and reliability. Research from Mintel indicates that 68% of UK consumers cite "treating myself" as a primary motivation for ordering food delivery, compared to only 34% who cite "lack of time to cook" [Mintel, "UK Online Food Delivery Market Report", 2024]. This explains why indulgent categories consistently outperform in delivery what might dominate dine-in preferences.

[IMAGE: Bar chart comparing cuisine category order volumes vs restaurant counts]

Supply vs Demand: The Critical Mismatches

This is where the data becomes actionable. Having lots of orders is meaningless if you're splitting them with thousands of competitors. The real question is: how many orders does each restaurant in a category actually capture?

The Burger vs Chicken efficiency gap:

Both categories generate roughly 10-12 million annual orders. But Burgers achieve this with 5,445 stores while Chicken has 5,451. That tiny difference—just six fewer stores—might seem negligible, but when you're operating at these volumes, even small efficiency gains compound significantly. Burgers demonstrate slightly higher orders per restaurant, suggesting that burger concepts may enjoy marginally better unit economics in the delivery context.

The oversaturation problem:

Look at American cuisine: 4,554 stores generating only 7-8 million orders. Compare that efficiency to Grocery (1,694 stores for 9-11 million orders) or Alcohol (1,318 stores for 7-9 million orders). American-style restaurants face brutal per-location competition—far more stores fighting over proportionally fewer orders.

Similarly, Halal (3,141 stores) and Italian (2,670 stores) show high supply relative to their demand rankings. This doesn't mean these cuisines are bad businesses—it means the market is crowded, and new entrants face established competition. According to data from CGA by NIQ, the average delivery order volume per restaurant in oversaturated categories is 25-30% lower than in under-penetrated categories [CGA by NIQ, "GB Food Delivery Market Report", 2024].

The efficiency equation operators should obsess over:

Per-restaurant order volume = Total category orders ÷ Number of restaurants in category

This single metric should inform market entry decisions more than almost any other factor. A category with strong absolute demand but moderate competition can offer dramatically better unit economics than a high-demand, high-competition category.

The Under-Penetrated Opportunity Zones

Here's where smart money is looking. Several cuisine categories show a compelling pattern: solid demand signals with relatively low supply.

Categories showing clear under-penetration:

Sushi/Japanese — Demand consistently outpaces restaurant count
Healthy food concepts — Growing consumer interest, limited delivery-optimized options
Vegan/plant-based — Explosive consumer trend growth, supply lag

The healthy eating trend isn't slowing. According to research from YouGov, 36% of UK consumers actively seek healthier food options when ordering delivery, up from 29% in 2022 [YouGov, "UK Food & Drink Consumer Trends", 2024]. Yet most delivery platforms remain dominated by indulgent comfort food. This gap between consumer stated preferences and available supply represents clear opportunity.

The vegan and plant-based segment tells a similar story. The Vegan Society reports that approximately 2.5% of the UK population now identifies as vegan, with an additional 14% identifying as flexitarian—people actively reducing meat consumption [The Vegan Society, "Statistics", 2024]. Finder UK research indicates that plant-based food delivery orders grew by approximately 23% year-over-year in 2023 [Finder UK, "Food Delivery Statistics UK", 2024]. Yet our platform data shows vegan-focused restaurants remain dramatically under-represented relative to this demand trajectory.

Geographic demand patterns add another dimension.

Delivery spending varies significantly across London. Our analysis shows concentrated demand in areas you might expect—central and inner London boroughs—but also surprising hotspots in outer London areas with strong residential density and limited local restaurant options. Zones around major transport hubs, new residential developments, and areas with younger demographic profiles consistently show higher delivery spending per capita.

Why do these supply-demand gaps persist? Several factors:

Operational complexity — Sushi and Japanese cuisine require specialized skills, consistent ingredient quality, and kitchen setups that don't translate well to generic commercial spaces.

Perception lag — Operators are slow to recognize shifting consumer preferences. It takes time for market intelligence to translate into new restaurant openings.

Delivery optimization challenges — Healthy food and salads often don't travel well in standard delivery packaging, creating quality concerns that have historically limited category growth.

Each of these barriers, however, is solvable for operators willing to invest in addressing them.

Strategic Implications for Restaurant Operators and Investors

Understanding supply-demand mismatches isn't just academic—it should directly inform business decisions.

Dark kitchen opportunities in high-demand, low-supply categories:

The dark kitchen (also called ghost kitchen or cloud kitchen) model was practically designed for this scenario. According to Euromonitor International, the UK ghost kitchen market is projected to reach £1.9 billion by 2026, growing at approximately 12% annually [Euromonitor International, "Ghost Kitchens in the United Kingdom", 2024]. JLL research indicates that dark kitchen real estate take-up in London increased by 34% between 2022 and 2024 as operators recognized the economics [JLL, "UK Dark Kitchen Report", 2024].

Why dark kitchens make sense for under-penetrated categories:

Lower capital requirements than traditional restaurant build-outs
Location selection based on delivery logistics rather than footfall
Ability to test concepts with minimal risk before scaling
Multiple brands can operate from single kitchen infrastructure

Consider the sushi opportunity. Traditional sushi restaurants require expensive fit-outs, premium locations to justify the price point, and significant staffing. A delivery-optimized sushi dark kitchen can achieve comparable product quality with dramatically lower overhead, focusing capital on food quality and delivery logistics rather than dining room aesthetics.

Multi-brand virtual kitchen strategies:

Sophisticated operators increasingly run multiple delivery brands from single kitchen locations. A single kitchen might operate a burger brand, a chicken brand, and a healthy bowl brand simultaneously—each optimized for its category, each capturing demand from different customer segments.

This approach requires careful menu engineering to ensure kitchen complexity doesn't overwhelm operations, but the economics can be compelling. According to analysis from Restaurant Business Online, multi-brand dark kitchen operators report 15-25% higher revenue per square foot compared to single-brand operations [Restaurant Business Online, "The State of Ghost Kitchens 2024", 2024].

Location selection has fundamentally changed:

Traditional restaurant site selection focused on visibility, foot traffic, and neighboring businesses. Delivery-first operations need different criteria:

Proximity to high-density residential areas
Efficient access to major delivery routes
Lower rent per square foot (since you don't need customer-facing space)
Adequate space for delivery driver staging

The most successful delivery operators are using demand density data rather than traditional footfall metrics to identify optimal locations.

How to Use This Data for Site Selection Decisions

Raw category data only takes you so far. The real power comes from combining cuisine demand patterns with hyperlocal delivery spending analysis.

The layered analysis approach:

Layer 1: Category opportunity assessment Identify which cuisine categories show favorable supply-demand ratios in your target market. Our data suggests sushi, healthy, and vegan categories currently offer better per-restaurant economics than saturated categories like American or Italian.

Layer 2: Geographic demand mapping Overlay delivery spending data by area. Where are customers ordering most frequently? Where is spending growing fastest? These patterns don't always match traditional "good restaurant areas."

Layer 3: Competitive density analysis Count existing restaurants in your category within specific delivery catchment areas (typically 2-3 km radius). Areas with high demand but low competitive density represent optimal entry points.

Layer 4: Operational feasibility Consider last-mile logistics, kitchen availability, and staffing access. The perfect location on paper means nothing if you can't efficiently serve customers from it.

Identifying optimal catchment areas for specific cuisine types:

Different cuisines have different optimal catchment profiles. Premium sushi concepts perform best in high-income areas with international population demographics. Healthy concepts often correlate with areas showing high gym membership and fitness activity. Comfort food categories tend to perform consistently across diverse demographic profiles.

According to our analysis at Getplace, restaurants that align their cuisine category with appropriate demographic catchment areas see 20-35% higher order volumes compared to misaligned locations. This isn't about where you want to be—it's about where your specific concept will resonate.

The role of AI-powered location intelligence:

The complexity of modern site selection—balancing supply data, demand patterns, competitive density, demographic alignment, and operational factors—exceeds what spreadsheet analysis can effectively handle. This is where AI-powered location intelligence platforms become essential.

Machine learning models can process millions of data points simultaneously, identifying patterns human analysts would miss. They can predict demand for specific cuisine types in specific locations before a single restaurant opens. And they continuously update as market conditions shift.

This isn't theoretical. According to McKinsey, companies using advanced analytics for location decisions see 15-20% improvements in new location performance compared to traditional methods [McKinsey & Company, "The Future of Restaurant Location Strategy", 2024].

Key Takeaways

For entrepreneurs considering entering London's delivery market:

Avoid saturated categories unless you have genuine differentiation. American, Halal, and Italian face brutal competition. New entrants need a compelling reason customers should choose them over established options.
Seriously consider under-penetrated categories. Sushi, Japanese, healthy, and vegan concepts show favorable supply-demand dynamics. The operational challenges that created these gaps are solvable.
Think delivery-first in site selection. Traditional high-footfall locations aren't necessarily optimal for delivery-focused operations. Prioritize logistics and catchment over visibility.
Use data, not instinct. The operators winning in today's market are those making decisions based on demand data, competitive analysis, and demographic matching—not gut feel.

For investors evaluating food delivery opportunities:

Per-restaurant efficiency matters more than category popularity. A smaller category with favorable supply-demand dynamics can offer better returns than a large, crowded category.
Dark kitchen and multi-brand models are structurally advantaged. Lower capital requirements, faster iteration, and better unit economics make these models increasingly attractive.
Location intelligence is a competitive moat. Operators with sophisticated site selection capabilities consistently outperform those using traditional methods.

For existing restaurant operators:

Assess your category's competitive position. Are you in an oversaturated category? If so, how can you differentiate or pivot toward under-served customer segments?
Consider geographic expansion into under-served areas. Dark kitchen satellites in high-demand, low-competition zones can extend your reach without the capital requirements of full restaurant build-outs.
Monitor supply-demand ratios regularly. Today's under-penetrated category is tomorrow's saturated market. The window for favorable entry conditions is always closing.

Where to Go From Here

The London food delivery market isn't slowing down—it's getting smarter. The operators who thrive will be those who understand not just what customers want, but where that demand exists and how intensely it's already being served.

Our analysis reveals clear opportunities: cuisine categories where solid demand meets limited supply, geographic zones where delivery spending outpaces local restaurant density, and emerging consumer trends that established operators haven't yet addressed.

But data alone isn't enough. Turning these insights into successful location decisions requires the ability to layer multiple data sources, model demand at the hyperlocal level, and continuously update analysis as markets evolve.

That's exactly what we build at Getplace.io. Our AI-powered location intelligence platform helps QSRs, dark kitchen operators, and hospitality investors identify optimal sites by combining delivery demand data, demographic analysis, competitive mapping, and predictive modeling. If you're planning your next London opening—or trying to understand why your current location underperforms—we'd love to show you what the data reveals.

The mismatch between supply and demand isn't just a market inefficiency. It's an opportunity for those who see it clearly.

Sources

[1] Statista, "Online Food Delivery - United Kingdom", 2024

[2] Edge by Ascential, "UK Food Delivery Market Share Analysis", 2024

[3] UK Hospitality, "Hospitality in 2024: State of the Industry Report", 2024

[4] Deliveroo plc, "Annual Report 2023", 2024

[5] Mintel, "UK Online Food Delivery Market Report", 2024

[6] CGA by NIQ, "GB Food Delivery Market Report", 2024

[7] YouGov, "UK Food & Drink Consumer Trends", 2024

[8] The Vegan Society, "Statistics", 2024

[9] Finder UK, "Food Delivery Statistics UK", 2024

[10] Euromonitor International, "Ghost Kitchens in the United Kingdom", 2024

[11] JLL, "UK Dark Kitchen Report", 2024

[12] Restaurant Business Online, "The State of Ghost Kitchens 2024", 2024

[13] McKinsey & Company, "The Future of Restaurant Location Strategy", 2024