North East entrepreneurs set up food delivery service to rival Just Eat

A regional digital company has launched a new site to rival Just Eat.

The FoodHouse, which has been designed and built by North East entrepreneurs Roger Byrne and David Duff, is set to stand up against other popular takeaway platforms, offering restaurant owners a new way of reaching customers.

By taking a smaller percentage-cut of orders placed through its site than many of its closest competitors, The FoodHouse hopes to deliver a similar service to the market’s major players, but without making it difficult for restaurants that use it to make money.

Roger said: “We live in such a fast-paced world that people often don’t have time to prepare a nice meal, and takeaways have that convenience factor. It’s a huge market.

“We want to make it as easy as possible for people to order food, delivered to their doorstep, not only creating a smooth consumer journey, but also supporting the local economy, by giving independent businesses a platform to market their offer.

“Often, restaurants are left with no choice but to work with takeaway-referral platforms; they offer such a simple, customer-friendly solution, so it’s easy to see just why they’re so popular.

“And that’s great if it increases business for restaurants, but if the cost of that lead-generation is excessive, it can decrease local businesses’ margins, making what is already a tough market all the more challenging.

“Restaurateurs either have to decide to absorb the fee and feel the pinch, or increase their prices to counter the costs. We hope that, by being competitive, we can protect restaurants as well as delivering a great service to consumers.”

In addition to the referral site, Newcastle-based The FoodHouse also supports businesses to create their own ordering systems - both digital apps and websites.

The company has been supported by Sunderland Software City - helping businesses grow by adopting or developing new technologies.

Jeni Banks, business support specialist at Sunderland Software City, added: “Technology has had a profound impact on the way we live and even simple things - like ordering food - have been made easier than ever.

“This website will hopefully build on that, but also support businesses in the process, making it easy for them to reach customers, without taking away their profit margins.

“We’re delighted to see a North East company developing a platform that we hope many businesses and people in the region and beyond will make use of.”

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