Online ordering for Chinese takeaways in Edinburgh

Updated 13 November 2026. Source: the Food Standards Agency register, pulled on 13 November 2026. Coverage is the Edinburgh council area; we do not name any business. Whole-area figures are on our Edinburgh page.

In short: Edinburgh has 55 FSA-registered premises with Chinese, wok or noodle in the name, most in EH8 and EH12. An Edinburgh Chinese takeaway can take direct orders on its own Chefzi page: plans run from £9 to £49 a month per location (ex VAT), commission is 0% ever, and the first month is free with no card.

The register lists 55 premises in Edinburgh with "Chinese", "China", "wok", "noodle", "Canton", "Szechuan", "Sichuan", "Peking", "Beijing", "Shanghai", "Hong Kong", "dim sum" or "chow" in the business name, 30 of them registered as takeaways and 25 as restaurants or cafés. The most are in EH8 (14), EH12 (7), EH15 (5), EH16 (5). That is 2.1% of the area's 2,665 takeaway, restaurant and café premises, against 2.5% across the UK, so the word is about as common here as in the UK as a whole.

Customers who search for a Chinese takeaway in Edinburgh meet a crowded field. Your own ordering page gives them a direct route to your kitchen without a marketplace between you and the customer.

What the FSA register shows for Edinburgh Chinese names

The method is a name-keyword count, not a census: we count premises whose registered name has one of the words, which misses Chinese takeaways trading under other names and includes anything that merely uses the word. The scope is takeaway and sandwich shop plus restaurant, café and canteen premises, and nothing here names a business.

Of the 50 with a published result, 35 (70%) show a Pass. Scotland uses the Food Hygiene Information Scheme, where a result is Pass or Improvement Required and showing it is voluntary. Across all rated takeaways in Edinburgh, 85.0% show a Pass. A result is a snapshot of one inspection.

The districts where they sit

EH8 holds the most, 14 of the 55 (25%), and the premises sit across 8 postcode districts in all. Set a delivery zone for each district you serve with its own fee, minimum order and time, so the busy streets near EH8 do not set the terms for everywhere else.

How Edinburgh compares with the council areas next to it

The five nearest council areas by the centre of their food premises, with the same name-keyword count:

Edinburgh has more of these names than any of its five nearest neighbours.

Edinburgh in the wider picture

Edinburgh has 687 takeaway and sandwich shop premises and 1,978 restaurant, café and canteen premises on the register. On takeaway premises it ranks 8 of 363 UK council areas, and 2 of 32 in Scotland. Across all rated takeaways in Edinburgh, 85.0% show a Pass against 86.7% across Scotland. Edinburgh is part of Central Scotland and Fife, whose page lists every council area there with its takeaway and restaurant counts.

Edinburgh against the UK: the numbers

Using the ONS estimate of 531,370 residents, that works out at 1.04 Chinese-named premises per 10,000 people, compared with 0.73 across the UK, so Edinburgh sits above the national rate. By raw count, Edinburgh is 6th of the 363 UK council areas for these names and 2nd of 32 in Scotland.

EH16 is the district where the name is most common relative to local food premises (8%); EH12 is the lowest of these four at 4%. The area-wide share is 2.1%.

Inspection dates tell a second story. Of the 55 premises on this list with an inspection date, 35% were inspected in the 12 months to 13 November 2026, against 36% of all takeaway and restaurant premises in the area; the median gap since the last inspection is 22 months against 22.

Population figures are ONS mid-2025 estimates; every other figure comes from the same FSA register pull as the tables above. Small samples move a lot from one inspection to the next, so read the shares as a guide to where the pattern is, not as a verdict on any business.

What this means for Edinburgh kitchens

• Zones that match the map. The premises are concentrated in EH8 and EH12, so a tight zone around the busiest district with a wider second zone for the rest of Edinburgh fits the spread.
• Sauce and rice or noodles as required choices. Sweet and sour, curry or black bean can be a required choice on each dish, with egg fried rice, boiled rice, noodles or chips as a second, and extras at a surcharge.
• Take cash as well as card. Cash on collection and cash on delivery are on every plan, and card payments are on Plus and Pro.
• Sell the set meal as one item. A meal for two or four can be one menu item with a required choice for each course, so a big order is quick to build.
• Keep a long menu easy to browse. Split it into sections (starters, rice, noodles, set meals) so a customer does not scroll past 100 dishes to find the one they know.

Late-night hot food in Edinburgh: what to check

In Scotland, selling food or hot drink between 11pm and 5am needs a late hours catering licence from the council, under section 42 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, whether the food is eaten on the premises or taken away. The council's licensing pages are here: Edinburgh council licensing (checked 13 November 2026).

Our late night refreshment licence guide sets out the England and Wales rules. In Chefzi, collection hours and delivery hours are separate settings, so you can match whatever your licence allows. This is general information and not legal advice.

How to start

1. Send us your menu on a short call. We build it into Chefzi with you, and you should be live in 24 to 48 hours.
2. Set required choices for the way your customers order, and set your delivery zones by postcode district or radius.
3. Add your ordering link to your Google Business Profile (how) and a QR code to every bag (QR kit).
4. Once customers agree to hear from you, send them the link (SMS and email marketing, Plus and Pro).

For more, see the Chinese takeaway page, the commission calculator and our guide on moving customers from Just Eat to your own site, and the Edinburgh location page for every takeaway and restaurant figure in the council area, or all UK locations.

A worked example for an Edinburgh Chinese takeaway

These are assumed numbers, not Edinburgh data: with no published average order value for Edinburgh Chinese takeaways, the example takes £25 (the commission calculator default) and 35 orders a week. Use your own.

Suppose 35 orders a week (about 152 a month, £25 each, £3,800 in sales) shift from Just Eat to your own Chefzi link. Just Eat's published rates (read 12 November 2026, details) are 14% with your own drivers and 30% when it delivers, plus VAT. At 14% those 152 orders cost £532 plus £106 VAT, £638 in all; at 30% they cost £1,140 plus £228 VAT, £1,368.

On Chefzi those 152 orders cost no commission. The flat Plus plan, which includes card payments, is £22 a month (£19 billed annually) per location excluding VAT, however busy the month is. Payment-provider card fees are left out of both sides, and any orders that stay on Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats still pay their commission.

What Chefzi does not do

Delivery stays yours: Chefzi has no courier integrations, so you use your own drivers. There is no kiosk and no CRM, and a pre-order lead time applies to the whole location rather than to a single dish. Orders that still arrive through Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats keep paying those apps' commission; Chefzi's job is to help you move regulars to your own page.

Sources

• Food Standards Agency, Food Hygiene Rating Scheme open data API (api.ratings.food.gov.uk), authority Edinburgh (City of), business types Takeaway/sandwich shop and Restaurant/Cafe/Canteen, name search for "Chinese", "China", "wok", "noodle", "Canton", "Szechuan", "Sichuan", "Peking", "Beijing", "Shanghai", "Hong Kong", "dim sum" or "chow", extract 13 November 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
• Edinburgh council licensing page linked above: https://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/licences-permits (opened 13 Nov 2026).
• Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982, section 42: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1982/45/section/42
• Chefzi facts and pricing, chefzi.co.uk, read 13 November 2026.