A Just Eat alternative that doesn't ask you to leave Just Eat

Just Eat is how many people find a new takeaway. It's an expensive way to serve someone who has been ordering from you for years. The most useful alternative for most independent restaurants isn't a replacement marketplace. It's your own ordering page next to Just Eat, so the customers who already know you have a direct way to order.

Chefzi is that page. It costs £0 for three months, then £19 a month for cash or no-card payments, or £29 a month with online card payments through Stripe per location excluding VAT, with 0% commission on orders. You get an ordering site, a website if you need one, and an Android kitchen app that rings until someone accepts or rejects the order.

What Just Eat charges

Just Eat's partner sign-up page is reported to show two UK commission rates. A direct fetch of that page was blocked on 19 October 2026:

If you're not VAT-registered, the VAT on the fee is a real cost. Your own agreement may set different terms, so your statement is the figure that applies to you. To see a month's total, use the commission calculator. For all three apps side by side, read what Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats charge.

Three contract terms to know before you start

Just Eat's UK restaurant terms (version dated 18 December 2025) include three clauses that shape how you run a direct channel alongside it. Read your own copy, because yours may differ.

1. The price promise (clause 7.18). Unless you and Just Eat have agreed otherwise, the prices, discounts and special offers on Just Eat, including your delivery charges and minimum order values, must be no less favourable than those on your own online channels. You also need to tell Just Eat about the prices and offers on your website. In practice, keep the same menu prices, delivery charges and minimum orders on your own page as on Just Eat. Win direct orders on convenience and service, not on price.

2. Customer data (clauses 3.2 and 6.6). You must not use Just Eat customers' personal data for marketing or to entice them away. Order and customer data you receive through Just Eat's connection may only be used to carry out the agreement. Don't text, email or message people whose details came from Just Eat orders. Your direct customer list has to be built from orders placed on your own channels.

3. Leaving (clauses 13.5 and 13.6). You can terminate for convenience with at least 30 days' written notice. Nobody has to decide on day one, but it helps to know you aren't locked in.

How restaurants run both, step by step

1. Set up your own ordering page with the same menu and prices

Chefzi rebuilds your menu for you, including sizes, extras and meal deals. Keep prices, delivery charges and minimum orders the same as on Just Eat. You can show the menu on a hosted page, on a website Chefzi generates from your menu, or inside your existing site with an embed.

2. Put the link where your regulars already look

• Google Business Profile. Add your own ordering link under Food ordering and, if you want, mark it as preferred for collection or delivery. See how to add an Order online link to Google.
• Your window and counter. A QR code to your page, for walk-in customers and anyone reading the menu at the door.
• Your own bags and receipts for direct, walk-in and phone orders. For bags going out on Just Eat orders, check your agreement before adding anything that promotes ordering elsewhere.
• Instagram and Facebook bio links.

3. Give regulars non-price reasons to order direct

These work without touching your prices:

• Choose a collection time that suits them and skip the queue.
• Pre-order for later, choosing a requested collection or delivery time. You set the lead time and how many days ahead. There is no per-slot cap.
• Know the order went to the shop. The Chefzi kitchen app rings until someone accepts and sets a prep time, and the customer sees that time.
• Same food, same prices. Regulars will happily use whichever link is easiest. Make yours the easiest.

4. Build your own customer list properly

Customers who order through your own page are your customers. Under UK GDPR and PECR, the ICO's "soft opt-in" can allow you to email or text your own customers about similar products, as long as they had a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and in every message. Keep Just Eat customers' details completely separate.

5. Measure monthly

Track three numbers: direct orders, Just Eat orders, and Just Eat commission (from the statement). If direct orders grow and the app's new-customer flow holds up, the mix is working. If you ever consider leaving Just Eat, base the decision on those figures, not a hunch.

Choosing your delivery set-up

Direct delivery means you deliver. If Just Eat's couriers currently handle your deliveries, decide whether you can cover a direct delivery area with your own drivers.

• Collection only is the simplest start. There's no driver cost and no delivery zone to set.
• Your own drivers in a tight zone. Chefzi lets you set delivery zones by drawn area, radius or postcode, each with its own fee, minimum order and delivery time. Keep those fees and minimums the same as on Just Eat (clause 7.18).
• There is no switch to pause one zone. Take that zone off the list you save, or turn delivery off for the restaurant and leave collection on.

For setting fees and minimums, read delivery zones, fees and your own drivers.

Do you need a marketplace at all?

Some restaurants do well with no marketplace: strong local reputation, mostly collection, a busy window. Others rely on the apps for the customers who've never walked past. Here's a fair way to decide:

Many shops land in the middle: keep the listing, and make the direct page the default for everyone who already knows you.

What you get with Chefzi

• An ordering site for collection, delivery and pre-orders, under your own name
• A website generated from your menu, or an embed for the site you already have
• An Android kitchen app that rings until someone accepts or rejects, with an SMS and then a phone call if the tablet goes offline
• Delivery zones by area, radius or postcode, each with its own fee, minimum and time
• Card payments through your payment provider
• PDF receipts, daily totals you can export, and promo codes (keep any offer in line with your marketplace terms)
• The menu move, included, with no setup fee
• £0 for three months, then £19 a month for cash or no-card payments, or £29 a month with online card payments through Stripe per location excluding VAT, month to month

The Polash in Southend-on-Sea takes orders on Chefzi.