Belfast · Northern Ireland
Online ordering for Belfast takeaways and restaurants
Belfast has 410 FSA-registered takeaways, spread across 18 BT districts, and hygiene stickers must be displayed by law.
Food Standards Agency figures for Belfast City
These counts are from the Food Standards Agency open data, pulled on 19 October 2026. “Takeaway” means the FSA business type “Takeaway/sandwich shop”. Cuisine rows are a name-keyword estimate, not a census, and 55% of takeaway names were not classified.
| Measure | Belfast City |
|---|---|
| Takeaway / sandwich shops | 410 |
| Restaurants, cafés and canteens | 893 |
| All registered food businesses | 3,178 |
| Takeaways rated 5 | 46.6% of rated businesses |
| Takeaways rated 4 or 5 | 72.7% of rated businesses |
| Takeaways rated 0, 1 or 2 | 3.6% of rated businesses |
| Mean rating of rated takeaways | 4.14 |
| Takeaways awaiting inspection | 26 |
| Takeaways inspected in the last 12 months | 239 |
| Postcode districts with a takeaway | 18 |
| Median miles from the takeaway centre of this register | 1.7 |
| Takeaways within 3 miles of that centre | 85.7% |
| Northern Ireland benchmark | 60.4% rated 5 · 1,761 takeaways |
| England benchmark | 61.9% rated 5 · 51,838 takeaways |
| FHRS rating | Takeaways |
|---|---|
| 5 | 179 |
| 4 | 100 |
| 3 | 91 |
| 2 | 7 |
| 1 | 7 |
| Awaiting inspection | 26 |
| Postcode district | Takeaways | Share |
|---|---|---|
| BT12 | 45 | 11% |
| BT15 | 40 | 9.8% |
| BT14 | 36 | 8.8% |
| BT4 | 35 | 8.5% |
| BT5 | 34 | 8.3% |
| BT11 | 33 | 8% |
| BT7 | 29 | 7.1% |
| BT13 | 26 | 6.3% |
Cuisine estimate from business names
| Name keyword | Takeaways |
|---|---|
| Unclassified | 226 |
| Pizza | 60 |
| Chinese | 41 |
| Fish and chips | 25 |
| Kebab | 18 |
| Indian or Bangladeshi | 15 |
| Chicken | 9 |
| Thai or other Asian | 8 |
| Burger | 5 |
| Café or bakery | 3 |
Among Northern Ireland authorities with 50+ takeaways, ranked by takeaway pct_rated_5. Rank 11 of 11.
Source: Food Standards Agency, contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Extract date 19 October 2026. The council food team page is Belfast City.
# Online ordering for Belfast takeaways and restaurants
Short answer: Belfast has 410 FSA-registered takeaways, spread unusually evenly across 18 BT postcode districts. No district has more than 11% of them. Northern Ireland has its own rules: hygiene stickers must be displayed by law, there's no English-style late-night refreshment licence, and late opening is mostly controlled through planning conditions. Chefzi gives you a commission-free ordering site: 3 months free, then £19 a month for cash or no-card payments, or £29 a month with online card payments through Stripe.
Northern Ireland rules that apply to you
Mandatory hygiene display. Since 7 October 2016, under the Food Hygiene Rating Act (Northern Ireland) 2016, food businesses must display a valid rating sticker at or near each customer entrance, where it can be easily read before customers come in. The same 0 to 5 scale as England is used, but in NI showing it isn't optional. It's good practice to link to your FSA listing from your ordering page as well.
Planning conditions set your hours. The Licensing Act 2003 regime for late night refreshment in England and Wales doesn't apply in Northern Ireland, and we haven't found an equivalent hot-food-after-11pm licence there, so confirm with Belfast City Council before relying on this. In Belfast your trading hours are mainly set by your planning permission. A hot food takeaway is a sui generis use under the Planning (Use Classes) Order (NI) 2015, so it needs its own permission, and conditions can limit opening hours. Belfast City Council's planning guidance also says that new takeaways within 400 metres of a school will normally be restricted:
- near a primary school, not open to the public 3pm to 5:30pm on weekdays;
- near a secondary school, not open to the public before 5:30pm on weekdays;
with exceptions possible in the city centre and district or local centres. Check the conditions on your own permission, then set your online ordering hours to match. Chefzi lets you set different hours for each day.
Street trading. Food stalls, vans and trailers trading on the street need a street trading licence from the council, which can set late hours for a specific pitch.
Delivery zones across the Lagan
Belfast's takeaways sit close together: the median is 1.7 miles from the centre point, 86% are within 3 miles and all within 5. But with no dominant cluster, you're competing with shops in your own district and the next one. Zones should follow the main roads and the river:
- East Belfast (BT4, BT5, BT6), across the Lagan. 93 takeaways between them. If you're based west of the river, bridge crossings at peak times can double journey times, so give the east its own fee or leave it to local shops.
- West Belfast (BT11, BT12, BT13). Andersonstown, the lower Falls, Sandy Row and the Village, and the Shankill. Together they hold the most takeaways. Arterial roads run in and out of the centre, so zones that follow one road (for example along the Falls or the Donegall Road) are quicker to serve than zones across the city.
- North Belfast (BT14, BT15). Crumlin Road, Ligoniel and the Antrim Road side. Hills towards Cavehill slow cycle couriers.
- South (BT7, BT9) and the centre (BT1, BT2). The Queen's University area and the Ormeau Road. Lots of student and late-evening ordering, and collection works well.
In Chefzi delivery zones you can price each BT district separately and switch to collection-only from the kitchen app when traffic is bad.
How Chefzi helps Belfast owners
Chefzi gives you your own branded ordering page and restaurant website, card payments on the £29 plan, collection and district-based delivery, QR codes for bags and flyers, and a kitchen app that rings until someone accepts the order. 0% commission, free for 3 months, then £19 a month for cash or no-card payments, or £29 a month with online card payments through Stripe. On GloriaFood? It closes 30 April 2027, and we'll move your menu free.
Nearby and related
Sources
- Food Standards Agency, food hygiene rating open data API, Belfast City (authority "Belfast City"), extract 19 Oct 2026. Open Government Licence v3.0. NI benchmark from the same extract. Cuisine split estimated from names.
- Food Hygiene Rating Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2016, reg. 5: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisr/2016/313
- BBC News, "New law makes 'scores on the doors' stickers mandatory", 7 Oct 2016: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-37579049
- Belfast City Council, Sensitive Uses planning guidance (hot food takeaways, 400m school rule): https://www.belfastcity.gov.uk/Documents/Sensitive-Uses (accessed 19 Oct 2026)
Belfast
Questions from Belfast kitchens.
Do I need a licence to sell hot food late in Belfast?
There's no licence in NI equivalent to England and Wales's late night refreshment licence that we're aware of. Your hours are usually set by planning conditions. Confirm with Belfast City Council. Alcohol and street trading have their own licences.
Can my planning permission limit my online ordering hours?
It limits when your premises can serve the public, which includes delivery orders sent from it. Keep your online hours inside those limits.
Is the hygiene sticker law the same as Wales?
Both make display mandatory. Wales also requires a bilingual statement on printed takeaway menus.
Should I deliver across the Lagan?
Only as a separately priced zone, and only if your drivers can make the crossing reliably at your busy times.
Other city pages
Bring Belfast orders onto your own site.
3 months free, then £19 a month for cash or no-card payments, or £29 a month with online card payments through Stripe. Standard Stripe card processing fees apply. No setup fee. We move the menu.