A takeaway website that takes the order

A takeaway website should do one job well, and that job is taking the order. Not telling the story of the shop, not playing a video, not showing a PDF of the menu that nobody can read on a phone. A customer who is hungry at half past eight wants to see the menu, choose, pay and know when the food is coming.

That is what Chefzi builds. Your menu becomes your takeaway ordering website. Your customers order from you, not from a marketplace, and the customer relationship stays with you. There is 0% commission on those orders, and you change the menu, prices and hours yourself.

What a takeaway website needs

A takeaway online ordering website has to handle the way takeaways actually sell. With Chefzi it includes:

• Collection and delivery, with separate hours. Many shops open for collection before the drivers start, so the two sets of hours are set separately.
• Delivery zones, each with its own fee, minimum order and delivery time. A nearby street and a longer drive do not have to cost the same.
• Required choices with a minimum and maximum. "Pick a sauce" or "choose two sides" can be required, so orders arrive complete.
• Pre-orders, with a lead time set for the location, alongside ASAP orders.
• Out-of-stock items, so nobody pays for the last portion you sold an hour ago.
• Cash on delivery and cash on collection.

If you want to change the price of chips or turn delivery off for a night, you do it in the portal yourself. Ordering can be paused when the kitchen is full.

Orders arrive in the kitchen, loudly

An order that nobody hears is a complaint waiting to happen. Orders from your takeaway website arrive in the Chefzi app on a phone or tablet you already have. The app rings until someone accepts or rejects the order, and it can print the ticket automatically.

Read more in the kitchen tablet that rings until you answer.

Takeaway website design that works on a phone

Most takeaway orders are placed on a phone, often one-handed. Good takeaway website design follows from that:

• The menu as text, so it loads fast, reads well on a small screen and can be read by Google.
• A big order button that is always easy to reach.
• Your order link on Google. Add it to your Google Business Profile so people who search your name can order straight away. Here is how to add an Order online link to Google.
• A QR code on your flyers that points to your ordering page, so a leaflet through the door turns into an order without anyone typing a web address.

The Chefzi site is built from your menu, so it starts with the dishes and the button rather than a blank template. For a wider look at layouts and agencies, see restaurant website design.

Indian, kebab, pizza and chicken takeaway websites

Each kind of takeaway has its own menu shape, and the website has to cope with it.

Indian takeaway website. Long menus with curries, rice, breads and sides, where customers choose spice levels and swap proteins. Required choices keep each order complete. See Chefzi for Indian restaurants.

Kebab shop. Late hours, lots of sauces and salads, and a rush after closing time at the pub. Collection and delivery hours set separately help here. See Chefzi for kebab shops.

Pizza takeaway. Sizes, bases and toppings as options and extras, with deals for the whole family. See Chefzi for pizza takeaways.

Chinese takeaway. A long numbered menu, set meals for two or four and rice swaps as options. See Chefzi for Chinese takeaways.

For the ordering system behind the site, see the online ordering system for takeaways.

Chicken shop. Fast collection orders, meal boxes and drinks. See Chefzi for chicken shops.

Keeping Just Eat while you build your own

You don't need to leave Just Eat to have your own takeaway website. Many takeaways keep their listing for new customers and give regulars their own ordering link. Orders on Just Eat still pay Just Eat's commission. Orders on your own site pay 0% commission to Chefzi.

Read our Just Eat alternative page and the guide to moving customers from Just Eat to your website, which explains how to do it within your contract. If you are running a full takeaway ordering operation, our online takeaway ordering system page covers the kitchen side, and the food ordering website page covers the website side for any food business.

Setting up your takeaway website, step by step

There is no public sign-up and no template to wrestle with. The steps are:

1. Get started free. We book a call to go through your menu, your hours and how you deliver.
2. Your menu goes in. Categories, dishes, sizes, required choices and extras are added the way you already sell them, so regulars find the dish they know by name.
3. Hours and zones. Collection and delivery hours are set separately, and each delivery zone gets its fee, minimum order and delivery time.
4. Go live. Your takeaway website can run on an address like yourname.chefzi.co.uk while you set up, or on your own domain, and takes cash on collection or delivery.

After that, every change is yours. Add a special, change a price, mark the lamb out of stock or set a holiday closure without emailing anyone.

Getting customers to use it

A takeaway website only earns its keep when people use it. The simplest places to put your link are the ones customers already look at:

• Google. The order link in your Google Business Profile is often the first thing someone sees when they search your name.
• The bag and the counter. A flyer or QR code in the bag, on the counter and in the window points people to your own page. Check your marketplace packaging rules before you put anything in their bags.
• Your social profiles. The link in your Instagram and Facebook bios, and on posts about new dishes.

Count how many orders come through your own site each week compared with the apps, and aim to move that number up over time.

What it is not

Being clear about the edges saves a wasted call:

• No dedicated half-and-half pizza builder.
• No sold-out switch on a single modifier. You can mark a whole item out of stock.
• No courier integration. Delivery is by your own drivers, or you offer collection.

If any of those is essential to how you sell, it is better to know now.

Pricing

£39 a month billed annually (£49 if billed monthly), everything included · your own domain · your own branded app (Android & iOS) · first month free. Prices are per location and exclude VAT, with 0% commission and no setup fee. See pricing.

There is no public sign-up. Get started free and we will set it up with you on a call.

Get started free