Restaurant Industry Hub UK
Delivery apps take 14% to 30% of every order they bring you (Whito, May 2026). This page is for restaurant owners who want more direct bookings: a complete Google Business Profile, a menu search engines can read, and marketing costs you can check against dated Whito figures.
For people who run a restaurant business. Who sets the rules, what Whito research found, and what it takes to be found and trusted by customers.
The biggest opportunity
Sell more with private dining and set menus
Why this matters
A private party or work event fills tables you would otherwise leave empty, and it is booked and paid for in advance.
What to focus on
- Publish a private dining menu with prices
- Offer a weekday set menu
- Give written allergen information, as FSA guidance expects
Who’s winning in your industry
Whito scores ten UK brands per industry on seven marketing channels, then shows what you can copy. Nobody pays to appear.
Food & Hospitality leaderboard
Joint top: Côte and Nando's, 5.6 out of 10
Latest from Whito on restaurant
Nothing new yet. The guides below are the place to start.
What changed in restaurant
Rule and regulator changes, newest first. Each one read on the official source page.
- 21 May 2026HMRC confirmed a temporary 5% VAT rate on children's meals eaten on the premises from 25 June to 1 September 2026. Source: GOV.UK (HMRC)
- 31 Mar 2025Simpler Recycling began: workplaces in England with 10 or more employees must arrange separate collection of food waste, dry recyclables and residual waste. Source: GOV.UK (Defra)
- 5 Mar 2025The FSA updated allergen guidance for restaurants and other out-of-home businesses, expecting written allergen information for non-prepacked food alongside a conversation with customers. Source: Food Standards Agency
Checked by Whito on 3 November 2026. A summary, not legal advice. Read the source before acting.
Who sets the rules in restaurant
The regulators, registers and bodies a restaurant business deals with. Each link goes to the official site.
- Food Standards Agency (FSA)Responsible for food safety and food hygiene in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- GOV.UK: Register a food businessExplains that anyone running a food business must register with their local authority.
- FSA food hygiene ratingsThe FSA's online service for finding a food business's hygiene rating.
- UKHospitalityThe trade body for hospitality in the UK, lobbying ministers and promoting the sector.
Links and descriptions checked by Whito on 3 November 2026. This is a starting list, not legal advice. If something here is out of date, tell us through the contact page.
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14% to 30%
platform commission on delivery orders (Whito, May 2026)
£2.80 to £6.00
lost on every £20 delivery order (Whito, May 2026)
£200 to £800
a month is enough marketing for a single-site independent (Whito cafe cost report, May 2026)
2 of 12
restaurant and takeaway sites used structured data AI tools can read, though 12 of 12 published prices (Whito, July 2026)
UK delivery platform commissions range from 14% on Just Eat basic to 30% on Deliveroo and Uber Eats with delivery, £2.80 to £6.00 on a £20 order, while a direct ordering website costs £30 to £150 a month, according to Whito’s May 2026 cost guide.
Source: Whito, whito.co.uk/research/uk-takeaway-marketing-costs, May 2026. Free to quote with a link to that page.
The right order for restaurants
Do the stages in order. Nothing in Build works while Start is missing.
Start, Build, Scale for restaurants: complete the free basics first, then build direct booking and a consented email list, then move repeat diners off the platforms and measure commission saved.
Start
- Google Business Profile complete: menu, hours, photos, booking link
- Menu in text with prices, not a PDF or photo
- Address, phone and hygiene rating easy to find
Build
- A direct booking route with a small incentive
- An email list collected at the table, with consent
- Booking confirmation and reminder texts
Scale
- Move repeat diners from the apps to direct
- Measure the commission you saved each month
- Midweek offers to your own list, not blanket discounts
Restaurant marketing guides
Why most restaurant marketing falls flat
Depending on platforms
If most of your orders come through Just Eat or Deliveroo, you do not have customers, you are renting them. One algorithm change or fee increase, and your margins vanish overnight.
No review strategy
You have 23 reviews from 2022 and one angry 1-star sitting at the top. Meanwhile, the place down the road has 200 recent reviews at 4.6 stars. Guess where tonight’s diners are going.
Empty midweek tables
Friday and Saturday handle themselves. The restaurants making real profit are the ones filling Tuesday to Thursday. Without a system to drive midweek traffic, you are only making money half the week.
Whito need-to-know
- Delivery apps take 14% to 30% of an order. That is £2.80 to £6.00 on a £20 order, while a direct ordering website costs £30 to £150 a month (Whito takeaway marketing costs, May 2026).
- Your menu has to be text, not a picture. In Whito’s July 2026 audit of 12 restaurant and takeaway websites, all 12 published prices, but only 2 used structured data a search engine or AI assistant can read.
- The hygiene rating is part of your shop window. Ratings run from 0 to 5. Display at the entrance is required in Wales and Northern Ireland and optional in England (Food Standards Agency guidance for businesses).
- A complete Google Business Profile costs nothing. Menu, hours, photos and a booking link, filled in before you pay for any visibility.
Restaurant marketing guides
More useful pages
Food hygiene rating and Companies House
Both public record. On the site, in text.
Ready to fill more tables without the guesswork?
Start with the free visibility check: Seventeen checks, about twenty seconds, no email, no sales call. It tells you what AI search and Google can actually read about your restaurant, and what to fix first.