FOODHUB LEAPFROGS UBER EATS TO BECOME THE UK’S THIRD LARGEST FOOD DELIVERY APP

Lockdown has seen UK consumers takeaway habits change dramatically during 2020, with more people than ever relying on food delivery services.

Foodhub, one of the UK’s largest food ordering platforms grew substantially throughout this period, adding new partners across the UK and overseas to process a total of 47M orders during the year.

This rapid expansion saw Foodhub leapfrog Uber Eats to become #3 in the UK, by the number of takeaway restaurant partners*.

It’s huge growth when you consider that, at the end of 2019, Foodhub was partnered with 12,000 food outlets. But now, in January 2021, that number has risen by 70% to over 20,000 total, thanks largely to Foodhub’s unique partner offering.

Of all the major market players, including Just Eat and Deliveroo, Foodhub is the only food aggregator that does not charge a commission per order, instead partners sign up to a flat-fee monthly subscription model, resulting in a significant saving for them.

Since its launch, Foodhub has encouraged partners to pass this saving on to the customers – which they do. According to an independent study in 2019, Foodhub orders were an average of 15% cheaper than an equivalent order from Just Eat.

On Foodhub’s partner offer, CEO Ardian Mula said: “This has been an incredible year of growth for Foodhub, and as we continue to expand, it’s great to see new partners are taking our advice and passing the 15% saving onto their customers.

“We’re the only major player in the market right now offering this subscription model, and as more outlets continue to flock to Foodhub it will become increasingly apparent that a non-commission approach is the future of the takeaway industry.”

The other factor in Foodhub’s huge growth in 2020 is a number of significant overseas expansions. In the space of a year, the brand began trading in the USA, Guatemala, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. As well as these new territories, Foodhub also expanded existing operations in Mexico, Malaysia and Chennai, India, to support growth, as well as invested in operations closer to home.

At its HQ in Stoke on Trent, Foodhub added a c-suite team to support growth plans. New team members include the new Chief Operating Officer, Philip Mostyn, Chief Technology Officer, Paul Hodkinson, and Chief Revenue Officer, Martin Hawkes.

The rapid growth in the number of partners has naturally caused a substantial uptake in the number of orders Foodhub processes each year. In 2019, the total orders processed via the Foodhub platform was 2M, however at the end of 2020 it had risen by over 300% to 8M orders. Online, the story is the same, with orders growing 200% from 14.6M in 2019 to 28.5M in 2020.

Internationally, Foodhub’s growth has been spectacular. Since its launch in Ireland, the UK brand has acquired 338 partners. In Australia and New Zealand, the figures are even more impressive, with over 1,600 partners joining the 0% commission platform.

On Foodhub’s international expansions, COO, Philip Mostyn said: “We’ve made fantastic progress in several overseas territories throughout the last year, and one of our big goals in 2021 will be to develop and expand our offering in each territory.

“If you look at how fast we’ve grown in Australia and New Zealand for example, that will give you an idea of how rapidly we as a brand can develop in a new market.”