40 million orders in 2013
Just Eat launched in 2011 and has served as an online menu for meal delivery restaurants. Customers can compare menus from local restaurants, order things like pizza and fries and pay at the same time.
Just Eat charges a one-time 300 euro payment for its technology and from that point onward, restaurants have to pay a 12 % fee for each ordered meal. It is a higher fee than (mostly local and regional) competitors, but according to financial director Michael Wroe, it is “better to pay 12 % for 100 orders than 5 % for 2 orders, as that is the difference in size with our competitors”.
Just Eat has turned into a huge success: 9 million people ordered 40 million meals from 36,000 restaurants in 2013 and these numbers keep growing. In the past six months, its turnover grew 58 % to 69.8 million pounds (87 million euro), while its EBITDA grew from 3.1 to 8.6 million pounds (nearly 10.75 million euro). “We are the undisputed market leader in almost every market we have entered”, CEO David Buttress said.
520 restaurants in Belgium
Just Eat is already active in 13 different countries, like Belgium and the Netherlands. The United Kingdom is still its most important market, representing 75 % of its turnover and nearly all of its profit.
Apparently, some 520 Belgian restaurants have joined Just Eat. “It was difficult when we launched in 2009”, Kristof Saks (Just Eat Belgium) told De Morgen. “We started out with some 60 restaurants, with a new formula and a huge amount of scepsis. It is becoming a standard nowadays, with a 75 % coverage in Flanders. It isn’t a surprise that the large cities represent the biggest amount of users.”
Accorfing to Saks, there were over 500,000 orders in Belgium through Just Eat. Its Mechelen office employs 5 people, while it has another six freelancers in its customer service department.
