Restaurants in Cardiff and Swansea paid an estimated £38 million to online food delivery marketplaces like Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo last year, according to new analysis by the UK’s independent restaurant consultant, Peter Backman.

Across the entire country, the marketplaces captured more than £1bn in annual fees from UK restaurants in a market worth £8.5bn last year.

The UK cities losing the most money to the marketplaces are London (£452 million), Manchester, (£68 million), Birmingham (£53 million), Leeds (£41 million) and Newcastle (£40 million). The marketplaces’ fees are a huge amount of money leaving the area – and local staff’s pocket.

The biggest player in the Cardiff area is Deliveroo with a market share of 40% percent, followed by Uber Eats (30% percent) and Just-Eat (30% percent). Deliveroo also has the monopoly in the Swansea area with a market share of 46% percent, followed by Just-Eat (27% percent) and Uber Eats (27% percent).

A separate poll1 shows that 55% percent of takeaway customers in Wales are simply unaware of the high fees. When told, 68% percent feel it is unfair that marketplaces demand such high commission and 87% percent believe they should be more transparent online about the hidden fee charged to restaurants.

Conor McCarthy, CEO of Flipdish, comments:

“Restaurants in Cardiff and Swansea are serving up an eye-watering amount of money to online food marketplaces. In exchange, the tech companies promise new customers but in reality most takeaway buyers have their trusted favourites. Unknowingly, customers are lining the pockets of executives at the expense of local restaurateurs and staff.

“Giving away a huge chunk of revenues to Big Tech giants is a particularly painful huge blow to restaurateurs who are struggling to get back on their feet after the crippling lockdown. There was a terrific response to the government’s Eat Out To Help Out scheme in but, as the programme ends, the best way to support local businesses is to order direct so more of the cash stays with the restaurant.”

Peter Backman, UK takeaway market analyst, said:

“Online food delivery is big business in the UK. The  well-established players in the market have a proven business model: they take up to a third of the order value in commission from partner establishments. It’s clear from the data that the model works well for them. However, there are alternatives and each restaurant owner should be able to find a digital solution that works for them and their customers.”