The Irish Restaurant Industry in 2025: Delivery Platforms, Commission Costs & the Models That Are Surviving
Irish restaurants are at a strange crossroads. On one hand, Ireland's out-of-home food and hospitality market has never been bigger: Bord Bia estimates the island's foodservice sector is now worth around €9.8–10.4 billion, having grown every year since 2021. On the other hand, more than 600 food-led hospitality businesses have shut their doors since the VAT rate on food was pushed back up to 13.5%, and costs from ingredients to electricity have soared.
At the centre of this tension is the rise of food delivery. Irish consumers are spending an estimated €2.2 billion a year on takeaways and deliveries, ordering roughly three times a month and dropping around €46–47 per order. Delivery has become a core part of how Ireland eats. Yet the very platforms that enable that convenience are taking 25–35% commissions per order in many cases, on top of already rising costs. This post looks at what is really happening in the Irish restaurant industry, the business models operators are using, and why delivery remains so popular despite a brutal cost squeeze.
The State of the Irish Restaurant Industry
Ireland's broader foodservice market — everything from cafés and pubs to QSR chains and event catering — has bounced back strongly in nominal terms. Bord Bia's latest Foodservice Market Insights shows the out-of-home sector has grown in value every year since 2021 and recently passed €9.8 billion in turnover across the Republic and Northern Ireland. A newer RTÉ report puts total hospitality and foodservice at about €10.4 billion in 2025, the highest on record.
However, that headline growth hides a lot of pain:
Inflation-driven revenue
Bord Bia notes that much of the value growth is simply higher menu prices, not big jumps in real volume. Menu prices are up roughly a quarter since 2020.
Input costs have exploded
The Restaurants Association of Ireland (RAI) Cost of Doing Business data for 2022–2025 shows ingredient costs jumping by double digits: fruit and veg +50%, chicken +35%, beef +95%, pork +35%, with gas up 58% and electricity up 96%.
VAT shock and closures
When the reduced 9% VAT rate on food ended and the rate moved back to 13.5% in September 2023, closures accelerated. RAI data indicates 612 restaurants, cafés, gastropubs and other food-led businesses closed in the year after the hike, with 35 closures in August 2024 alone.
RTÉ analysis suggests Ireland has roughly 8,000 restaurant enterprises, with more than ten closing every week at certain points. This is not a marginal adjustment; it is a structural shake-out, skewed heavily towards independents and rural operators, while city-centre and chain formats hold up better.
How Ireland Is Eating Now: Experience vs Value
Despite the cost-of-living squeeze, Irish consumers have not abandoned dining out or takeaways — they are just more selective. Bord Bia's foodservice insights highlight that consumers remain willing to pay for "unique or different" experiences, even as they trade down or cut frequency elsewhere:
- →Experience-led concepts: Chef's-table formats, tasting menus, immersive venues and "occasion" dining are positioned as special experiences that justify higher spend.
- →Value-seeking everyday dining: At the same time, value is non-negotiable for weekday and casual occasions. Operators are leaning into set menus, early-bird offers, and stripped-back menus to keep perception of value strong.
- →Advance booking culture: OpenTable points to increasing advance bookings and "busy lists" for hyped Dublin venues, driven in part by social media virality.
Food Delivery's Boom in Ireland
Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats were lifelines during the pandemic, and they have not gone away. Several data points tell the story:
Irish Food Delivery by the Numbers
€2.2bn
Annual Irish spend on food delivery & takeaways
2.9×
Average orders per month per Irish consumer
€46.49
Average monthly delivery spend per person
8,000+
Restaurant storefronts on delivery platforms (2023)
55%
Just Eat share of digital restaurant listings
+7%
Deliveroo order volume growth in early 2025
Crucially, it is not just takeaway food anymore. Grocery and retail delivery are growing rapidly: Just Eat's own research found about 23% of Irish consumers used food delivery services to order groceries in the previous year, and Deliveroo is now pushing into "quick commerce" retail in Ireland, offering non-food items like beauty and DIY products with 20–25 minute delivery windows.
From the consumer perspective, the value proposition is clear: convenience, choice, and speed, often from a single app, at a time when many people are time-poor but still want decent food.
The Aggregator Squeeze: Why Costs Are Biting So Hard
If delivery demand is so robust, why is the industry in crisis? Because the economics are lopsided.
The margin maths that don't add up
Sources: RAI Cost of Doing Business data 2022–2025; RTÉ Brainstorm analysis; Flipdish industry reporting.
RTÉ's analysis describes this as a "commission stranglehold" that has evolved into "economic captivity": restaurants feel unable to leave platforms because consumers expect to find them there, but the commission structure makes many orders barely breakeven once costs are fully loaded. The platforms become the brand and the gatekeeper, while the individual restaurant is just another tile inside the app.
In 2022, Just Eat increased its commission rate by a further percentage point — pushing effective rates to "as much as 30%" for many Irish partners — at exactly the point when restaurants were battling VAT rises, labour shortages, and historic inflation. Hospitality wages trail the national average by roughly €13 per hour, contributing to chronic staffing shortages that compound the pressure further.
The Models Irish Restaurants Are Using to Survive
In response, Irish operators are experimenting — sometimes frantically — with new business models and operating setups. A few broad patterns are emerging.
1Hybrid dine-in + marketplace delivery
For many bricks-and-mortar restaurants, the default model has become: core business is dine-in (plus perhaps walk-in takeaway), with an add-on listing on one or more delivery aggregators to capture incremental revenue.
The logic is straightforward: if Irish consumers are spending billions via the apps and Just Eat alone has 3,600+ partners in Ireland, being absent can feel like leaving money on the table. But many operators respond by having separate menus or higher prices on delivery platforms to offset commissions, restricting which dishes are available for delivery (only higher-margin or travel-well items), and limiting delivery radius or opening hours to concentrate on peak times.
2Cloud kitchens and delivery-first brands
The Irish market has seen a clear rise in cloud kitchens (also called ghost or virtual kitchens) — facilities that cook for delivery only, with no dine-in seats. OpenTable's Irish trends report calls out "the rise of the cloud kitchen" as a major theme.
Key features: lower front-of-house overheads, ability to run multiple "virtual brands" from a single production kitchen (e.g., burgers, wings, and vegan bowls all under different names on the apps), and heavy reliance on aggregators for orders and logistics. But the same commission problem applies — and without higher-margin dine-in trade, cloud kitchens are even more exposed to aggregator economics.
3Direct online ordering and loyalty plays
A growing cohort of Irish restaurants is trying to wean themselves off third-party platforms by pushing direct ordering through their own websites. Critically, most diners do not realise delivery apps can charge restaurants up to 30% per order — an Amarach/Flipdish poll found 77% of Irish consumers were unaware, and over 80% felt the fees were unfair once told. With that knowledge, about 90% said they would consider ordering directly from restaurants instead.
The emerging model: use aggregators as "top of funnel" discovery, actively nudge repeat customers to order direct (flyers in bags, QR codes, loyalty discounts), build first-party customer databases, and offer better prices or extras for direct orders.
4Smarter operations: data and dynamic pricing
OpenTable highlights a broader shift towards data-driven decision-making among Irish restaurants. This includes menu engineering (using sales and margin data to promote high-profit items and prune low performers), dynamic pricing (higher prices at peak times, lower on quiet days — yield management borrowed from airlines), and food waste management through better inventory forecasting.
5Experience- and locality-focused concepts
With consumers still willing to spend on distinctive experiences, many Irish restaurants are doubling down on small plates and sharing formats that encourage social, lingering visits; plant-forward and "better-for-you" menus; global flavours blended with local Irish produce; and explicitly name-checking Irish farms, butchers and artisans on menus — a top Musgrave MarketPlace trend for 2024 — as a point of differentiation that justifies higher prices.
Why Delivery Stays Popular Despite Rising Costs
Given the commissions and surcharges, why does delivery usage keep growing in Ireland?
Consumer side
- →Long commutes and dual-income households make outsourcing cooking attractive
- →Delivery apps compress discovery, ordering, and payment into a few taps — "sticky" once embedded
- →Price increases have been noticeable, but most consumers trim frequency rather than abandon delivery
Restaurant side
- →Just Eat alone controls 55% of digital storefront listings — absence feels too costly
- →Delivery helped many survive lockdown; lingering sense of it as risk-management
- →For pizza, chicken, and burgers, delivery is a natural extension now simply digitised
The result is a mutual dependence that currently favours the platforms economically, but is very hard to unwind quickly without hurting revenues.
Where the Irish Restaurant Industry Goes From Here
Looking ahead, several themes are likely to shape Ireland's restaurant and delivery landscape over the next few years:
Pressure for policy intervention
Industry bodies like the RAI are lobbying hard for the restoration of the 9% VAT rate on food. There is also a live debate around whether to regulate delivery platform commissions, mandate better data sharing with restaurants, or support cooperative ordering alternatives.
More sophisticated channel strategies
The binary "on the apps vs off the apps" frame is being replaced by more nuanced playbooks: use platforms for reach and new customers, build direct channels and loyalty to retain profitable ones, and differentiate menus and pricing by channel to protect margin.
Consolidation and polarisation
Lower-margin independents in weaker locations are most at risk. Well-capitalised groups, strong "destination" venues, and efficient QSR/fast-casual operators are better placed to survive. Bord Bia already flags an urban–rural divide, with rural businesses facing higher closure rates and slower recovery.
Continued innovation in formats
Expect more virtual brands, niche cloud kitchens in dense urban areas, and hybrid retail-hospitality concepts — including restaurants selling house-branded products or leveraging quick-commerce partners like Deliveroo's new retail vertical.
Consumer education and behaviour shifts
As more information about aggregator commissions filters into mainstream media and social feeds, a subset of consumers will make a conscious effort to order direct — particularly in communities that value supporting local businesses.
Final Takeaway
The Irish restaurant industry is not dying, but it is being reshaped. Demand for dining out and delivery remains strong; total market value is at record levels. At the same time, a combination of VAT policy, inflated input costs, labour shortages, and high platform commissions is wiping out a significant slice of independent operators each year.
The models that will survive in Ireland are those that:
- ✓Treat delivery as one channel among many, not the whole business.
- ✓Invest in direct ordering, data, and loyalty to claw back margin.
- ✓Use technology to run leaner operations without losing the human hospitality Irish diners still crave.
- ✓Offer experiences and food that feel worth paying for, even in a high-cost environment.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is the Irish foodservice market worth in 2025?
Ireland's out-of-home foodservice market is estimated at €9.8–10.4 billion in 2025, according to Bord Bia and RTÉ reporting. This is the highest on record, though much of the growth reflects menu price inflation rather than volume increases.
How much do Irish consumers spend on food delivery?
Irish consumers spend an estimated €2.2–2.5 billion annually on takeaways and food delivery. The average consumer orders approximately 2.9 times per month and spends around €46–47 per order.
What commission do Just Eat and Deliveroo charge Irish restaurants?
Major platforms typically charge Irish restaurants 25–35% commission per order. Given that most independent restaurants operate on 3–5% net profit margins, this commission structure makes many delivery orders barely breakeven.
Why are so many Irish restaurants closing?
A combination of the VAT rate returning to 13.5% in September 2023, ingredient cost inflation (beef up 95%, electricity up 96%), labour shortages, and high platform commissions. The RAI reports over 600 food-led business closures in the year following the VAT increase.
Running a takeaway or restaurant in Ireland?
With margins this tight, packaging is one of the few costs you can actually optimise. We supply custom pizza boxes, branded paper bags, eco-friendly containers, and plain packaging wholesale to Irish food businesses — with low MOQs and fast nationwide delivery.
