43% of UK takeaway consumers ordered from a delivery-only brand in the six months to October 2024, and a further 26% are interested in doing so (consumer research, 2025). The delivery-only model has moved from pandemic workaround to a standing revenue channel — and existing restaurants, not just cloud-kitchen startups, are building it.
The model in practice
A delivery-only or virtual brand uses your existing kitchen, staff and ingredients to sell a second menu under a different name on the delivery platforms. The Big Table Group's Super Nonna — Italian dishes cooked in kitchens the group already runs — is the template: incremental revenue from capacity you have already paid for, with rising participation among 16–34s (57% of that group ordered delivery-only in six months).
When it works
The economics favour kitchens with slack capacity at delivery peak, menus that share prep with the core offer, and dishes that travel well. It suits a restaurant whose dining-room peak and delivery peak differ — a lunch-quiet dinner restaurant can run a virtual lunch brand without touching service.
When it does not
Virtual brands fail when they cannibalise the core menu on the same platform, when platform commission plus packaging erodes the margin below dine-in contribution, or when kitchen pacing is not managed and delivery orders degrade the dining room at peak. The operational discipline is the hard part: two brands, one kitchen, one set of numbers.
Operator takeaway
Model it as a separate profit line before launch: platform commission, packaging, incremental labour, ingredient overlap. If your till and payment reporting can split revenue by brand and channel from day one, you will know within a month whether the line earns its complexity.