Just Eat Takeaway is expanding its AI-powered voice ordering assistant across six additional European countries, following the feature's debut in the UK earlier this year, as food delivery platforms seek new ways to retain customers within their apps and strengthen thin margins in a fiercely competitive market.

The company has rolled out the assistant to Poland, Spain, Austria, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, adding to existing deployments in the UK and Germany.

Integrated directly into the Just Eat app, the tool allows customers to place orders by speaking or typing requests rather than manually browsing individual restaurant listings and menus. It can recommend dishes based on criteria such as price and dietary requirements, locate nearby restaurants, and add grocery items to a user's basket.

Just Eat told City AM that early UK data showed customers using the voice function completed an order approximately 40 per cent faster than those using its text-based AI assistant. The company also reported that those customers were 30 per cent more likely to choose a restaurant or dish recommended by the tool compared with users of its traditional search function.

These figures offer an early signal of how Just Eat expects AI to drive order growth, though the company has not disclosed how many UK customers have used the assistant or what share of total orders now flow through it. The expansion comes after Just Eat reported its first full-year adjusted EBITDA profit in 2023 and completed the sale of its US subsidiary Grubhub to DoorDash in late 2024, part of a broader strategy to focus on its European markets.

An analysis by the company of millions of customer journeys across Europe found that users typically browsed around three restaurants before placing an order, while nearly a quarter looked at four or more. Approximately 43 per cent of users went directly to a single restaurant.

Jörg Gerbig, Just Eat Takeaway's chief corporate development officer, said the company was focused on addressing the time customers spend choosing what to order.

"The biggest challenge in food delivery today isn't finding restaurants," he said. "It's deciding."

Delivery giants turn to AI

The broader rollout arrives roughly seven months after Just Eat first launched the voice assistant in the UK, where it was initially integrated into the company's existing in-app chat service. At the time, Just Eat indicated that international expansion was planned for 2026 but offered limited data on customer adoption.

The latest figures provide some evidence of faster search experiences among UK users, though they do not demonstrate whether the assistant has boosted overall order volumes or customer spending. Whether the six-country expansion can translate faster ordering into higher order frequency remains a key metric to watch in the company's upcoming quarterly results.

The initiative comes as delivery companies increasingly compete on factors beyond price and delivery speed. Uber Eats has similarly deployed AI across parts of its platform, including tools for generating menu descriptions, summarizing reviews, and producing food images. Delivery businesses are also exploring automation in customer service and fulfillment operations.

Just Eat has separately expanded internal use of AI, including tools for uploading restaurant menus and managing customer inquiries. The company has also previously outlined plans to automate certain refund decisions.