Online platforms such as Deliveroo, JustEat and UberEats have made ordering takeaway meals easier than ever, and their use has skyrocketed over the last few years – a 2021 survey on takeaway habits found that 67% of adults had used JustEat, the most popular delivery platform, in the previous year.

Unfortunately, ordering from takeaway platforms is rarely the healthy choice – the Food Standards Agency (FSA) estimates that out-of-home meals are 21% more calorie dense than those cooked at home and exposure to takeaways is associated with higher obesity prevalence. Furthermore, the higher density of takeaways in areas of greater deprivation suggests that consumption of takeaway fast-food may contribute to health inequalities.

However, not all takeaway food choices are equal. For example, ordering sushi instead of pizza, or choosing a small rather than medium side of fries, are both changes that could have a significant impact on the number of calories you consume.

Past studies on food purchasing have shown that changing the way food options are presented in supermarkets – such as through repositioning of food items, adding labels, or offering healthier swaps – can help encourage people to make healthier food choices. We think there is a huge opportunity for delivery platforms to use similar approaches to create online food environments that guide their customers towards healthier orders, helping to reduce the prevalence of obesity.

Take a BITe — a simulated online takeaway experiment platform

In 2021, with support from Nesta, BIT developed Take a BITe, a simulated online takeaway platform. This platform allows us to test how changes to the way restaurant, food, portion size and calorie content options are presented can affect consumers' food choices.

While those participating in experiments on Take a BITe do not use their own money or actually receive the foods they order, past research has indicated that shopping behaviour in simulated stores is comparable to that in real-life stores. We ran a series of experiments on the Take a BITe platform to help us understand which out of the many possible changes that could be made to the way food options are presented on takeaway platforms are likely to be most impactful when implemented in a real-world setting (you can try the platform out for yourself).

Engagement with delivery platforms and policy-makers

Longer-term, our goal was to work with takeaway platforms and policy makers to explore how we can support people to make healthier choices when ordering food on real delivery platforms. This involved working with industry partners to identify the interventions that are most feasible and most effective in promoting healthier choices.