Jojo's Kitchen in Lowestoft leaves Just Eat over fees

JOJO'S Kitchen & Bar, located in Lowestoft's High Street, ceased to offer its menu over Just Eat - one of the country's most used delivery apps - on Sunday following a six-week period where it advertised its replacement.

Owner Kelly Scoot, 45, railed against the service's high operating charges as the driving force for the change.

JOJO'S, in Lowestoft, has withdrawn from Just Eat over its fees (Image: Newsquest)

"Just Eat currently charge 14pc per order, plus admin fees," Ms Scoot said.

"That was a push in the good days, let alone what's been happening recently.

"Now we're looking at price increases again with rising energy and food costs - it just isn't viable enough."

Opened in 2018, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, delivery apps played a large part in allowing JOJO'S to flourish during a number of lockdowns. 

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"We had so much support going into the pandemic," Ms Scoot said. 

"We were turning on our machine for 30 minutes and then turning it off because we had enough orders for the night."

But with a sharp increase in operating costs, it was sink or swim for the online side of the business. 

Kelly Scoot has launched her own app to remain competitive (Image: Kelly Scoot)

"If we stayed on with Just Eat we'd have to pass the costs on to our customers and nobody's going to pay £20 for a burger."

A spokesman for Just Eat said: "Our commission rates remain competitive, and despite rising external costs, our rates for marketplace restaurants have not changed for the last five years.

"We believe our commission rates are aligned with the value we provide to our partners and we have a track record of helping restaurants prosper."

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JOJO'S has since launched its own online ordering app in association with Tudoo, a Letchworth-based company, and has been encouraging people to make the shift. 

Ms Scoot added: "We've seen a great increase of new orders coming through the app and 60pc of orders come from online so it's a very good start."

The High Street restaurant remains closed due to a recent family loss but Ms Scoot shared plans to reopen for walk-ins sometime in August.