Everything you need to know about Chefsline delivery — zones, times, fees, tracking, and what happens when things don't go to plan.
In short: Central London, most of Manchester city centre, and Bristol BS1–BS8 (as of April 2026). Enter your postcode on the homepage to check.
Each restaurant sets its own delivery radius based on how long the food travels well. That's why you might see a kitchen two streets away and another ten streets away — and one of them won't deliver to you even though the other will.
If a restaurant you love doesn't deliver to your area, let them know via their page — we pass demand signals to restaurants so they can adjust their zones.
The ETA on the order screen is a real estimate — updated continuously based on where your rider is, how busy the kitchen is, and live traffic. It isn't a marketing number.
Typical end-to-end times:
You can also schedule ahead for any time in the next 7 days — handy for lunch meetings or Sunday dinners.
There are three numbers at checkout, and we break every one of them out so you can see where the money goes:
Delivery fee — £1.49 to £3.99 depending on distance. This pays the rider and covers rider insurance.
Service fee — 5% of your subtotal, capped at £2.50. This pays for the platform: payments, support, fraud protection, allergen data.
Small-basket fee — £1.99, only on orders under £10. We add it to make sure restaurants aren't losing money on tiny baskets.
Chefsline Plus members get £0 delivery on orders over £15, and the small-basket fee is waived.
Chefsline doesn't operate its own rider fleet. When the restaurant you ordered from uses courier delivery, the rider is dispatched through Uber Direct — Uber's on-demand courier network. That's why you'll see the familiar Uber live-tracking map and minute-by-minute ETA on your order screen.
Each restaurant holds its own agreement directly with Uber; Chefsline is the technology layer that passes the dispatch from the kitchen to the courier. The delivery fee you pay goes to Uber and the rider — Chefsline takes nothing from the delivery fee.
Some smaller or specialist restaurants deliver with their own staff instead. When that's the case, the checkout screen will say so.
The order screen shows four states: Confirmed → Being cooked → With the rider → Delivered. Once the rider picks the food up, you'll see their live location on a map and an accurate minute-by-minute ETA.
We'll ping your phone when the rider is two minutes away so you can head down or get the door ready.
Hand it to me — default. The rider hands the bag to you at your door.
Leave it at my door — the rider photographs the bag where they've left it and sends it to the order screen.
Meet outside — useful for flats without a buzzer. Share a note (e.g. “black gate, left of the pub”).
Age-restricted items (alcohol, some energy drinks) require “hand it to me” and ID check — they can't be left at the door.
Missing items, wrong order, rider no-show, late by more than 20 minutes — tap “Report a problem” on the order screen. Most issues are refunded or re-delivered within minutes, no forms, no back-and-forth.
See the refunds page for the full policy, or get in touch via the help centre.
Our team replies in under 4 hours, every day from 8am to midnight UK time.
