Growing orders on Talabat, Deliveroo, Careem and Noon Food in the UAE.

Pick the apps your neighbourhood orders from

Talabat, Deliveroo, Careem and Noon Food each run their own app, partner terms and delivery zones. Coverage changes by emirate and by neighbourhood, so the app your Dubai Marina branch depends on may matter less to a kitchen in Ajman.

Residents and tourists order in different ways. Residents in areas such as Al Barsha, Mirdif or Al Nahda can become weekly regulars. Tourists in hotel districts browse in English and may order once or twice during a stay.

If many Arabic-speaking families live near your kitchen, give each dish an Arabic name and description next to the English one.

Before you join or leave an app

• Open each app on your phone at your kitchen's address and count the competitors in your cuisine.
• Ask your regulars which app they use, and note the answers for a week.
• Check that your kitchen can handle another tablet at the dinner peak without late orders.
• Read the partner terms on fees, payouts, exclusivity and promo funding before you sign.
• Name the person on your team who checks each app each day.

For a district view of one app, read How Careem Impacts Restaurant Sales in Dubai’s Business Bay Area.

Fix your app listings before you pay for visibility

A diner reads your name, cover photo, cuisine tags and rating before ordering. If the listing confuses them, you pay for offers and ads that send people to a page they leave.

• Use the same restaurant name, logo and cuisine on each app, on Google Business Profile and on your shopfront.
• Choose cuisine tags and categories that match what a hungry person types, such as shawarma, biryani or burgers.
• Set opening hours to the hours your kitchen can cook, and pause the store where the app allows it when you fall behind.
• Write a short description in English and Arabic that names your signature dish and your area.
• Check the delivery zone on the partner dashboard, and ask the app's partner team about any nearby district you miss.
• Upload the logo and cover image in the sizes each app's partner help pages ask for.

Each app sets its own rules for how restaurants appear in search and on its home screen. Read the partner help pages, and test any ranking tip for a few weeks before you rely on it.

If orders stay low after the basics, read Why Aren’t UAE Diners Finding Your Restaurant on Talabat? for the common causes on that app.

Build a delivery menu, separate from dine-in

You wrote your dine-in menu for a table, a server and a plate that travels a few metres. On an app, a hungry person scrolls a small screen with nobody to ask, and the food crosses town in a bag.

Menu structure

• Cut dishes that arrive soggy, cold or split, or rework them for the box.
• Put your best sellers and your highest-margin dishes in the first category diners see.
• Name each dish in plain words a newcomer understands, with the Arabic name beside it.
• Give each dish one line: main ingredients, portion and spice level.
• Build combos and family boxes for the group orders you want, and price them from your margin sheet.
• Use modifiers for sides, drinks and extras, and keep each list of choices short.
• Add allergen and dietary notes where the app has a field for them.
• Mark an item out of stock as soon as it runs out, so customers cannot order food you cannot send.

For more menu changes, read 5 Ways to Optimize Your Restaurant’s Menu for Talabat and Deliveroo. If you run a delivery-only brand, start with 5 Ways to Optimize Your Cloud Kitchen’s Menu for Talabat.

Cloud kitchens and virtual brands

If your cloud kitchen runs several brands from one kitchen, give each brand its own cuisine, name, logo and menu. A diner should not find the same burger listed under three names. Check each app's rules on virtual brands before you list a second one.

Photos

On an app, customers see the photo first. Shoot for the box they will open at home.

• Shoot each dish the way the customer receives it, without garnish or props they will not get.
• Use daylight or soft light, and keep one angle and one background across the menu.
• Start with your best sellers and each combo, then fill in the rest.
• Follow each app's image sizes and content rules in its partner help pages.
• Reshoot when you change a recipe, a portion or the packaging.

Offers and in-app ads: set the margin first

Each app will invite you to fund discounts, free delivery or sponsored spots. Before you agree, work out what one order of each dish leaves you after food cost, packaging and the app's fees.

Rules for each offer

• Write down the goal first: new customers, a quiet daypart, a new dish or a bigger basket.
• Run one new offer at a time on each app, so you can tell which change moved orders.
• Give each offer an end date and put it in the team calendar.
• Attach offers to combos or a minimum basket where you can, and keep your best sellers at full price.
• Compare the cost of each offer with the extra orders it brought, in your own numbers, each week.
• Stop offers that bring one-time bargain hunters and no repeat orders.

Treat sponsored listings and in-app banners as paid ads. Set a weekly cap and track the orders each placement brings. Stop any placement whose orders cost more than they earn.

For more on promotion formats, read Maximizing Restaurant Menu and Offer Promotion on Talabat and Deliveroo.

Ramadan, Eid and summer menus on the delivery apps

Build your delivery year around the UAE calendar. Put each period's menu and offers live before it starts, and brief the kitchen at the same time.

Ramadan

Ramadan follows the lunar calendar, so it starts earlier each year. Check the expected dates months ahead and ask each app's partner team what Ramadan campaigns it plans.

• Build iftar boxes and family meals, and set prep times so they arrive before sunset.
• Add a suhoor menu if your kitchen can stay open late into the night.
• Change opening hours on each app to match your Ramadan schedule.
• Staff the kitchen and the pass for the hour before iftar, and set prep times to match.
• Write offers and captions in English and Arabic, in a tone that suits the month.

For one app's view of the month, read How Careem Impacts Ramadan Dining Sales for Dubai Restaurants.

Eid

Eid al-Fitr closes Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha follows about two months later. Families gather over both holidays, so lead with sharing platters and family boxes. Plan your rota early, because some of your team may travel.

Weekends and weekdays

Weekend days differ by emirate and by employer. Pull your own order history by day and hour, then aim offers at the slots that stay quiet.

Summer and the cooler months

School holidays and the heat change who orders and what they want. Push cold drinks and lighter dishes in summer, and family meals when schools return.

In hotel areas, plan English-first menus and photos for the tourist months.

Delivery ratings: speed, accuracy and packaging

Customers rate you on what happens after they tap order. You fix those things in the kitchen and at the pass, so start there.

• Set prep times you can hit at the peak, and raise them on busy nights.
• Check each bag against the ticket before the rider leaves.
• Use packaging that seals, lets fried food breathe and keeps sauces apart.
• Read new reviews and complaints each morning, and group them by cause.
• Reply where the app allows it, in the language the customer used, English or Arabic.
• Fix the cause first, then watch whether the same complaint comes back.

Some delivery customers check Google before they order. Keep your hours, menu and photos on Google Business Profile in step with the apps. Our Google Maps guide covers each profile field.

For more on ratings, read Why Do Careem Users in Dubai Prefer Restaurants with High-Rated Reviews?

A weekly check of each partner dashboard

Pick one morning a week and one owner for the job. Open each partner dashboard and copy the same figures into one sheet, so you can compare apps side by side.

Figures to record each week

• Orders and sales by app, day and daypart
• Average basket value on each app
• Rating and new reviews
• Cancellations, missing items and late orders
• Offer and ad spend, with the orders each one brought
• Items marked out of stock, and for how long

Then make one change per app and write it next to the date. A week later, check whether the number you picked moved. After a season you will hold your own record of what sells in your area, on each app, in each daypart.

You spot problems in the week they start: an item hidden by mistake, a promo that ended without notice, or a delivery zone that shrank.

Delivery app growth from Boost My Business

Our restaurant-only team at DIFC Innovation Hub runs listing, menu, photo and promo work on Talabat, Deliveroo and Careem. We compare the three apps side by side against orders and margin.

We take on restaurants, cafés, cloud kitchens and hotel outlets in all seven emirates, in English and Arabic. Each engagement runs month to month, with no lock-in. A free 30-minute growth call sets the scope: which apps, which branches and which tasks.

The process has four steps: audit and plan, launch, a review each week, then scale. Read the full scope on the Talabat, Deliveroo and Careem service page.

Talabat, Deliveroo and Careem guides on our blog

Pick the guide that matches the app or the problem in front of you this week.

• Why Aren’t UAE Diners Finding Your Restaurant on Talabat?
• Talabat Delivery Growth Dubai: Strategies for Restaurant Success
• 5 Ways to Optimize Your Restaurant’s Menu for Talabat and Deliveroo
• 5 Ways to Optimize Your Cloud Kitchen’s Menu for Talabat
• 7 Ways to Optimise Your Dubai Restaurant’s Menu for Delivery Apps
• Maximizing Restaurant Menu and Offer Promotion on Talabat and Deliveroo
• 7 Ways to Optimize Your Restaurant’s Careem Menu for Maximum Sales
• Maximizing Careem Delivery Potential for Dubai Restaurants
• How Careem Impacts Ramadan Dining Sales for Dubai Restaurants
• Why Do Careem Users in Dubai Prefer Restaurants with High-Rated Reviews?
• How Careem Impacts Restaurant Sales in Dubai’s Business Bay Area

Browse every delivery app guide