You've probably been told three times in the last month that you should be running Google Ads. Some of it from a self-proclaimed "marketing expert" who also runs a barber's Instagram account. Some of it from Google's own salespeople, who quite reliably call every UK small business once a quarter offering "free £400 ad credit" if you sign up today.
Here's the honest answer most owners never get: Google Ads can be brilliant for some takeaways and a money pit for others. The difference comes down to your local search volume, your average order value, your direct-ordering setup, and whether you actually have someone managing the account.
This guide walks through real numbers — what £300, £600 and £1,200 monthly budgets actually deliver for a typical UK takeaway, when Google Ads is the wrong call, and how to test it without lighting cash on fire.
The four types of Google Ads (most owners only know one)
Before any budget conversation, this matters. "Google Ads" isn't one product. There are four formats that are relevant for takeaways, each with very different economics:
1. Search Ads
Text ads at the top of Google when someone searches "indian takeaway near me" or "pizza delivery [your area]." These are the ads most people picture.
Typical UK food cost-per-click: £0.80–£3.50, depending on how competitive your area is. Central London is brutally expensive (£3+/click). A market town might be £0.80.
2. Local Services Ads
A newer format with a green tick badge that appears at the very top of local searches.[1] Pay-per-lead, not pay-per-click — you only pay when someone actually calls or messages you. These were rolled out for restaurants in some UK regions in 2024.
Typical UK cost-per-lead: £4–£12 per call/message.
3. Performance Max
Google's automated, AI-driven format that runs across Search, Display, YouTube, Maps and Gmail. Sounds great, often performs poorly for small takeaways because the algorithm needs more data than you can provide to optimise effectively.
4. Google Maps Ads
Sponsored placement in Google Maps results. Promoted pin in the local pack, plus a sponsored listing above competitors. Increasingly important as more food searches happen in Maps directly.
Typical cost: included in standard Search campaign with location targeting; Maps placement is automatic.
For most takeaways, a sensible Google Ads strategy uses Search + Maps placement for direct response (orders, calls), and possibly Local Services Ads if available in their area. Performance Max and YouTube ads we'd avoid for budgets under £1,500/month.
What £300/month actually buys you
The most common entry point for a UK takeaway is somewhere between £200 and £400/month. Here's what that genuinely produces, on average:
Assumptions for a typical takeaway
- Outside central London (mid-cost area)
- Search Ads only, on the most relevant keywords
- Average cost-per-click: £1.40
- Average click-to-order conversion rate: 6% (achievable with a good landing page)
- Average order value: £18
- Direct ordering on your own site (not pushing to Just Eat)
What £300/month produces
- ~214 ad clicks
- ~13 orders attributable to ads
- £234 in direct revenue from those orders
- Net result: roughly break-even on the first order
Now, the important bit nobody tells you: about 30–45% of those new customers will reorder within 60 days, this time without paying for the click. The real value of Google Ads is the second order. Calculated over 90 days with reorder behaviour, a £300/month budget typically returns £450–£700 in attributable revenue.
That's a 1.5–2.3x ROAS — modest, but positive, and the customer list grows. At £300/month, Google Ads is a customer-acquisition tool, not a profit centre.
What £600/month actually buys
Doubling the budget doesn't quite double the orders, but it gets you into more useful territory because you can:
- Run during all peak meal hours (not just dinner)
- Add Google Maps targeting to capture "takeaway near me" searches
- Add some retargeting for previous site visitors
- Include some long-tail keywords that don't have enough volume to dominate £300
What £600/month produces (typical)
- ~400 ad clicks
- ~28 orders
- £504 first-order revenue
- 90-day uplift with reorders: £950–£1,400
- Net positive: £350–£800 monthly
This is the budget level where Google Ads starts genuinely paying for itself rather than just acquiring customers at cost. Most takeaways we work with sit here.
What £1,200/month actually buys
This is where ads become a serious channel — not the dominant one, but a meaningful contributor.
What £1,200/month produces (typical)
- ~800 ad clicks
- ~55 orders/month
- 90-day reorder revenue: £2,000–£3,200 attributable monthly
- 1.7–2.7x ROAS sustained
At this budget you can also start running:
- A small video ad campaign on YouTube for brand awareness in your postcode (about £100/month of the budget)
- A separate "lunch deal" campaign during weekday daytime
- Specific dish promotion campaigns ("£12 lamb biryani Friday") with high relevance scores
This budget level only makes sense for takeaways doing >£20,000/month who can dedicate proper attention to the account or pay someone (usually £150–£400/month management fee) to do it for them.
When Google Ads is the wrong channel
This is where most marketing agencies stop being honest. There are several scenarios where Google Ads is not the right spend.
Your direct ordering site doesn't exist or doesn't convert
If you're sending Google Ads traffic to a Just Eat listing or a slow, ugly website, you're paying Google to deliver a customer to a bad experience. Google Ads only works with a good landing page that loads fast on mobile, has a clear "Order now" button, and accepts orders directly.
We've taken over Google Ads accounts where 80% of the budget was paying for clicks that landed on a Wix site that took 7 seconds to load. The customer left before they saw the menu. Fix the landing experience first; run ads second.
Your area has very low search volume
In a small town with 30 monthly searches for "[your food] takeaway," there isn't enough volume for Google Ads to drive meaningful orders, regardless of budget. Use Google Trends or Google Keyword Planner to check your local search volume. Below ~200 monthly searches in your immediate area, ads aren't going to be the channel for you. Local SEO and Instagram will work better.
Your average order value is too low
£8 average orders make the maths hard. Even with great ad performance, if you're profiting £2/order net after food cost and packaging, £1.40 cost-per-click means each ad order is profit-negative on the first transaction, and you need a high reorder rate to recover.
If your AOV is below £14, raise it (bundles, side upsells, dessert add-ons) before running ads.
Nobody is managing the account
Google Ads is not "set and forget." Without weekly attention — adding negative keywords, adjusting bids, refreshing ad copy, checking which keywords convert — accounts decay rapidly. We've audited accounts where 60% of the budget was being wasted on irrelevant keywords nobody had reviewed in 8 months.
If you can't dedicate 30 minutes a week to it, hire someone or don't run it. Half-managed Google Ads is worse than no Google Ads.
The keywords that actually work for UK takeaways
If you do run ads, the keywords that consistently produce orders for UK takeaways follow a small pattern. The high performers:
[cuisine] takeaway [your area]— e.g. "indian takeaway whitechapel"[cuisine] delivery [your postcode/town]— e.g. "pizza delivery sw17"best [cuisine] near me— high commercial intent, slightly more expensive[your shop name]— branded clicks (cheap, almost always converts)[specific dish] [your area]— e.g. "biryani london e1" — long-tail gold
The ones to avoid:
- Generic "[cuisine]" alone (too broad, wastes budget on people researching not ordering)
- "[cuisine] recipe" or "how to make [dish]" (informational searches, won't convert)
- "Cheap [cuisine]" (price-sensitive customers who don't reorder)
- City-wide keywords ("indian restaurant london") if you only deliver 3 miles
The first thing we do on every Google Ads account we take over is add 50–100 negative keywords (search terms we don't want to appear for). This alone often cuts wasted spend by 30%.
Local Services Ads — the underused option
If your area has it enabled, Local Services Ads (LSA) for restaurants are typically more cost-effective than standard Search Ads. The pay-per-lead model means you only pay when a customer calls or messages — no wasted clicks.[1]
LSA has slightly different requirements: Google verifies your business, checks reviews, and gives you a "Google Guaranteed" badge. Setup takes 1–2 weeks of admin. Once live, the green-tick badge appears at the very top of local searches — above standard ads.
Worth checking whether your area is eligible. If it is and you haven't enabled it, you're missing the highest-converting Google ad placement available to UK takeaways right now.
Google Ads vs Just Eat promotions
A common owner question: should I spend the £300 on Google Ads or on Just Eat promotions?
The honest answer depends on what you're trying to do.
Just Eat promotions:
- Drive immediate volume (tonight)
- Cost: 14% commission + 15–25% promotional discount
- Customer is theirs, not yours — when they delete the app, they're gone
- Total cost per acquired customer: typically £6–£10 with no lifetime value
Google Ads (to your direct site):
- Slower to ramp, more setup required
- Cost: roughly £8–£15 per acquired customer
- You own the customer — phone number, email, address
- Lifetime value over 12 months typically £45–£90 per customer
If you have direct ordering set up, Google Ads has materially better long-term economics. If you don't have direct ordering, Just Eat promotions are your only option — but you should be working on direct ordering as the medium-term plan (we covered the maths in should I leave Just Eat and go direct).
A 90-day testing plan
If you're going to test Google Ads, here's the minimum viable setup that gives you a real read:
Week 1:
- Set up a single Search campaign
- Pick 5–10 high-intent keywords with locations targeting (3-mile radius from your shop)
- Write 3 ad variations for each keyword group
- Set a £15/day budget cap
Weeks 2–4:
- Review search terms weekly, add negative keywords for irrelevant matches
- Pause ads with low click-through rate, double down on the ones converting
- Check that all ad clicks land on your direct ordering page (not Just Eat)
Weeks 5–8:
- Increase budget on top-performing keywords by 30%
- Add a remarketing campaign targeting people who visited but didn't order
- Add ad extensions (sitelinks, location, call)
Weeks 9–12:
- Calculate true ROAS including reorder behaviour
- Decide: scale up, hold, or pause
After 90 days at £300+/month, you'll know whether Google Ads is the channel for your shop. If it isn't, the spend wasn't wasted — it told you where not to invest.
The honest bottom line
Google Ads is worth it for UK takeaways with:
- A working direct ordering site
- An average order value of £14 or higher
- Search volume of 200+ monthly local searches for their cuisine
- Either weekly time to manage the account or budget to pay someone
Google Ads is not worth it for takeaways without those things — yet. Fix the prerequisites first; run ads second.
A £300/month budget breaks even initially and pays back over 60 days through reorders. £600/month is where it becomes genuinely profitable. £1,200+/month is for established takeaways using ads as one channel among several.
Anyone who tells you Google Ads "always works" is selling something. The ones telling you it never works haven't run them properly. Both are wrong. The truth is the maths above — and the maths only work if the foundation underneath them does.
Sources & further reading
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