Lauren and Blair, founders of Scofff ( London-based double-sided marketplace startup), identified a structural gap in food delivery: aggregator platforms served large chains well but were poorly suited to local restaurants with dynamic menus and limited supply. Net Solutions built Scoff, a double-sided marketplace enabling real-time ordering, integrated delivery via Shutl, and payments via Stripe.
Existing food delivery platforms were structurally unsuited to the needs of local, independent food businesses.
Aggregator platforms could not handle menus where items changed daily, ran out mid-service, or varied by preparation time. Local restaurants were being misrepresented and over-promising to customers.
Customers had no way to filter for sellers in their immediate neighborhood to get food faster or save on delivery costs. Distance was invisible in the existing aggregator model.
No mainstream delivery platform offered a structured self-pickup or takeout option for customers who preferred it. This was a significant missed opportunity for local businesses with walk-in trade.
Allowing one user to act as both buyer and seller within a single interface required careful architectural planning. Getting this right without confusing users was a significant design challenge.
Net Solutions built the backlog and workflows from scratch with the Scoff founders, then designed and developed the double-sided marketplace. Real-time menu management, preparation time calculation, delivery integration, and payment processing were all built as core features, not add-ons. Technology used – Swift, PHP, AWS, MySQL.
Net Solutions delivered a full-featured double-sided food delivery and takeout marketplace.
Sellers could enable or disable menu items, update availability, and adjust preparation times at any moment. Customers always saw current, accurate information before placing an order.
The system calculated estimated delivery times based on preparation duration and proximity. Customers received accurate expectations rather than fixed windows that did not reflect reality.
On-demand courier dispatch through Shutl was built directly into the seller order flow. Merchants could specify a pickup time and the delivery was coordinated automatically.
Payments were processed through Stripe with automatic commission calculation and real-time receipts. Sellers never had to chase the platform for payment or calculate fees manually.
Sellers who could not fulfill an order could reverse it instantly, triggering an automatic customer notification. Cancellations were handled cleanly without manual communication.
Scoff launched in London and immediately found its intended audience.
Small restaurants and independent chefs adopted the platform quickly after launch. The product addressed a real gap that mainstream delivery platforms had consistently failed to fill.
Customers began using Scoff specifically to access locally made food that was simply unavailable through larger aggregators. The hyperlocal angle proved to be a genuine differentiator.
The platform demonstrated that a hyperlocal, independent-focused marketplace model was commercially viable in urban food delivery. The concept that Lauren and Blair had developed over two years was proven.
Net Solutions had the rare combination of marketplace architecture experience, food and beverage sector knowledge, and UX capability needed to build a platform that worked simultaneously for both sides of the market. If your marketplace needs to serve two very different user types from one platform, we know how to make that work.
The biggest opportunities often live in the gaps that incumbents ignore. If your business model has requirements that off-the-shelf platforms simply can’t handle – real-time complexity, dual-sided markets, hyperlocal logic – Net Solutions builds custom platforms engineered specifically for those demands. Let’s talk about what it takes to bring your market vision to life.