A NEW food delivery service promising faster service and no minimum spend for customers is launching in Brighton today.

Taxi firm Uber will make its takeaway smartphone app UberEATS available in from 11am.

Users in the city centre will be able to order from menus from more than 50 restaurants and have their meal delivered by bike couriers.

Unlike the main Uber service, meals will be delivered on bicycles or motorbikes so there is no chance taxi customers will find themselves sharing a lift with a hot chicken biryani.

Mathieu Proust, general manager of UberEATS said: “We’re hugely excited to be launching in Brighton today.

“People in the city can now use UberEATS to get the food they want as conveniently as booking a car.

“The app makes it easy to get the food you want with no minimum basket and just like Uber, the order is charged to your card so there’s no need for cash.”

Brighton is the 13th city in the UK in which Uber has rolled out the takeaway service.

The company claims it represents a better deal for diners, restaurants and couriers than rival services including Deliveroo and Brighton firm Dinner To Go.

Company spokesman Harry Porter said: “Restaurants are no longer constrained by the number of covers they can serve and diners can spend whatever they want and watch their food arrive in real-time on the app.”

When The Argus used Mr Porter’s phone to place a test order from nearby sushi restaurant Itsu yesterday lunchtime, the courier arrived within 20 minutes.

UberEATS has already signed up other popular eateries including Coggins and Co and Buon Appetito among its 50 restaurants, with more promised soon.

Couriers do not have to sign in for shifts and receive a payment of £9 per hour, or £12 per hour during peak times, for any hour in which they spend the whole 60 minutes logged in to the system and make at least one delivery.

While couriers have to provide their own smartphone and mode of transport, Uber does not insist on the use of branded clothing or delivery boxes.

Couriers can choose to use the company’s liveried high-vis jacket and heatproof pannier, for which they pay a £40 deposit which can be taken from their earnings rather than paid up front.

Mr Porter said: “We’re expecting a lot of students to sign up.

“When we launched in Leeds they were very keen.

“They can earn some spending money if they have some downtime.”