You can order food straight from Facebook now

Facebook is rolling out the option to order food straight from its app, with no need to open up a separate restaurant page or jump away from the endless scrolling you're doing through your friends' vacation and baby photos.

The Order Food option appears right on the app or web menu and gives you a direct shortcut to getting fed, although it's only being tested with a select number of users in the US for the time being. There's no fixed timescale for it to roll out to everyone, reports TechCrunch.

Mark Zuckerberg and his fellow execs won't be cooking up your chosen dishes themselves though - the initiative is the result of a partnership between Facebook and food delivery services Delivery.com and Slice. Both those services are US-only so extra partnerships will be needed before this arrives outside the States.

Food for thought

The whole process, from picking your food to paying for it, happens inside the Facebook app. You get a map showing the restaurants near your location that support the service, and you can then read reviews, see prices, and get more details before choosing.

Once you've decided how you're going to satisfy your appetite, a confirmation screen appears showing when your order is likely to be ready. Some restaurants give you the option of a delivery, but in other cases you'll have to get out of the house and pick it up.

The new feature is obviously more convenient for Facebook-addicted users, and Facebook wins because it keeps people inside its app for longer: another step towards Facebook's goal of replacing every single other app you've got on your phone.

David Nield
Freelance Contributor

Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.