Our Mission: EMPOWERING THROUGH INNOVATION

Where did it all start?

Way back in 1990, Tony and Shane met at the University of Technology, Sydney, while studying Computing Science. A few years later, they both did what all young Australians do (yes, even back then!) - they went to the UK for a "working" holiday.

By 2003, they both had well-paid jobs in the City, but thought there must be something more to working life.

Having decided that running their own business was definitely the way forward, the task then became to decide, just what sort of business it would be.

A brain-storming session brought all kinds of weird and wonderful ideas to the table: a car-wash, an internet service for booking tennis courts... but the one that jumped out as the most obvious and the most sublime, was of course, online takeaway food ordering.

The early days...

It took about 2 years of hard graft from conception of the idea, to the date of launch - February 16th, 2006. This was mostly due to Tony and Shane's commitment to ensuring hungryhouse.co.uk would provide the BEST POSSIBLE solution to the problem at hand.

They wanted to come up with something that would be fun and easy to use, and help solve many of the traditional problems faced by the frustrated foodie looking for a good bite to eat.

The website launched with just 12 restaurants serving the Putney area of London, and about 6 months was spent tweaking and polishing the process, before it was decided to expand across London toward the end of 2006.

Growing pains

In December 2006, Tony and Shane were approached by a young, energetic London lad who had actually been attempting to set up his own similar version of hungryhouse.

Having run out of time and money on his own project, he realised that if he wasn't going to beat them, he'd better join them. The hungryhouse team grew to include Marketing Manager, Graeme Horne.

Throughout late 2006 and early 2007, restaurant recruitment was a focus, with the goal being to cover London by mid to late 2007. At the same time, improvements were constantly being made to the website and back-end systems to keep the service as beneficial to both its customers and partner restaurants as possible.

Since entering the Dragons' Den to raise finance in late 2007, the company has opened a head office in Putney, London and an operations centre in Prague, Czech Republic.

Head office:

hungryhouse.com ltd

Hyde Park House

5 Manfred Road

London. SW15 2RS.

Contact Us

Tony Charles - Operations Director

Tony, co-founder of hungryhouse, was born in Sydney in 1972 and never dreamed he would settle anywhere else, let alone on the other side of the world!

Nor did he envisage ever starting his very own small business. Especially since an IT career in the banking sector can be such a comfortable thing.

Tony is chuffed that hungryhouse is helping to make peoples lives a little easier; and excited that the community can now fight world hunger, simply by choosing to order online!

He is indebted to family and friends, who've been so understanding for so long. Especially lovely Karolina, who's patience and support is everything.

Shane Lake - Managing Director

Shane, the other co-founder of hungryhouse, was born in Sydney, Australia and spent the first 24 years of his life in Australia before moving to the UK in 1997.

He has worked for the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, JP Morgan, Accenture, AirMiles and IBM before starting hungryhouse.

He married his adorable wife Lizzy in 2006, who has been a pillar of strength and provided invaluable support since day 1 of the business.

Shane hopes that hungryhouse will allow he and Lizzy to travel the world, testing the service wherever they go.

Graeme Horne - Marketing Manager

27 year-old Graeme grew up in Ashford, Kent. In 1999 he moved to London to study at University College London, and has lived there ever since.

Beginning a marketing consultancy career at billetts, he moved to Mindshare in 2005. It was whilst doing this job, that he was inspired with the idea for an online takeaway service.

Passionate about the internet - and especially the community aspects of online business - he hopes hungryhouse will help takeaways to reduce their reliance on junk mail to grow a successful business.