MEATliquor has launched its first delivery-only kitchen in Canary Wharf, serving nearby homes and businesses in partnership with Deliveroo.

High-flying bankers in high-rise offices can now order in a Tower Block Burger (fried chicken with cheese, hash browns, jalapeños, slaw, onions and Russian dressing, pictured) to eat at their desks.

Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis founded MEATliquor from a burger van and opened their first permanent venue in 2011. The company now has 10 sites, and Collins says take-away deliveries are responsible for a growing proportion of sales across the board. The new Canary Wharf operation will enable more consumers to enjoy their product, he said.

Deliveroo’s “RooBox” initiative makes it easy for restaurants to scale up their capacity for delivery meals by providing kitchen facilities. Last year it struck a deal with the Sethi family, who are behind Gymkhana and Hoppers, to launch the delivery-only Motu Indian Kitchen in Battersea.

MEATliquor’s Canary Wharf kitchen offers a shortened menu of “greatest hits”, including the famous (and trademarked) Dead Hippie Burger. And it certainly compromises on the “liquor” menu which – presumably for licensing reasons – features nothing stronger than Red Bull or root beer. The company plans to open a conventional branch with the standard line-up of strong cocktails in Kings Cross next month.

Deliveroo, which was founded in 2013, now operates in 120 cities in 12 countries and grew its deliveries by an astonishing 650% last year. The company says that it is no threat to the “dine-in” restaurant experience; instead, it had added £200 million to restaurant revenues in 2016.

According to market research group NPD, quoted in the Guardian, delivery meals grew up 10% in the UK last year — 10 times faster than in-restaurant dining. It said the 599 million delivered meals were worth £3.6 billion. Surprisingly, perhaps, in some sectors delivered meals cost only £1 less than being waited on in a restaurant.