Deliveroo has quietly opened its first restaurant – an anonymous-looking pizzeria called Pizza Paradiso in Swiss Cottage, London – with the ostensible aim of delivering the company insights into how restaurants operate.

The fast-growing meal-delivery operation was founded in London in 2013 and now operates internationally with backing from Amazon, which bought a 16% stake three years ago. Despite accelerated income during the pandemic lockdowns, the company has yet to record a profit – but it has secured more than £1.1bn in backing.

Earlier this year, a spokesman told the Wall Street Journal that Deliveroo wanted to “understand restaurants’ pain points, with the aim of solving them”. It has also long planned to create its “own content” – hence the proliferation of “dark kitchens” operated by Deliveroo Editions, which create meals for delivery only.

Pizza Paradiso looks very like an Identikit contemporary pizzeria, producing Neapolitan-style sourdough pizzas on a modest scale. Its website even has the standard “our story” section – although, disappointingly, nobody has got round to making one up.