Guide · 6 min read

Online ordering for restaurants, without the delivery app commission

Delivery apps bring orders, but they often take 15–30% of each one. Your regulars don't need an app to find you. Here's how to give them a better way to order from you directly, for pickup, with nothing taken from the bill.

By Amandeep Kaur, SolidSite Studio ·

What the commission costs you

Example: on $4,000 a month of app orders, a 25% commission is $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year. Every pickup order placed on your own site keeps that share in your till.

Not every app order can move, and that's fine. The goal is to move the orders that would have come to you anyway: your regulars, your neighbours and people who already know your name.

Keep apps for what they're good at

Apps are useful for delivery and for being found by people who don't know you. You don't have to leave them. Use them for that, and make your own website the easiest way to order for pickup.

What your ordering page needs

  • The full menu with real options: sizes, add-ons, spice levels and "no onion", with the price updating as people choose.
  • Pickup time slots you control, so the kitchen isn't swamped at 6:30.
  • Payment choices: pay at the counter, by bank transfer, or by card.
  • Order confirmations and status updates by email, so customers know when to come.
  • Sold-out switches, so nobody orders the dish you ran out of an hour ago.
  • Lunch-only dishes and catering on notice, if you offer them.
  • A clear tax line on the order, so the total matches the receipt.

How to get customers ordering direct

  1. Put your web address in every bag: a small card or sticker with the address or a QR code that opens your menu.
  2. Add the order link to your Google Business Profile, so people who search for you can order in one tap.
  3. Put it in your Instagram and Facebook bios, and pin a post about it.
  4. Tell people at the counter: "Order on our site next time, it's ready when you arrive."
  5. Give them a reason, like a small direct-order deal. Check your app contracts first: some limit how you price elsewhere.

What it costs

A commission-free ordering website from SolidSite Studio is $1,199 once (Ordering package), with running costs of about $21–39 a month billed to you directly and nothing taken from any order. Try it as a customer on the pizza demo or the Indian restaurant demo.