Direct Online Ordering: Cut Delivery App Fees for Your Restaurant

Is direct online ordering really cheaper than using delivery apps?

Yes, for almost every order you can move across. UK marketplace commission in 2026 is roughly 25 to 35% on Deliveroo and Uber Eats, and about 14 to 30% on Just Eat, with the lower rates usually applying when you use your own drivers. Direct orders typically cost around 3% in payment processing. Check current rates with each platform.

Commission is charged on the whole order value, not your profit. On a £20 order at 30%, you hand over £6 and keep £14, before ingredients, packaging and staff. For a takeaway running on tight margins, that is often the entire profit on the order.

How much does a direct ordering system cost?

Expect roughly £30 to £150 a month for a direct ordering website, plus card processing of around 3% per order. These are vendor figures from UK takeaway software providers, so treat them as a guide and get quotes. The price range mostly reflects how many features you add, not the core ordering.

Here is a simple way to judge it. Suppose a system costs £100 a month. If you move 40 orders of £20 off an app charging 30%, you save about £240 in commission and pay roughly £24 in processing. The system has paid for itself several times over. Even one vendor's cautious estimate of 15 to 25% saved per order makes the sums work with modest volume.

Be wary of any provider that takes a per-order commission of its own. That simply recreates the problem you are trying to escape.

Will customers actually order direct, or will I lose sales?

Many will, particularly regulars. A January 2025 Owner.com survey (US) found 42% of guests mainly use third-party apps to reorder from places they already know, and only 11% mainly use them to discover new restaurants. People are using apps out of habit, not loyalty to the app.

A US NCR Voyix survey found 58% of customers prefer to order delivery through a restaurant's own app or website or by phone. Both surveys are American, so your own numbers may differ, but the pattern is a useful guide.

My view: keep the apps for discovery, and treat them as paid advertising. The mistake is treating them as your shop. Your regulars should be on your system, and the apps should be where strangers find you.

What makes customers choose ordering direct?

Price, convenience and rewards. The Owner.com survey found 63% said lower costs, transparent pricing or special offers would make them order direct, and 48% would choose pickup if it were cheaper than the app. In the NCR survey, the top reasons were convenience (65%), easy customisation (50%) and loyalty points (36%).

That tells you what to offer. You do not need a gimmick, you need a reason that is obvious in five seconds.

• A clear price advantage: free delivery over a set spend, or a free side with direct orders.
• Cheaper collection: a small discount for pickup, funded by the commission you are no longer paying.
• Saved details: 50% of guests said saved payment details and past orders would make them more likely to order direct, so make reordering a two-tap job.

What stops customers ordering from a restaurant's own website?

Mainly three things: no delivery option (34%), slow or hard-to-use websites (31%) and no delivery tracking (21%), according to the same Owner.com survey. Most of these are fixable, and the second is entirely within your control today.

A real example: a Manchester restaurant replaced a PDF menu with a live web menu and saw online orders rise 34% within four weeks. A PDF menu is awkward on a phone, cannot show what is sold out and has no ordering button. The fix was not clever marketing, just removing friction.

Test your own site on a mobile, on mobile data, and time how long it takes a stranger to place an order. If it takes more than about two minutes, simplify it.

How do I move regulars off the apps without losing orders?

Do it gradually and give people a reason. Do not pull out of the apps. Instead, put your own ordering link in front of customers at every point where they already have contact with you, and make the direct route better.

1. Put a card in every bag. Include a QR code and a plain offer, such as free garlic bread on your first direct order. Never attempt to hide the app's involvement, just make your offer stand out.
2. Update your Google Business Profile. Add your ordering link as the order button, so people searching your name land on your site, not an app listing.
3. Capture contact details. Ask for an email or mobile number at checkout, with consent, so you can send a weekend offer without paying anyone to reach your own customers.
4. Offer collection first. It needs no drivers and the saving is easiest to see.
5. Track the split. Count app orders against direct orders weekly. Aim to shift a few percentage points each month.

Check each app's terms before you print anything. Some platforms restrict how you can mention direct ordering to customers on their own channels, so keep your promotion to your packaging, your website and your own social accounts.

Why does owning the customer matter more than the commission?

Because commission is a cost you can see, while losing the customer relationship is one you cannot. On an app, you do not control the customer list, the data or the terms, and they can change fees, rankings or visibility overnight. Rented platforms are a liability.

At Braynex Services, we saw this with a nail salon paying Fresha about £1,800 a month in commission. It moved to its own booking system at £35 a month, saving roughly £21,000 a year. The business was not different, only the ownership of the customer relationship was. A restaurant is in the same position.

Owning your ordering also gives you the data to follow up. A customer who has not ordered in six weeks is a quiet loss most owners never notice. With your own system, a simple message brings them back.

Is it worth it for a small takeaway with low volume?

Usually yes, if you start small. A modest site with a live menu, online payments and a collection option is enough. You do not need your own app or a driver fleet on day one. Begin with the customers who already know you.

The one honest caveat: if you have no regulars and rely entirely on app discovery, direct ordering will not fill your kitchen alone. In that case, strengthen your Google presence first so people can find you. A Leeds salon with no online presence went to 40+ monthly calls from Google Maps within three weeks of verifying and optimising its Google Business Profile. Local search sends customers to you directly.

Increasingly, people also ask AI assistants like ChatGPT and Gemini where to eat. Having a real website with a live menu, clear opening hours and your address gives those tools something accurate to recommend.

What should I do first?

Pull your last month of app statements and add up the commission paid. That figure is your budget and your target. Then check that your Google Business Profile links to a fast, mobile-friendly ordering page, and put a card with an offer in every bag from tomorrow.

If you would like help working out what you are really paying and where to start, book a free audit at braynexservices.com. Braynex Services will review your website, Google presence and ordering setup, and show you where the leaks are.