Restaurant Online Ordering: Your Own System vs Food Delivery Apps

The commission on delivery platforms is painful, but leaving them usually means losing the customers who found you there. The sensible play is to use them for discovery and move your regulars to your own channel.

Moving regulars to your own channel

• A card in the delivery bag with a QR to your ordering page
• A discount that only works on direct orders
• WhatsApp order confirmations that build a contact list you own
• Free delivery above a value, funded by the commission you saved

The kitchen side matters more than the menu page

A pretty ordering page with no kitchen display just moves chaos from the phone to a screen. Orders need to print or appear in the kitchen with clear timing, and staff need one place to mark them accepted, preparing and out for delivery.

Handle the busy-hour cut-off

Taking orders you can't cook in time is worse than pausing. Let the kitchen mark items unavailable and set a maximum number of open orders, so Friday evening doesn't turn into fifty apology calls.