How to take online orders without paying 30% to delivery apps

Short answer: keep your delivery-app listings for finding new customers, but set up your own ordering link for everyone else. Put QR codes on tables and receipts, take payment direct, and capture each customer so you can bring them back. Every order that moves off the apps saves you the 15–30% cut, and hands you the relationship.

What the delivery apps actually cost you

Marketplace commissions run about 15–30% per order. Here’s the same $40 order, two ways:

That $10 difference, across a few thousand orders a year, is the difference between a hard year and a good one. So here’s the plan.

The plan: own your ordering, use the apps for discovery

Step 1, Put your menu on a link you own

You need one clean, mobile-first ordering page on a web address you control. Customers should be able to browse the menu, add to cart and pay in a few taps. (With Plattr this is generated from your existing menu and branding, so it’s live the same day, see the best online ordering systems if you’re comparing options.)

Step 2, Add QR codes to tables and receipts

A QR on every table turns dine-in into scan-to-order, and a QR on every receipt turns one visit into the next order. These two surfaces convert better than almost anything else because the customer is already holding your food.

Step 3, Take payment and send it straight to the kitchen

The order has to arrive where your team already works, a kitchen ticket or your POS, not a separate tablet someone has to babysit. If your ordering and your kitchen are the same system, this is automatic; if they’re separate tools, make sure they’re connected before you launch.

Step 4, Capture the customer

This is the part the apps never let you do. When someone orders direct, you get their email or phone. That single fact lets you win them back next week for free instead of paying to reach them again.

Step 5, Nudge your regulars off the apps

• Drop a small card or sticker in every delivery bag: “Order direct next time and skip the fees, [your link]”.
• Offer a tiny direct-only perk (a free coffee, 10% off) for first direct orders.
• Put your QR and link on packaging, menus, the window and your Google profile.
• Start a simple loyalty card that only works on direct orders.

How much will you save?

Move just 20 orders a week to direct, at an average $40 and 30% commission, and you keep around $10,000 a year you were giving away, plus a customer list you can market to for free. Reinvest a slice of that into the perks above and the flywheel speeds up.

Once orders are flowing, turn to 15 ways to get more customers to fill the top of the funnel.

Who delivers the food once you leave the apps

The part owners worry about most is not the ordering, it is the driving. You do not need a fleet to take orders direct. You have four realistic ways to get food to a customer, and most cafes run more than one at once.

The cheapest order is one the customer collects. Push pickup first, keep a short delivery radius, and use an on-demand courier for the runs you cannot cover yourself. The table below compares your options on cost and trade-off so you can pick per shift, not forever.

The flat courier fee is the quiet win here. On a 60 NZD order a marketplace can take 12 to 18 NZD in commission, while a 10 NZD courier fee stays flat no matter how large the basket. Bigger orders are where owning delivery pays off fastest. For a fuller breakdown of radius, packaging and driver economics, see our restaurant delivery strategy guide.

Common mistakes when you bring ordering in-house

Most direct-ordering setups do not fail on technology, they fail on the small habits around them. Avoid these and your channel will hold.

• Hiding the link. If your own ordering page is buried below the fold on your site while the app logos sit up top, customers default to the app. Put the direct order button first, everywhere.
• Pricing higher than the app to punish it. Match or beat your app price on direct orders. If ordering direct costs the customer more, they will not switch.
• No one watching the tablet. A direct order that sits unseen for ten minutes trains customers to trust the app instead. Route orders to the kitchen screen or a printer, not an inbox someone checks between rushes.
• Forgetting to capture the customer. If you do not collect an email or phone number at checkout, you cannot bring that person back, and you have rebuilt the app’s weakness into your own store.
• Going dark on the apps overnight. Turn app volume down as your direct channel grows, do not switch it off cold. Keep the apps for genuine new-customer discovery.
• Skipping delivery zones and minimums. Without a radius cap and an order minimum you will lose money on long, small drops. Set both before you open delivery.

Frequently asked questions

How much commission do delivery apps charge?
Delivery marketplaces typically charge restaurants 15–30% per order, plus extra for delivery and promotions. On a $40 order that’s $6–$12 gone before food cost, which is why moving repeat customers to your own ordering link matters so much.

Is it legal to ask delivery-app customers to order direct?
Yes. You can’t export the marketplace’s customer list, but there’s nothing stopping you putting a card, sticker or QR code in the bag inviting people to order direct next time, and most owners do exactly that.

Will I lose orders if I leave the delivery apps?
You don’t have to leave. Keep your listing for discovery, but make ordering direct the obvious, cheaper, faster choice for regulars. Most restaurants keep the new-customer reach and claw back the margin on repeats.

What do I actually need to take orders directly?
A menu on a link you own, a way to take payment, something that sends the order to the kitchen, and a QR code on tables and receipts. An all-in-one like Plattr gives you all four out of the box; you can also assemble it from separate tools.

Do I need my own drivers to take orders without the apps?
No. Plenty of food businesses run direct ordering as pickup first, then add an on-demand courier service for delivery, which charges a flat fee per drop rather than a percentage of the order. Hiring a driver only makes sense once you have steady delivery volume in a tight radius. You can also keep a marketplace for delivery alone while taking payment and building the relationship on your own channel.

How long does it take to move regulars off the apps?
Expect a few months, not a weekend. The fastest wins come from QR codes on tables and receipts, a direct order link in every reply and confirmation, and a small standing incentive for ordering direct. Track the share of orders coming through your own channel each week, and only turn down app spend once that share is climbing steadily.