At 28% commission, a €7,000 month of delivery sales hands €1,960 to the platform. Roughly half of those orders come from people who have already ordered from you before.
That is the part worth moving. Not the platform itself — it earns its keep finding people who have never heard of you. The guest who orders every second Friday does not need finding, and you are still paying to reach them.
Below is a plan that changes it. Three months, specific actions, a measurable result.
Before you start: two numbers
Without these you cannot judge whether the plan worked.
- The platforms' share of your delivery sales — what percentage of takeaway orders come through them. That is your baseline.
- How many platform customers order more than once. Pull the last 3 months from the panel and count repeats. That is your target group: people who already like you, and whom you are still paying commission on.
Write both down. You will come back to them after 90 days.
Month 1: build the channel so there is somewhere to order
Goal: your own channel exists, works on a phone, and can be reached in three seconds.
Weeks 1–2: a menu with ordering
You need a page where the guest sees the menu and can place an order without creating an account or installing an app. The minimum that has to work:
- the full menu with prices and photos, opening on a phone without zooming,
- a basket and online payment,
- a choice of collection or delivery, with a visible free-delivery threshold,
- ordering hours and a realistic wait time.
In WMenu this is the same menu guests scan at the table — you only switch on online ordering. You are not building a second system.
Week 3: put the entrances in place
The guest has to land on your ordering wherever they think about you:
- an "Order online" button on the site, visible without scrolling,
- the ordering link in your Google Business Profile — the "Online ordering" field. One of the most skipped settings, and the profile is where people look for you most often. Covered in adding your menu to a Google Business Profile,
- the link in your Instagram and Facebook bio, not in a post caption from last year,
- a QR code at the till for guests collecting in person.
Week 4: test it on yourself
Place five orders from your own phone, at peak, including one for delivery. Time it from landing on the page to confirmation. Over 90 seconds means something needs fixing — usually forced registration or an over-long address form.
Month 2: give guests a reason to change the habit
The channel will not convince anybody on its own. A guest orders where they ordered last time.
An insert in every takeaway bag
The single most effective action in the whole plan. An A6 card with a QR code and one line: "Next time order direct — same delivery time, plus [X] from us."
It reaches the hands of somebody who has just ordered and is happy. Cost: a few cents apiece.
An incentive that is not a percentage discount
A percentage discount teaches the guest to wait for a discount. These work better:
- free delivery from a lower threshold than the platform's,
- something extra with a direct order (a drink, a sauce, a dessert),
- a regular gets something after their fifth order.
Check your contract. Some platforms include a price-parity clause forbidding lower prices in your own channel. Check it before launching a promotion. A physical extra usually does not breach price parity, but it is worth confirming.
The team has to mention it
One sentence when handing over an order: "next time you can order from us directly, the code is in the bag." Without that, the insert is just a piece of card.
Month 3: consolidate and measure
Winning back platform guests
From the repeat-customer list, take those who ordered 3+ times. If you hold their data lawfully and in line with GDPR, you can reach out. If not, the insert in the bag is what you have — and it is the same people.
Hours when you switch off in the platform
Contentious but effective: at peak, when the kitchen is at its limit anyway, reduce your availability on the platform. Direct orders stay, commission orders stop overloading the pass. Start carefully — one hour on a Friday — and watch what happens to total sales.
Measurement
Go back to the two numbers from the start. A realistic result after 90 days is 15–30% of delivery orders shifted to your own channel. On €7,000 a month of delivery sales at 28% commission, that is €300–600 saved every month.
If the shift is near zero, the cause is almost always one of three: ordering from you is slower than from the platform, there is no insert in the bag, or the team does not mention it.
What not to do
- Do not close the platform account in month one. Your own channel takes 60–90 days to build momentum; cutting the platform earlier is lost sales with nothing to replace them.
- Do not build an app. Nobody installs the app of a single restaurant. A page opened from a link is enough.
- Do not force registration. An account before the first order is the most common point of basket abandonment.
- Do not promise a delivery time you cannot hit. One late direct order cancels out ten inserts.
Frequently asked questions
Can I run my own ordering and the platforms at the same time?
Yes, and that is usually the best arrangement. The platform acquires new guests, your own channel serves the regulars. Just check the price-parity clauses in the contract.
What does an own ordering system cost?
Models without a commission on order value run on a flat subscription — the cost does not grow with sales. The tiers are on the pricing page.
Will customers want to order directly?
Those who order regularly will, provided it is equally fast. The platform's advantage is convenience and a remembered address, not loyalty to the platform's brand.
What about delivery if I have no driver?
You can start with collection alone — that is a share of orders you are already paying full commission on. Own or third-party delivery is worth adding once the volume of direct orders justifies it.
How fast does the effect show?
The first direct orders from guests won back from a platform usually appear in the second month, after the insert has reached a few hundred bags. Before that it is mostly people who already know you from the room.
