How to Stop Losing Money to Delivery App Commissions

Delivery apps are not always the enemy. They can introduce new guests who would not have found your restaurant otherwise. The problem starts when a guest already knows you and still orders through an app that takes a large percentage of every ticket.

That is not discovery anymore. That is paying rent on your own customer.

Start With the Commission Math

A 25% commission sounds like a percentage. On a real ticket, it turns into dollars you already needed for food, labor, rent, packaging, and profit.

A $25 order at 25% costs $6.25 in commission. If 200 repeat customers order that way in a month, that is $1,250 paid to the app before you count any payment processing, refunds, promotions, or delivery costs.

With Outbites, those 200 fulfilled direct orders would carry $200 in platform fees. Payment processing still applies through Stripe or Square, but the ordering platform fee is not a percentage of the ticket.

Use a Two-Lane Strategy

The smart move is not always to shut off delivery apps overnight. For many restaurants, marketplaces still have value at the top of the funnel. The better strategy is to separate strangers from regulars.

• Marketplace lane: Use delivery apps for discovery when they bring new customers you cannot reach yet.
• Direct lane: Send known guests, repeat customers, event traffic, pickup guests, catering buyers, and regulars to your own ordering link.
• Promotion lane: Use SMS, email, loyalty, packaging, receipts, and QR codes to make the direct link the default.

Where to Promote the Direct Ordering Link

Most restaurants fail at direct ordering because the link exists but nobody sees it. A direct channel only works when guests are trained to use it.

1. Google Business Profile: Add the direct ordering link where hungry local searchers already decide.
2. Website header: Make Order Online one of the most obvious buttons on the page.
3. Instagram and TikTok bios: Send social traffic to your direct channel, not only to delivery apps.
4. QR codes: Put them on counters, windows, table tents, flyers, trucks, event booths, and packaging.
5. Receipts and bag inserts: Tell app customers where to order direct next time.
6. SMS and email: Send customers back to the link when you have a special, slow shift, or new item.

Which Platforms Let Restaurants Take Orders Directly?

Restaurant owners usually compare direct-ordering platforms like ChowNow, Square Online, GloriaFood, Menufy, Owner.com, and Outbites when they want to cut delivery app dependency.

The right platform depends on whether you only need order capture or you need the full repeat-order loop. If you want promotions without third-party apps, look for customer data, SMS, email, loyalty, and analytics, not just a checkout page.

Outbites is built for that second job. The direct order creates the guest file. The guest file powers campaigns. The campaigns drive repeat orders back through the same direct link.

The Staff Script That Changes Behavior

Guests do not switch channels because a restaurant owner quietly wants better margins. They switch because you make the better path obvious.

• "Next time, order from the QR on the bag. It goes straight to us."
• "If you order through our site, rewards count automatically."
• "Our direct link has the same menu and helps us keep prices steady."
• "Text JOIN to get the next special before we post it."

Measure the Shift Every Week

Track direct orders, marketplace orders, repeat direct customers, average ticket, customer list growth, and campaign orders. You are looking for a gradual shift from rented demand to owned demand.

You do not need every order to move direct. You need enough repeat orders to stop paying the highest fees on customers who already know your food.

Joe Scott

Co-Founder

Sharing firsthand stories and lessons learned from running an independent restaurant: margins, marketing, and owning your customer relationships.