Commission-free ordering: your site or DoorDash and Uber Eats?

Delivery apps brought restaurants customers they wouldn't otherwise have had. The price is a commission on every order, including from the customer who orders every Friday. Below are the published rates, what your own ordering system costs and how to use both.

What the apps take from each order

DoorDash and Uber Eats publish their US plans for restaurants. The percentage depends on the plan you choose and on how the order reaches the customer:

The higher plans buy more visibility in the app: a lower delivery fee shown to customers, access to members of DashPass or Uber One, and ad credits. Uber Eats also charges an extra 5% on Uber One orders on the Plus plan.

Some cities cap these fees. New York City limits what delivery apps can charge restaurants to 15% for delivery and 5% for a basic listing and ordering service, with up to 20% more allowed for an "enhanced" service only if a basic option at or under 5% is offered; payment processing is capped at 3%. Uber Eats lists lower Lite rates in several other cities, among them Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC and Minneapolis.

Why a 25% commission means more than it looks

Commission is charged on the whole order, not on what's left after costs. A round-number example: on a $40 order, ingredients, packaging and labour cost $28, leaving a $12 margin. At 25%, the app takes $10 and the restaurant keeps $2. The commission took five-sixths of the margin.

That's why many restaurants charge more in the apps than in the restaurant. The customer pays the difference, and the commission is the same on every order, whether it's the first or the tenth. Check your contract before changing prices: Uber Eats, for example, gives the lower 7% pickup fee only if your in-app pickup prices match your in-store prices.

What the commission pays for

The commission doesn't just pay for a listing. The apps have what a restaurant would struggle to build alone:

• Customers: millions of people who open the app when they're hungry without looking for a particular restaurant. DoorDash says more than 55% of its orders come from browsing, not from searching a restaurant's name.
• Couriers, available at peak times.
• Payments, the app and customer support.
• In-app promotion, usually paid separately.

For a new restaurant, or one that wants customers from other neighbourhoods, that's worth the commission. For the regular who orders from you every Friday, it's worth much less.

What ordering on your own site costs

Your own site has no commission, but it has other costs:

• The ordering system: ready-made software with a monthly fee, or a system built for your restaurant, paid once and then maintained. DoorDash and Uber Eats offer their own commission-free versions too: DoorDash for standard processing fees, Uber Eats' webshop for 2.5% plus 29¢ an order.
• Card processing: at Stripe, a domestic card payment costs 2.9% plus 30¢; on a $40 order, that's $1.46.
• Delivery: your own drivers, on-demand delivery booked per order (Uber Direct starts at $7.99 a delivery), or pickup only to start with.
• Promotion: people need to know they can order directly, from your Google profile, in the restaurant and on your packaging.

How to combine them

For most restaurants, the question isn't "app or website" but who orders where:

1. Stay on the apps for new customers. That's where people who don't know you find you.
2. Move repeat orders to your site. Regulars have reasons to order directly if you give them some: a better price, a loyalty reward, faster delivery nearby. Check each app's contract before changing prices.
3. Make direct ordering visible. Your Google Business Profile has a field for online ordering, and a QR code in the restaurant or on pickup packaging leads straight to your ordering page.
4. Track the real cost. Compare what an order costs you on each channel every month, including delivery and promotions.

What your own ordering system needs

• The menu with prices and options (sizes, extras, sides), the same as in the restaurant.
• Allergen and calorie information where it applies. US chains with 20 or more locations must show calories on online menus where customers order. In the EU, the European Commission's guidance requires allergen information before the order is completed and again at delivery.
• Delivery zones and fees, plus a minimum order if you have one.
• Card payment and, if you want, cash on pickup.
• A kitchen alert: a tablet, a receipt printer or an email, with sound.
• A confirmation for the customer, by email or text, with an estimated time.
• Ordering hours and a button for items that are sold out.
• The basics of selling online: terms, a privacy policy and clear prices and fees.

The rest of what the site needs is in the guide to what a restaurant website needs.

How to choose

• You've just opened or get few orders: stay on the apps and add buttons to them on your site.
• You have many regulars: add ordering on your site and keep the apps for new customers.
• You get large orders from offices or for events: a form on your site or the phone suits them better than a delivery app.

We build ordering systems on a restaurant's own site as a web app, connected to the menu and data already on the site. How to pick a payment processor and what each costs is in how to accept payments on your website.