Direct online ordering: keeping the whole margin

Direct online ordering means guests order food for collection or delivery straight from the venue, through its own website or ordering page, rather than through a delivery app. There is no aggregator commission on the order, the venue sets the menu and the prices, and the guest's details stay with the venue for next time. On paper, it is the most profitable way to sell food online.

In practice, many venues that build direct ordering are disappointed. They set up an ordering page, announce it once, and watch guests carry on ordering through the apps. The margin is there to be kept, but the guests are not choosing to keep it for them. The reason is rarely loyalty to the app. It is that ordering through the app is easier, or feels safer, and nobody has given the guest a reason to change.

This guide sets out what it takes to make direct online ordering the easy choice: an ordering page that works, a menu built for travel, payment, collection and delivery, and the ways to tell guests it exists. It covers the two reasons guests still use the app, how to measure online ordering conversion on your own site, and how to move guests gradually without losing the ones the apps bring you.

Direct online ordering is any system that lets guests order and pay for food on the venue's own site or ordering page, for collection or delivery. It can be a page built into the website, a separate ordering site on its own link, or a link shared through social profiles and messages. What makes it direct is that the order goes from the guest to the venue with no marketplace in between.

The venue still pays for some things. Card payments carry processing fees, the ordering system usually has a cost, and delivery, if offered, has to be paid for. But there is no percentage of every order paid to a platform, and that is often the largest single cost of selling through delivery apps.

The comparison is set out in our pillar guide to online ordering channels and what each costs, which costs the same order through every channel.

The difference between a direct order and an aggregator order can be large. An aggregator commission is usually a percentage of the order value, and on a delivered order it can take a substantial share of what the guest pays. On a direct order, the venue keeps that share, less its own payment fees and delivery costs.

Multiplied across hundreds of orders a month, the difference becomes significant. A venue that moves even a quarter of its regular guests' orders from an app to its own site can keep a meaningful sum each month without selling a single extra meal. Our guide to aggregator commission works through an order line by line.

The margin is not the only gain. A direct guest can be thanked, invited back and recognised next time. That relationship is what turns an occasional order into a regular one.

The first reason guests keep ordering through the app is convenience. The app already knows their address and their payment card. It remembers what they ordered last time. It shows every restaurant they like in one place. Ordering takes a few taps. A venue's own ordering page, by comparison, may ask them to type their address, enter a card and create an account, all for one meal.

To compete, direct ordering has to be nearly as easy. Ask for as little as possible: a name, a phone number, an address for delivery and payment. Let guests order without creating an account, and remember their details next time only if they choose. Use the phone's own payment options where you can, so guests do not have to type a card number.

Make the ordering page fast and simple on a phone, because that is where almost every order starts. A page that loads slowly or needs zooming loses guests to the app they already trust.

The second reason is confidence. Guests know how the app works. They can see when the food is being prepared and when the rider is on the way. If something goes wrong, they know the app will refund them. A venue's own page is unfamiliar, and an unfamiliar page asking for card details can feel risky.

Build that confidence deliberately. Show a clear confirmation as soon as the order is placed, with what was ordered, the total and when to expect it. Send the same confirmation by email or message. Give an honest time for collection or delivery, and keep it. Say plainly what happens if something is wrong, and make it easy to contact the venue.

Make the page look like the venue. A direct ordering page in the venue's own colours, with its own photographs and voice, reassures guests that they are ordering from the restaurant they know, not from a stranger.

Ordering on your website should follow the same rules as any good online flow. Show the menu clearly, with sections, photographs where they help and short descriptions. Let guests add dishes and options in a tap, show the running total, and make the basket easy to review.

Keep the steps few: menu, basket, details, payment, confirmation. Ask for details only once the guest has chosen their food. Show any delivery fee and minimum order early, not as a surprise at checkout. Offer collection times or a delivery estimate before payment, so guests know what they are agreeing to.

Test it yourself on a phone every month. Order a meal, pay for it and collect it, and note every moment of hesitation. If you hesitate, guests do too.

The online menu does not have to match the dining menu. Choose dishes that arrive in good condition after a journey: dishes that hold their heat and texture, sauces that can be packed separately, and portions that fit the packaging. Leave out or adapt dishes that suffer in a box.

A shorter online menu is easier for guests to choose from, easier for the kitchen to cook alongside the dining room, and easier to keep accurate. Every dish needs correct allergen information, because guests cannot ask a server. Our guide to updating the menu in one place, not five covers how to keep prices and allergens the same across every channel.

Consider dishes that are only available directly. A family meal, a weekend special or a dish that does not appear on the apps gives guests a reason to order from the venue rather than the platform.

Payment needs to be secure and simple. Use a reputable payment provider, follow the card industry's security standards, such as those published by the PCI Security Standards Council, and never handle card numbers yourself. Offer the payment methods your guests use most.

Collection is the cheapest form of direct ordering, because there is no delivery cost. Make it easy: clear collection times, a place to wait or pick up, and an order that is ready when promised. Collection guests also see the venue, which may bring them back to eat in.

Delivery reaches guests who will not come to the door, but it needs riders, a delivery service paid per drop, or an arrangement with a delivery company. Cost each option carefully, set a delivery area you can serve well, and be honest about delivery times.

The most common reason direct ordering fails is that guests do not know about it. A link buried on the website will not compete with an app on the guest's home screen. Direct ordering needs to be visible wherever guests meet the venue.

Put the ordering link on every page of the website, on social profiles, on the venue's Google listing and in every email. Put a card in every bag that leaves the kitchen, including aggregator orders, with the direct link and a reason to use it. Mention it in the dining room, on table cards and receipts. Ask staff to tell regulars.

Repeat it. A single announcement reaches a few guests once; a link in every bag and every email reaches every guest every time they order.

Convenience and confidence make direct ordering possible; a reason makes it likely. The reason can be small. A slightly lower price than on the apps, where your agreements allow it. A dish that is only available directly. Free collection or a shorter wait. A thank-you for regular guests.

Be careful with discounts. A permanent discount on direct orders gives away part of the margin you were trying to keep. A modest, consistent advantage, such as a better price on collection or a family meal only available directly, is often enough to change habits.

The best reason of all is a good experience. A guest whose first direct order arrives on time, hot and correct, with a friendly note in the bag, is likely to order directly again.

Online ordering conversion is the share of guests who open your ordering page and complete an order. A low conversion rate means guests are reaching the page and leaving, which is usually a problem with the page rather than with demand.

Measure the steps: how many guests open the menu, how many add something to the basket, how many start checkout and how many pay. The biggest drops usually come at predictable points: a slow menu, a surprise delivery fee, a long checkout form or a payment that fails. Fix the step that loses the most guests first.

Read conversion on phones separately from computers, and over periods long enough to include busy and quiet days. Change one thing at a time, and watch the step it affects.

Many venues already have a direct channel without calling it one: the phone, and in some markets messaging apps. Guests who call or message are ordering directly, and there is no commission on their orders. The cost is staff time, and the risk is error: an order misheard, an address written down wrongly, a dish forgotten when the order is keyed in.

These guests are often the easiest to move to an ordering page, because they already order directly and already trust the venue. When they call or message, mention the ordering page and send the link. Many will try it next time, especially if it lets them see the menu, choose options and pay without waiting for someone to answer.

Keep the phone for guests who want it. Some will always prefer to speak to a person, and large or complicated orders are often easier by phone. The aim is to free staff from the routine orders, not to stop taking calls.

A direct order is the start of a relationship, not the end of a transaction. Thank the guest after the order, ask how the food arrived, and give them an easy way to tell you if anything was wrong. A short, friendly message the next day is often enough.

Ask for permission before sending marketing. A clear choice at checkout, such as "send me news and offers from the restaurant", with nothing ticked in advance, gives you a list of guests who want to hear from you. Respect it: send messages they will value, not a flood of discounts.

Recognise returning guests. A note in the bag for a regular, their usual order remembered, or a thank-you after their tenth order costs little and builds the loyalty that keeps them ordering directly.

Track a few numbers every month to see whether direct online ordering is working:

Compare each month with the one before and the same month last year. The direction of travel matters more than any single figure.

Moving guests to direct ordering does not mean leaving the apps. Aggregators bring guests who have never heard of the venue, and for many venues they remain the best source of new customers. The aim is to use them for discovery and direct ordering for everyone else.

Think of each aggregator order as an introduction. The guest has tried the venue; now the venue's job is to make the next order a direct one. The card in the bag, the quality of the food and the ease of the ordering page all play a part.

Watch the balance over time. If most aggregator guests are new, the platform is earning its commission. If many are regulars who could order directly, there is margin to be kept.

Direct orders arrive in the same kitchen as everything else. A busy evening of direct orders, aggregator orders and a full dining room can overwhelm the stations. Set realistic preparation times, limit the online menu at the busiest moments if you need to, and count online orders against the kitchen's capacity.

Keep direct orders in the same queue as other orders, so nothing is missed. A direct order that arrives late or wrong damages the channel you are trying to build, because the guest has no app to blame and no platform refund to fall back on.

When something goes wrong, put it right quickly and personally. A call, an apology and a replacement or refund from the venue itself often builds more loyalty than an order that went smoothly.

Here is an illustrative case of a venue moving regular guests to direct ordering. The figures are examples.

No new guests were found, and no prices changed. The venue simply stopped paying commission on guests it already had.

servearound is built for the dining room, not for delivery: guests order from their table by scanning its QR code menu, and servearound does not take collection or delivery orders. If you run direct online ordering through another system, servearound's part is the guest relationship and the menu behind it.

Dishes live in one library with their allergens, ingredients and prices, which gives you one correct source to copy to any other channel. The guest CRM keeps each guest's visits, spend and notes from the dining room, and Campaigns sends email to the guests who have agreed to hear from you, with templates that include announcing a takeaway or delivery launch. See the menus module, or get in touch to talk through how it would fit your operation.

Often, if the venue has regular guests who already order through apps. Start with collection, which has the lowest cost, and grow from there.

Some venues do this, where their agreements allow it. A modest advantage, or a dish only available directly, can be enough.

No, and they should not have to. Offer to remember their details for next time, but let them order without an account.

Put the link everywhere guests meet you: the website, social profiles, the Google listing, emails, receipts and a card in every bag.

Put it right quickly and personally. The guest has no platform to fall back on, so the venue's response is what they will remember.

Usually not. Keep them for discovery, and move regulars to direct ordering over time.

Direct online ordering lets a venue keep the margin that aggregator commission would otherwise take, and the relationship with the guest that comes with it. Guests still use the apps for two reasons: convenience and confidence. Match the convenience with a fast, simple ordering page on a phone, and build confidence with clear confirmations, honest timings and a page that looks like the venue.

Choose a menu that travels, keep payment secure, make collection easy, and tell guests about direct ordering wherever they meet you, especially in every bag. Measure online ordering conversion step by step, give guests a modest reason to switch, and keep the apps for the new guests they bring.