Own delivery vs aggregator: the real comparison

Every month, the delivery statement arrives, and the owner winces at the commission. A large share of every order's value has gone to the platform before a single ingredient is paid for. The obvious thought follows: why not deliver ourselves? Hire a couple of drivers, take orders on our own website and keep the commission. On paper, the saving looks enormous.

Sometimes it is. Often it is much smaller than it looks, because running your own delivery brings costs the commission was quietly covering: drivers paid whether there are orders or not, vehicles, fuel, insurance, an ordering system, payment fees, the marketing that brings orders in and the owner's own time. Whether own delivery beats an aggregator depends almost entirely on how many orders arrive each week, and where they need to go.

This guide sets out the comparison of own delivery vs aggregator honestly: the costs on each side, the weekly order count that flips the sum, the role of the delivery radius and the hybrid most venues end up running. Every venue and figure in it is an example.

Delivering through an aggregator means listing on a platform that takes the orders, handles the payment and sends a rider, the model behind most online food ordering today. The venue cooks and packs; the platform does the rest, and charges commission on each order for it.

Own delivery means the venue does it all: takes orders through its own website, app or phone line, takes payment, and sends its own drivers. It keeps the commission and pays every cost of delivery itself.

Aggregators usually charge a commission on each order, a percentage of its value, and sometimes extra fees: for marketing, for promoted placement, for payment processing or for using the platform's riders rather than the venue's own. The rate varies by platform, by agreement and by the services included.

Read the agreement carefully and work out what an average order really costs you, including every fee. Our guide to aggregator commission: the real cost of an order covers how.

Commission pays for more than delivery. Aggregators bring guests who would never have found the venue, handle the ordering, the payments and the customer service for delivery problems, and supply riders who appear when needed and cost nothing when there are no orders.

That last point is the most important. An aggregator's costs rise and fall with orders. On a quiet night, it costs nothing; on a busy one, it costs more. Own delivery has costs that stay the same whether orders come or not.

Own delivery has costs that are easy to underestimate. Drivers, paid for every hour on shift, busy or not. Vehicles, bought, leased or covered by an allowance for drivers' own cars. Fuel or charging. Insurance for delivery use, which is often more expensive than ordinary cover. Maintenance and repairs.

Then the ordering side: a website or app that takes orders, its subscription or fees, payment processing fees and the time spent managing it. And the marketing needed to bring orders to your own channel, which the aggregator was providing through its listing.

The cost most often left out of own delivery is the owner's or manager's time. Recruiting drivers, scheduling them, covering when one is ill, dealing with late or lost orders, handling complaints and managing the vehicles all take hours every week.

Put a value on that time, or at least note it. An own delivery operation that saves commission but takes twelve hours of the owner's week may cost more than it saves.

The comparison turns on the difference between fixed and variable costs. Aggregator commission is variable: it rises with every order and falls to nothing when there are none. Most own delivery costs are fixed per shift: the driver is paid for the evening whether three orders come or thirty.

That is why order volume decides the answer. At low volumes, fixed costs are spread over few orders and each one is expensive. At high volumes, the same costs are spread over many, and each order becomes cheaper than paying commission.

The order count that flips the sum can be worked out roughly. Add up the fixed weekly cost of own delivery: drivers' hours, vehicles, insurance, the ordering system and a value for management time. Then work out what each order saves: the commission you would have paid, minus the variable costs of delivering it yourself, such as fuel and payment fees.

Divide the fixed weekly cost by the saving per order. The result is the number of orders a week own delivery needs just to match the aggregator. Below it, the aggregator is cheaper; above it, own delivery starts to save money.

An invented bistro's average delivery order is 40. The aggregator's commission and fees come to about 12 per order. Running its own delivery would cost around 1,100 a week in drivers, a vehicle allowance, insurance, the ordering system and some of the manager's time, plus about 2 per order in fuel and payment fees.

Each own delivery order saves about 10 compared with the aggregator. To cover 1,100 a week, the bistro needs about 110 orders a week through its own channel before it saves anything. It currently receives about 60 delivery orders a week in total, so for now, the aggregator is the cheaper choice.

The delivery radius, how far you deliver, changes the sum a great deal. A small radius means short trips, so one driver can make more deliveries an hour and each costs less. A large radius means long trips, fewer deliveries per driver per hour and more fuel.

Aggregators often set the radius themselves, sometimes wider than suits the food. With own delivery, you choose it, and choosing a tight radius is one of the best ways to make own delivery affordable and keep food arriving hot.

The radius also affects the food. A dish that arrives eight minutes after leaving the pass is very different from one that arrives twenty-five minutes later. Long trips mean cold chips, soggy batter and disappointed guests who blame the venue, not the driver.

Set the radius by how far the food travels well, not by how far the drivers can reach. A smaller area served well is better than a large one served badly.

Aggregators bring reach: guests browsing the app who have never heard of the venue. Own delivery depends on guests who already know the venue, or who find it through its own marketing. That difference matters as much as the commission.

For a venue whose delivery guests are mostly regulars, own delivery may lose few orders. For one that depends on new guests finding it on the app, leaving the aggregator could cut orders sharply.

With an aggregator, the platform usually owns the relationship with the guest: their details, their order history and the ability to market to them. The venue often knows little about who ordered.

With own delivery, the venue owns the guest's details and can invite them back, with their consent. Over time, a list of delivery guests who order directly can be worth more than the commission saved on any single order.

Most venues end up with a hybrid: listed on one or two aggregators for reach, while encouraging regular guests to order directly through the venue's own channel. The aggregator brings new guests; the own channel keeps returning ones without commission.

A note in each aggregator order inviting guests to order directly next time, where the platform's rules allow, a simple ordering page and a small reason to use it, such as a better menu or a loyalty treat, shift regulars to the own channel over time.

Some aggregators and delivery companies offer riders for orders taken through the venue's own channel, charging per delivery rather than commission on the whole order. This can combine the venue's own relationship with the guest and the flexibility of riders who cost nothing when there are no orders.

Compare the per-delivery fee with the cost of your own drivers at your likely volume. At low volumes, paying per delivery is often cheaper than employing drivers.

With an aggregator, the platform takes payment and handles most refunds, though the venue may pay for some of them. With own delivery, the venue takes payment through its own ordering system, pays the payment fees and handles every refund and complaint itself.

Count the payment fees in the sum, and decide in advance how refunds and complaints are handled. A missing item or a cold meal needs a quick, fair answer, and with own delivery, that answer comes from you.

Delivery orders cluster at the same times: early evening, weekend nights, bad weather. Own delivery needs enough drivers for the peak, and those drivers are often idle at other times, which is where much of the cost lies.

Aggregators absorb the peak with their pool of riders. If you run your own drivers, consider covering the quiet hours yourself and using a per-delivery rider service at the peak, so you are not paying for idle drivers most of the evening.

Delivering with your own drivers brings legal and insurance duties: vehicles insured for business delivery, drivers properly employed or contracted, food safety during transport and, in some places, rules about working hours and rest. Getting these wrong can cost far more than any commission.

Take advice before starting. Insurance for delivery is often more expensive than owners expect, and it must be in place before the first order goes out.

Whichever model you use, the kitchen cooks and packs the same orders, and delivery adds pressure at the busiest times. Own delivery adds one more task: timing food to the driver's departure, so it is not waiting on the pass or rushed out half done.

Plan the kitchen's capacity for delivery honestly, and limit orders when the dining room is full. A delivery order that slows the dining room's service is costing more than its margin.

A delivery menu designed for travel works better than the dining room menu, with either model. Dishes that hold their heat and texture, packaging that keeps them that way and a shorter list the kitchen can cook quickly all help.

Our guide to a delivery menu that is not your dining room menu covers how to build one.

Before deciding, read your aggregator deal properly: the commission, every fee, how promotions are funded, who pays for refunds, how quickly you are paid and how the agreement can be ended. Many owners have never read theirs closely.

Our guide to delivery aggregators: the deal, read properly covers what to look for, and the answers often change the comparison.

Own delivery lets the venue set its own minimum order and delivery charge. A minimum order makes sure each trip is worth a driver's time; a delivery charge, even a small one, covers part of the fuel and wages. Both change the sum considerably.

Set them with the delivery radius in mind: a higher minimum or charge for longer trips, a lower one for guests close by. Guests generally accept a reasonable charge for delivery, especially when the food arrives hot.

Guests ordering delivery have come to expect it quickly, often within half an hour or so. An own delivery operation with too few drivers at the peak, or too wide a radius, struggles to match that, and slow deliveries bring poor reviews and fewer repeat orders.

Quote realistic times and keep to them. A guest told forty-five minutes who receives their food in forty is happier than one told twenty-five who waits thirty-five.

Test own delivery before committing to drivers and vehicles. Offer own-channel ordering for collection first, which needs no drivers at all and shows how many guests will order directly. Then, if demand is there, try delivery on two or three evenings a week with one driver.

Measure the orders, the costs and the time it takes. A test of a month shows whether the order count is anywhere near the number that flips the sum.

Collection, guests ordering ahead and picking up the food themselves, is a third option that is often overlooked. It needs no drivers, no vehicles and no delivery insurance, and orders taken through the venue's own channel carry no commission.

For many venues, encouraging collection from guests who live nearby captures much of the saving of own delivery with none of its fixed costs. It is also the simplest way to test how many guests will order directly.

The comparison changes as the business changes. Order volumes grow or fall, the aggregator's terms change, wages and fuel move and the own channel's share grows. A decision that was right last year may not be right now.

Review the sum each quarter, with the real figures: orders through each channel, commission paid, own delivery costs and the time spent. A quarterly look keeps the decision honest.

Own delivery usually makes sense when a venue receives many delivery orders a week, most of them from guests who already know it, within a small area, with food that travels short distances well. It also suits groups that can share drivers across several nearby venues.

It rarely makes sense for a venue with modest delivery volumes, a wide area or guests who mostly find it through the app.

Aggregators usually make sense for venues starting delivery, venues with modest or uneven volumes, venues that depend on new guests finding them and venues without the time to manage drivers. The commission is high, but so is what it covers.

The best approach is often to use the aggregator for what it does best, reach and flexibility, while building the own channel for regulars.

An invented pizzeria receives about 250 delivery orders a week, most from regulars within two miles, through one aggregator. Its sum shows own delivery would cost about 1,800 a week in drivers, vehicles, insurance and the ordering system, with each own order saving about 11 in commission and fees. The flip point is about 165 orders a week through its own channel.

The pizzeria launches its own ordering page, invites regulars to use it with a small loyalty treat and keeps the aggregator for new guests. Within three months, about 180 orders a week come through its own channel, delivered by its own drivers within a tight radius, and the aggregator handles the rest. The monthly commission bill has fallen by more than half.

servearound does not take delivery or takeaway orders and connects to no delivery platform: orders on its till and QR menu are for seated tables, so both own delivery and aggregator orders run outside it, through your own ordering tool or the platform's tablet. It also has no driver, vehicle or delivery cost tracking, so the sums in this guide are worked out in your own sheet.

What it shows is the kitchen and dining room that delivery has to fit around. Kitchen analytics show ticket times by day and hour and by station, and queue depth against ticket time, so the hours with spare capacity can be seen, and reservation analytics show covers by day and hour for the dining room. See point of sale and kitchen and Analytics.

Only above a certain number of orders a week, once every cost of own delivery is counted.

Divide own delivery's fixed weekly cost by what each own order saves compared with commission.

Drivers, vehicles, fuel, insurance, an ordering system, payment fees, marketing and management time.

It decides how many deliveries a driver can make an hour and how well the food arrives.

Reach to new guests, ordering, payments, customer service and riders who cost nothing when there are no orders.

Aggregators for new guests, your own channel for regulars.

Yes: start with collection through your own channel, then a few evenings of delivery.

Take advice and have business delivery cover in place before the first order.

Own delivery vs aggregator is a contest between variable and fixed costs. Aggregator commission rises and falls with every order and covers reach, ordering, payments and riders. Own delivery keeps the commission but brings drivers, vehicles, insurance, software, marketing and management time that cost the same whether orders come or not. The weekly order count that covers those fixed costs decides which is cheaper.

Work out that number honestly, keep the delivery radius tight enough for the food to travel well and remember what aggregators bring beyond the rider. Most venues do best with a hybrid: delivery aggregators for new guests and their own channel for regulars, tested small before committing to drivers.