What an external ordering system really costs

Imagine renting a market stall. Great spot, plenty of visitors, everything well organised. But on every sale, the market manager holds out his hand: he wants a quarter of the takings. Even when the customer came specifically for you. Even when it’s a regular you’ve known for years. As long as you’re standing in his hall, you pay up.

That’s exactly how an external online ordering system works. And many business owners don’t realise how much it costs them.

Delivery and ordering are two different things

First an important distinction, because the two are often confused.

Platforms like Uber Eats and Just Eat do two things at once: they take the order and they handle the delivery. For that combination you pay dearly — the big platforms take as much as a 30% cut from restaurants. (Flipdish) If you deliver yourself or the customer collects, the rate is lower, but you still pay.

Delivery itself is a real service — drivers, planning, logistics. You can’t just make that disappear. But taking the order? That’s precisely the part that can just as easily happen on your own website. And that happens to be the part you’re overpaying for.

The commission on your own customers

An external ordering system for pickup orders easily charges 10 to 25% commission on every online order. At €5,000 in online revenue per month, that’s €500 to €1,250 — every single month. After a year, you’re €6,000 to €15,000 out of pocket. (MenuCloud)

Here’s what stings: you pay that commission even on the customer you’ve known for ages. The regular who collects the same order every Friday didn’t need to be “found” on a platform. They came for you. And yet, on every order, part of your margin goes to a middleman that contributed nothing to that relationship.

Your customer isn’t yours

The commission is the visible bill. There’s also an invisible one: the customer data sits in the provider’s system, not yours. Their email address, their order history, their preferences — you can’t reach any of it. You can’t send them an offer yourself, encourage a repeat visit, or build a relationship outside the platform. You’re renting access to your own customer.

Back to the market stall: you don’t just sell at a cut, you’re also not allowed to take your customers’ names with you when you leave.

The alternative: ordering on your own site

An ordering system doesn’t have to come from an external party. It can simply be part of your own website.

The customer chooses their pickup order, pays by card or another payment method, and you receive the order directly — no middleman, no commission per order. The revenue stays yours. The customer data stays yours. And because it runs on your own site, it fits with the rest of your business instead of standing apart in someone else’s system.

You pay once for the setup, instead of endlessly handing over a percentage on every euro you earn yourself. At ten pickup orders a day, that pays for itself faster than most business owners think.

The delivery platforms have their place — for reach and new customers they can be valuable. But for your pickup orders and your regulars, it’s a waste to keep paying for something that can simply run on your own market stall. Your own stall, this time. Without a market manager.

Wondering whether your own ordering system fits your business? Get in touch and we’ll take a look together.