How a Restaurant Stopped Paying Delivery Commissions by Implementing Its Own Ordering System

The starting point: how the business operated before

The following scenario is representative of the situation faced by restaurants with delivery operations in the US. The data reflects real sector averages. A restaurant with dine-in and delivery — twelve people on the team between kitchen, dining room, and in-house delivery — was generating a significant portion of its monthly sales through two third-party delivery apps. The team had no way to directly contact customers who ordered every week: the name, phone number, and order history stayed on the app's side, not the restaurant's. The owner knew exactly how much was going to commissions each month because he saw it in the settlement, but he had no direct channel where those same customers could order without going through the app.

Why the problem hadn't been solved before

The restaurant had been absorbing the commission for over two years without looking for an alternative, mainly for two reasons. The first was fear of the transition: the belief that if they stopped appearing as a featured option on the app, they would lose orders from customers who already had the habit of ordering there. The second was the idea that setting up a direct channel required a complex online store with technical development and maintenance the team didn't have time or knowledge to sustain. The signal that made it clear it was time to act was a month when one of the apps raised its commission without prior notice: the settlement for that month was noticeably lower than the previous one with the same order volume.

What was implemented and how

The starting point was not replacing the delivery apps, but adding a direct WhatsApp ordering channel with an online catalog — designed to capture first the customers who were already arriving through Instagram and word of mouth, and who currently had no way to order directly. The team loaded the menu once into the catalog, with photos and prices, and that same catalog became available as a shareable link on social media and in the restaurant. The setup required no technical knowledge: someone from the front of house could update prices and items without depending on a developer. From start to seeing the first orders come in through the direct channel took two to three weeks, with most of the time spent spreading the word about the new channel among regular customers, not on system configuration.

The concrete results

What the business learned along the way

Companies that go through this process frequently discover that the biggest obstacle wasn't technical but conceptual: they feared having to choose between the marketplace and the direct channel, when in reality they could operate both simultaneously. Another common finding is that most customers who migrate don't do so because of a discount or promotion, but simply because ordering through WhatsApp from someone they already know feels more direct than opening an app shared with dozens of restaurants.

Is your business in a similar situation?

This process is relevant for restaurants with active delivery on at least one third-party platform, with enough recurring order volume to notice the commission in the monthly settlement, and with regular customers who currently have no way to order directly. If you recognize your business in this situation, at Zefell we can evaluate how a direct ordering channel would apply to your specific case.