Takeaways
Commission-free online ordering for takeaways
The delivery apps are good at one thing: finding you customers you would never have reached. What they are not is a sensible place for your regulars to order every Friday, because that costs you around a third of the bill forever.
Friday 19:42
Collection 20 min · delivery 45 min
An illustration of the kind of screen this builds towards - yours is built around how your takeaway actually runs.
The reality
Where the time and money goes in a takeaway
Commission on every single order
Roughly thirty per cent of a four-hundred-pound night is a hundred and twenty pounds, before stock or wages. Over a year on six nights a week that is well into five figures, and it is the biggest cost most shops never write down.
The apps keep your customers
They ordered from you, but the app knows the name, address, order history and frequency. You know none of it, so you cannot bring them back without paying for them again.
Phone orders during the Friday rush
The phone rings constantly at peak, somebody has to stop cooking or serving to take an order by hand, and mistakes go up exactly when the shop is busiest.
Delivery outside your area
Orders taken for addresses that are twenty minutes away, which either lose you money or arrive cold and earn you a bad review.
No way to bring quiet nights up
Tuesday is dead and you have no list to email, so the only lever is paying the app for more visibility.
The approach
How we'd fix it
The realistic strategy is not to switch the apps off. It is to build somewhere of your own and then systematically move the repeat customers across. The apps carry on doing discovery, which they genuinely do well. Your own system takes the orders from people who already know they want your food - and those orders are worth about a third more to you than the identical order placed through an app.
Moving people over is unglamorous but it works: a printed card in every app delivery bag offering a discount on the first direct order, the web address on every receipt and menu, a sign at the counter, and staff mentioning it at collection. Do it consistently for a few months and a decent share of repeat trade shifts, because the customer loses nothing and often gains a better price.
What we build
Built for takeaways
Full menu with every option
Sizes, sides, meal deals, extras and swaps priced exactly as you price them, rather than you bending the menu to fit the software.
Postcode delivery zones
Your delivery area drawn properly, with different fees and minimum spends per zone and out-of-area orders stopped before they are taken.
Kitchen screen or printer
Orders land on a tablet with an alert, or straight onto a receipt printer, so nothing depends on somebody hearing the phone.
Card payment or cash on collection
Paid up front through Stripe, or pay at the counter. Prepaid orders are far less likely to be abandoned.
Your customer database
Every order builds a list you own - who they are, what they order, how often - and it is yours to use.
Offers and loyalty
Discount codes, quiet-night deals and a tenth-order-free scheme aimed at people already on your list.
What changes
The difference it makes
- You keep the commission, which on a busy shop is often five figures a year
- You finally own a customer list and can fill a quiet Tuesday with an email
- Order accuracy improves because the customer types it, not staff mid-rush
- Average order value rises because upsells are offered on screen every time
In practice
A worked example: half the regulars, direct
A takeaway doing most of its volume through two apps did not switch either of them off, and that was the right call - the apps were still introducing new customers every week. What they built was a place to put the regulars.
The move-over was deliberate and boring: a card in every app bag offering ten per cent off a first direct order, the web address printed on every receipt, and a sign by the counter. Within a few months roughly half the repeat orders were coming direct. The apps still do discovery. The people who order every Friday without thinking about it now come straight to the shop, and that half is worth about thirty per cent more per order.
The systems behind it
What this is built from
Everything on this page is put together from the same handful of systems, shaped around how takeaways actually work.
Questions
Takeaways - the questions I get asked
Do I have to leave Just Eat and Uber Eats?
No, and I would advise against switching off on day one. The apps are genuinely good at putting you in front of people who have never heard of you. What they should not be is where your regulars order every week at thirty per cent. Run both and put your effort into moving repeat customers direct.
How do I get customers to order direct?
By asking, repeatedly, everywhere they already see you. A card in every delivery bag with a first-order discount. The address on receipts and menus. A sign at the counter. Staff mentioning it on collection. None of it is clever, but these customers are already yours - they just need a reason and a reminder.
What are the running costs?
Hosting, a domain and card fees of roughly 1.5% plus 20p per transaction through Stripe. No commission on the order value. Against thirty per cent, the system typically pays for itself in a few months on any reasonable volume.
How do orders get to the kitchen when it is busy?
Either a tablet on the wall with a loud alert and a simple screen for marking orders cooking and ready, or a receipt printer that prints the ticket like a phone order. The printer needs no training at all; the tablet gives you order history and status. Plenty of shops run both.
Can it handle our delivery area properly?
Yes, and by postcode rather than a rough radius. You set the zones, each with its own delivery fee and minimum spend, and addresses outside them cannot place a delivery order - they are offered collection instead. That stops the orders that arrive cold and earn you a one-star review.
Similar businesses I work with
All industries →Pizza Shops
A pizza builder that prices properly, half and half handled, meal deals that make sense, and Friday night order flow that does not break.
Restaurants
Tables booked against real capacity, deposits on the parties that hurt when they no-show, and collection orders that pay no commission.
Cafes
Pre-orders that beat the morning queue, loyalty without the cardboard card, and catering enquiries that stop being a phone call.
Run a takeaway? Let's have a look at it
Tell me how things work at the moment and I'll come back with a clear, fixed quote - and an honest view on whether it's worth the money. No pressure and no jargon.