Direct Ordering vs Deliveroo: Which Is Better for Restaurants?
Which is better: direct ordering or Deliveroo?
For most established restaurants, direct online ordering makes more money per order. Deliveroo takes up to 35% of every order. Your own ordering platform usually costs a flat monthly fee, or a much smaller per-order charge.
Deliveroo is good for getting found by new customers. Direct ordering is where the margin is.
What Deliveroo actually costs
Deliveroo doesn't publish a single commission rate. It depends on your size, your location and your contract, but UK operators report paying between 25% and 35% of order value.
Take a £30 order at 30% commission. Deliveroo keeps £9.00 and you get £21.00, and that's before packaging, staff and food. On restaurant margins, a 30% cut off the top can wipe out the profit on a delivery order completely.
Depending on the contract, there can be more on top:
- packaging and rider fees
- marketing contributions if you want to show up higher in Deliveroo's search results
- lower rates that only apply if you sign an exclusivity agreement
What direct ordering costs
Direct online ordering through a platform like Flipdish costs a monthly software fee. There's no commission on each order.
For that you usually get a branded website or app, payment processing (usually 1.2-1.5% plus a small transaction fee) and order management connected to your POS.
Most restaurants hit break-even early. Once your monthly orders cover the platform fee, every order after that makes you a lot more than the same order would have through Deliveroo.
Customer data: who owns it?
On Deliveroo, Deliveroo owns the customer. You get the order. You don't get their contact details.
So you can't market to those customers again, and you can't put them on a loyalty programme. If Deliveroo puts its commission up or changes its terms, you've got nowhere to move them to.
With direct ordering the customer data is yours. You can send offers, run a loyalty programme and talk to customers directly, and each of those makes you a bit less reliant on third-party platforms.
When Deliveroo makes sense
Deliveroo isn't always the wrong call. If you're a new restaurant and nobody in the area knows you yet, it gets your name in front of people. It brings in extra orders from customers who'd never have found you otherwise. If your margins are high enough to absorb the commission, fine. And if you don't have a direct ordering system yet and need orders coming in now, it's the fastest way to get them.
The mistake is treating Deliveroo as a permanent channel. Use it to find customers. Don't plan on keeping them there.
When direct ordering wins
Direct ordering comes out ahead when you already have regulars to convert and some way of pushing your own channel - email, social media, table cards and posters in the venue. A high average order value helps too, because the commission you save on each order is then real money. And if you want customers who come back to you instead of to an app, you need your own channel.
Running both works well: Deliveroo for discovery, your own platform for repeat orders.
Moving customers from Deliveroo to direct ordering
To get customers off Deliveroo and onto your own channel:
- Launch a branded direct ordering channel - a website, an app, or both
- Give people a reason to place their first direct order: a discount, a free item or loyalty points
- Put a card or sticker in every Deliveroo bag telling customers they can order direct
- Post on social media with links to the direct channel
- Keep them with a loyalty programme once they've switched
This is called marketplace displacement. It gets you more profit from the customers you already have, without needing more covers.
Deliveroo vs direct ordering: a comparison
| Deliveroo | Direct ordering (Flipdish) | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per order | 25-35% | Low fixed fee or 0% |
| Customer data ownership | Deliveroo | You |
| Branding | Deliveroo-branded | Fully branded |
| Loyalty programme | No | Yes |
| POS integration | Via third-party tablet | Native |
| Marketing tools | Limited | Built-in |
| Speed to launch | Immediate | Days to weeks |
How Flipdish handles direct ordering
Flipdish gives you branded restaurant websites, mobile apps and a full restaurant POS system, so direct orders and in-venue orders go through the same system.
An order placed on your Flipdish website or app shows up on the same kitchen screen as a counter order. No extra tablet, and nobody has to type it in again. The customer sees your brand from start to finish. You keep the data, the margin and the customer.
If you're relying on Deliveroo and want to pay less commission, Flipdish's online ordering platform lets you build a direct channel that runs alongside the marketplaces and, over time, takes orders away from them.