Why ordering direct beats delivery-app fees

Delivery apps are good at one thing: putting your food in front of hungry people. They are also good at keeping a slice of every order they send you. For a small café or restaurant, that slice can be the difference between a good week and a flat one.

The answer is not to leave the apps. It is to give your regulars a better way to order, so more of your sales come straight to you.

Where the money goes

When someone orders through a delivery app, the app takes a commission from the sale, and the customer often pays extra fees on top. Those fees are set by the app, not by you, and they can change.

When someone orders from your own website, the sale is yours. You still pay your card processor's normal fees, but there is no marketplace commission taking a cut of the order. With Awwranges, the subscription is a flat monthly price and we take no commission on your orders.

Keep the apps for discovery, use your own site for regulars

New customers often find you on an app, and that is fine. The goal is to turn them into regulars who order from you directly.

• Put your ordering link in your Instagram bio and stories.
• Add it to your receipts, bags and cups, and put it up by the till.
• Mention it when someone picks up an app order: "Next time, order from our site and skip the app fees."
• Offer a small discount for ordering direct. It costs you less than the commission you would have paid.

Make the direct option the easy option

Customers choose what is easiest. If your own site is slow or confusing, they will go back to the app. A good direct-ordering page does a few things well:

1. 1It loads fast and works on a phone, because that is where most orders start.
2. 2It shows your menu with clear names, prices and photos.
3. 3It lets people choose pickup or delivery and pick a time.
4. 4It takes payment without making people create an account.

Show both choices on one page

Awwranges gives every café a landing page that shows your own ordering option first, with your Uber Eats, DoorDash or other delivery links underneath. Someone who taps a delivery link sees a short message that they are leaving your site, with a reminder that ordering direct is available. If you offer a direct-order discount, the page shows it.

A simple plan for this month

1. 1Turn on online ordering and place a test order yourself.
2. 2Add your ordering link to your Instagram bio and your Google business profile.
3. 3Decide on a small direct-order discount and show it on your landing page.
4. 4Tell every regular, in person, that ordering from your site is the best way to support you.

You do not need to win every order back. Moving a few of your regular orders each week from an app to your own site is enough to notice in the numbers.