On a $40 delivery-app order at a 25% commission, a US restaurant keeps about $30; the same order placed through its own website and paid by card keeps about $38.50 after a typical card fee. Delivery apps charge independent restaurants commissions of 15% to 30% per order, plus fees for premium placement, marketing and payment processing, according to the Independent Restaurant Coalition. A direct-ordering website pays for itself once enough regular customers switch, and for a busy takeout kitchen that can be well under a year. The apps still have a job: finding new customers. The website’s job is keeping the ones you already have.
How much do delivery apps charge restaurants?
The Independent Restaurant Coalition, which represents independent restaurants and bars, states that platforms charge commissions of 15% to 30% per order, on top of fees for premium placement, marketing and payment processing. The rate you pay depends on the plan you sign: lower commission tiers usually mean less visibility in the app or a smaller delivery radius, and higher tiers buy more exposure.
Some US cities have passed their own caps on what platforms can charge restaurants, and those rules have been changed and challenged in court more than once. If you are in a large city, check your city’s current rules before you compare numbers; your real rate may differ from the national range.
The commission is the visible part. Look at a full monthly statement and add up every line: commission, marketing or promoted-listing fees, payment processing, refunds the platform issued for complaints, and any tablet or service charges. Divide by your gross sales through the app. That single percentage is the number to use in the math below.
The order-by-order math: app vs your own website
Here is one $40 order, the kind a family of three places on a Friday night, through four channels. The card fee for direct orders is an assumption of about 3% plus 30 cents, which is in the range many US card processors charge for online payments; check your own provider’s rate.
| Channel | What you pay | You keep from $40 | Who owns the customer? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery app at 30% | $12.00 commission | $28.00 | The app |
| Delivery app at 15% | $6.00 commission | $34.00 | The app |
| Own website, paid by card | About $1.50 card fee | About $38.50 | You |
| Phone or message order, paid at pickup | Card fee at the counter, if any | About $38.50–40.00 | You |
The gap on one order looks small: somewhere between $4.50 and $10.50. It stops looking small when you multiply it by every regular who orders twice a week.
When does a direct-ordering website pay for itself?
Use your own numbers. The formula is: (orders moved from the app each month) × (average order) × (your app percentage minus your card percentage) = monthly saving. Subtract the website’s monthly fee. Divide the setup cost by what is left, and you have the months to break even.
Worked example, a takeout-heavy pizza or Thai kitchen. Average order $40. Effective app cost 25%. Card cost about 3.75% once the 30 cents is included on a $40 order. Saving per moved order: about $8.50. If 80 orders a month move from the app to your website, that is roughly $680 a month saved. A website with an order-taking shop on Adyft Sites (Shop Starter) is $3,999 to set up plus $129 a month in the US. Net saving: about $551 a month. Setup recovered in a little over seven months.
Now the honest counter-example. If only 20 orders a month move, the saving is about $170, the net after the monthly fee is about $41, and the setup takes years to recover. For that restaurant, a full ordering shop is the wrong buy. A simple five-page site with the menu, hours and a big “Call to order” button, on the Starter plan at $1,499 plus $69 a month, captures most of the benefit for much less.
💡 Direct ordering pays when you have regulars. If most of your app orders come from first-time customers, keep the app for discovery and use the website to turn them into regulars.
What delivery apps do that your website will not
Being fair to the apps matters, because the decision is rarely all or nothing.
- 1Discovery. People open an app hungry and undecided. Your website only gets visits from people who already know your name or searched for your type of food nearby.
- 2Drivers. The apps bring the courier. With direct orders, you either offer pickup only, hire your own driver, or use a delivery-only service, each with its own cost.
- 3Payments and refunds handled for you. On your own site, a complaint lands with you, not with a support team.
- 4Promotions inside the app. They can fill quiet nights, at a price.
Most independent restaurants that do this well run both. The app finds new customers. A card in every bag, a line on the receipt and the order link in the Google listing invite them to order directly next time, where you keep more and own the relationship.
How to move regular customers from the app to your website
- 1Put a small printed card in every app bag: “Order direct next time at [your site], pickup ready in 20 minutes.” Do not insult the app; just give a reason.
- 2Add your ordering link to your Google Business Profile, so people searching your name see your own option.
- 3Price fairly. Many restaurants raise menu prices inside apps to cover commission; keeping your website prices at your in-store level is a legitimate reason to order direct.
- 4Make reordering easy. Customer logins with order history mean a regular can see last Friday’s order and place it again quickly.
- 5Answer quickly. An order alert that reaches your phone immediately, not an inbox checked twice a day, is what keeps direct customers coming back.
What should a restaurant website have besides ordering?
Even if you never take an order online, your website does work every day. People check three things before they visit or call: the menu, the hours and whether you are open right now. Then they look at photos and parking.
- 1The full menu as real text on the page, with prices. Not a scanned PDF and not a photo of the board. Text can be read by search engines, AI assistants and screen readers; a PDF often cannot, and it is painful on a phone.
- 2Hours that match your Google Business Profile exactly, including holiday changes.
- 3Allergen and dietary labels, and a line asking guests to tell you about allergies before ordering.
- 4Address, parking, accessibility of the entrance, and a map.
- 5Photos of your actual dishes and room.
- 6Catering or large-order information, if you take them. These are often your most valuable direct orders.
- 7Structured data. Google’s local business structured data supports restaurant details such as the menu link and the cuisine served, alongside the required name and address. It does not guarantee anything, but it helps machines read your facts correctly.
What does a restaurant website with ordering cost in the US?
Published US price guides (2026) put ecommerce builds anywhere from about $3,000 to $40,000 and more, depending on how much is custom. Off-the-shelf ordering tools for restaurants are also sold as subscriptions, some with their own per-order fees, so read the fee page before signing anything that calls itself commission-free. DIY website builders can take orders too, but you set up the menu, payments, tax settings and notifications yourself.
With Adyft Sites, the Shop Starter plan at $3,999 plus $129 a month is a full website plus an order-taking shop: up to 50 menu items, customer login and order history, card, Apple Pay and Google Pay, an admin panel, and order alerts on WhatsApp and email. We write the pages, put the menu in, host it, keep it secure and change prices or dishes when you message us. There is no Adyft commission on orders; card fees are the payment provider’s. Larger menus, delivery zones, discount codes and staff logins are on Shop Growth at $6,499 plus $229 a month.
When it is not the right fit: a restaurant group with many locations, a loyalty program and integration with an existing point-of-sale system needs a specialist ordering platform. We will tell you that on a call rather than sell you a shop that does not connect to your kitchen.
Questions about restaurant websites and delivery app fees
What percentage do delivery apps take from restaurants?
The Independent Restaurant Coalition states that platforms charge independent restaurants 15% to 30% per order, plus fees for premium placement, marketing and payment processing. Your effective rate depends on your plan and should be worked out from your monthly statement.
Is a direct ordering website really commission-free?
Your own website does not have to charge a commission, but card payments always cost a processing fee, usually a few percent per order. Some ordering tools that advertise no commission add per-order or monthly fees, so read their fee pages.
Should I leave the delivery apps completely?
Usually not. Apps are good at finding new customers and they supply drivers. Many restaurants keep the apps for discovery and use their own website to win repeat orders, where the margin is higher.
How many orders do I need for a direct ordering site to be worth it?
Multiply the orders you expect to move by your average order and by the difference between your app rate and your card rate. If that saving clearly beats the monthly fee and recovers the setup within about a year, it is worth it. Low volumes are better served by a simple site with a call-to-order button.
Should my menu be a PDF?
No. Put the menu on the page as text. It loads faster on phones, can be read by search engines and AI assistants, and works with screen readers. Keep it updated whenever prices change.
Can customers order for pickup only?
Yes. Pickup-only ordering is the simplest way to start, because you avoid arranging delivery. You can add delivery areas later if demand is there.
Sources: Independent Restaurant Coalition, why federal regulation of third-party delivery apps is needed — https://www.independentrestaurantcoalition.com/delivery_apps_2025 · Google Search Central, local business structured data — https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/structured-data/local-business · Google Business Profile help, how local results are ranked — https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091
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