How to Reduce Delivery Platform Fees with Your Own Ordering System

If you run a takeaway or restaurant, you already know the sting: every order that comes through Just Eat, Deliveroo, or Uber Eats takes a slice off the top — typically somewhere between 14% and 35%. On a £20 order, that can be £7 gone before you've paid for ingredients, staff, or rent. For a busy takeaway doing 200 orders a week, the commission bill alone can run to £30,000–£60,000 a year.

Do the maths on your own numbers

Take your average weekly platform orders, multiply by your average order value, then apply your commission rate. Most owners have never actually written that figure down — and when they do, it's usually the moment they decide something has to change. That money isn't a marketing cost; a large share of it comes from regulars who would order from you directly if you gave them a decent way to do it.

The alternative: your own ordering system

A custom ordering website (and app, if you want one) lets customers order directly from you. Payments go straight to your bank account through a provider like Stripe. You manage the menu in real time, set your own delivery and collection options, and — crucially — you keep the customer data. Names, order history, contact details: on the platforms, all of that belongs to them, which is exactly why they can market your own customers back to your competitors.

You don't have to quit the platforms overnight

The smart approach is to treat aggregators as a discovery channel, not your whole business. Keep your listing to catch new customers, then move repeat orders to your own system where you keep 100% of the revenue. Simple tactics work: a flyer in every platform order, a small discount or loyalty points for direct orders, a "order direct and save" message on your social channels. Regulars switch quickly when there's something in it for them.

What it costs — and what it saves

A commission-free ordering system is usually a one-off build cost plus a modest monthly hosting fee — a fixed, predictable expense instead of a percentage that grows with your success. For most takeaways, shifting even 30–40% of platform orders to direct ordering covers the entire cost of the system within months. Everything after that is margin back in your pocket.

We've built and run exactly this kind of system for real food businesses — see Primo's Kitchen in our case studies. If you'd like to know what the numbers would look like for your business, get in touch for a free consultation.