You have decided you want an ordering channel of your own. Now comes a question many owners answer badly: build from scratch or subscribe to something ready-made? The right answer saves months and a lot of money.
The two options
Custom software means commissioning a development company to build a website and app just for you.
Ready-made means subscribing to a platform already built and tested for restaurants, which you customise with your brand.
Both give you a channel with no per-order commission. The difference is cost, time and risk.
Cost
Custom: a high upfront investment and, what many forget, a permanent maintenance bill: servers, fixes, iOS and Android updates, new features.
Ready-made: a predictable monthly fee that already includes maintenance and updates, plus a one-off starter pack. You know what you will pay.
Time
Custom: months of development and testing before anything works. Ready-made: live within days, because it is already built and proven by other restaurants.
Risk
Custom: all the risk is yours. If the company misses deadlines or a serious bug appears on a Friday night, it is your problem, and you end up running a small software project by accident. Ready-made: the technical risk sits with the people who do this every day for many restaurants, and the cost is shared.
The classic mistake: "I'll build it my way to get everything exactly right"
It sounds noble but is almost always expensive. The features you think are unique (ordering, loyalty, data dashboard) already exist, tested, in ready-made platforms. Rebuilding them is reinventing the wheel.
When custom makes sense
Rarely, for an independent restaurant: only for very specific needs no platform meets, and a budget and team to maintain software long term.
Where GetFoodies fits
It is the ready-made option designed for restaurants: a website and app with your brand, loyalty, a dashboard and a link to your POS, for a predictable monthly fee and no GetFoodies commission per order, plus the Starter Pack, paid once and only when your restaurant goes live. Card payments carry the processor's fee and some POS systems charge for the connection; prices are on the home page.
The sum that matters
Add the upfront cost of a custom project to a year of maintenance and compare it with the monthly fee of a ready-made platform over two or three years. Add time (months versus days) and risk. In most cases the decision makes itself.