Marketplaces are a good way to be discovered by new customers, and they charge a commission per order, typically 15% to 30%, for that service. But many orders don't come from there: they come from people who already know you, found you on Google or social media, or walked past your door. For those orders you can have a channel of your own.
What "no commission" really means
Let's be clear from the start, because clarity avoids surprises:
- GetFoodies takes no commission per order. You pay a monthly subscription.
- Online card payments always carry a payment processor fee, charged directly by the processor.
- If your POS charges for connecting to other software, that fee goes to the POS company.
Even adding it all up, the difference from a per-order commission is usually large.
Your options
- No channel of your own. Simple, but every order depends on intermediaries and you keep no customer data.
- Custom-built software. No per-order commission, but a high upfront cost, months of waiting and permanent maintenance.
- A ready-made platform for restaurants. A website and app with your brand, already tested, for a predictable monthly fee.
For most independent restaurants the third is the right balance.
How to start taking direct orders
1. Set up your ordering channel
A mobile-first website with a digital menu, basket and online payment. Customers order in a few taps.
2. Show it to people who are already your customers
- QR codes on tables, the counter and the window.
- Social media and Google pointing to your site.
- A printed card or menu with your web address.
- A perk for ordering direct, such as cashback or points.
3. Keep the marketplaces
You don't need to switch them off: they give you visibility and new customers, and the people who arrive through them remain those marketplaces' customers. Your channel is for people who find you directly.
4. Keep the data and talk to your customers
Every order on your channel leaves you a contact and a history, so you can thank, reward and win back people who already bought from you.
How GetFoodies solves this
An ordering website and app with your brand, connected to your POS, where customers follow their order and you see your channel's customer data in one dashboard. We are working on showing marketplace orders in the same dashboard; that is not available yet.
The sum that matters
Take last month's orders from your own customers (phone, counter, social, Google) and multiply by a typical marketplace commission. That is what you stop paying when those customers order on a channel of your own.