What does marketplace commission really cost a takeaway per 100 orders?
The simplest way to see it: whatever percentage your contract takes, that is how many orders out of every 100 you are effectively handing over. At a 30% rate, 100 orders of the same basket size leave you with the revenue of 70. That is before VAT on the platform's fees and before any paid promotion inside the app.
We deliberately do not quote anyone's rate here, because marketplace commission depends on your contract, your area and whether the platform's riders deliver or your own drivers do. Pull up last month's statement from each app and write the effective percentage down: total fees divided by total order value. That number is the starting point for every decision on this page.
Now run the same 100 orders through your own takeaway website with online ordering. You still pay card processing on each order, and your share of the build, hosting and care plan spread across the year. What you stop paying is the commission line. The payback question becomes: how many of my regular orders can I move to my own site, and how fast?
- Effective rate = platform fees ÷ order value on your own statement
- Orders handed over per 100 = that rate, as a number
- Own-site cost per order = card fees + (build, hosting and care ÷ yearly direct orders)
- The gap between the two is what a direct order is worth to you
If only a fifth of your marketplace regulars switch, and your rate is 30%, you keep six extra orders' worth of revenue out of every hundred. Most takeaways find the build is paid back by regulars alone, but do your own maths with your own statement before you commit.
What is a takeaway website with online ordering, exactly?
It is a website, owned by your takeaway, where a customer browses your menu, customises dishes, chooses delivery or collection, pays by card or wallet and gets a confirmation, while the order drops straight into your kitchen. No marketplace in the middle, no commission on the order.
A proper one has six parts. A menu that handles real takeaway complexity: sizes, crusts, extra toppings, spice levels, meal deals, “no onions”. A basket that recalculates correctly. A checkout that takes cards and phone wallets. Delivery logic that knows which postcodes you cover and what you charge. A kitchen side where new orders ring, print or appear on a screen. And an admin panel where you can mark the lamb bhuna sold out at 9pm without calling anyone.
What it is not: a PDF menu with a phone number, or a “Order now” button that sends people to a delivery app. Those are fine for a brochure site, but they leave the commission in place. If you just need a menu and opening hours online for now, our small business website design plan starts at US$150 and can have ordering added later.
Custom takeaway ordering website or a white-label platform: which should you choose?
Choose a white-label ordering platform if you want to be live within days and are happy on a monthly subscription with its templates. Choose a custom build if you want to own the code and customer data, avoid a per-order fee for ever, and shape the menu logic around how your kitchen actually works.
White-label platforms are software you rent. You pick a theme, upload a menu and connect payments, often through the provider's own merchant account. The trade-offs usually sit in the small print: a monthly fee that rises with features, sometimes a per-order charge, limits on design, and what happens to your customer list if you leave. Read the exit terms before you sign anything.
A custom takeaway website with online ordering costs more upfront and takes weeks rather than days. In return, there is nothing to cancel. The code sits in your repository, the site runs on hosting in your name, and the customer database is yours to export, email (with consent) or move to another developer. For a takeaway doing steady trade from locals, that ownership tends to matter more each year.
White-label suits you when…
you are testing whether direct ordering works at all, you have one small menu, and you want no build project right now.
Custom suits you when…
your menu has complicated options, you run two or three shops, you want your own app, or you are tired of paying a subscription for something you could own.
Build the menu the way your kitchen thinks, not the way a generic shop plug-in does. A takeaway menu is mostly options: a 12-inch pizza with half pepperoni, half veggie, stuffed crust, extra cheese; a curry with a heat level, a choice of rice and a naan; a meal deal where the customer picks any two sides and a drink.
We model each dish with option groups (required or optional, one choice or several, with a price change or not) so the basket total is always right and the kitchen ticket reads clearly. Meal deals are rules, not separate products, which stops the “two sides for the price of one” confusion that plagues template menus.
On the admin side you get the controls a busy shop needs mid-service: sold-out toggles, hide a category after 10pm, change a price across all sizes at once, and set lunch-only items. Photos help sell, but a slow page loses orders; we compress every image and load photos only as the customer scrolls.
- Option groups with minimum and maximum choices
- Meal deals as rules with a fixed deal price
- Sold-out switch per item or per option (for example, no garlic naan left)
- Time rules: breakfast, lunch specials, late-night menu
- Notes field per item, with a character limit the printer can handle
Allergen information on a takeaway ordering website: what the law expects
For food sold online or by phone, UK allergen rules ask for information at two points. The Food Standards Agency allergen guidance says allergen information must be provided before the purchase is completed (for example on the website or menu) and again when the food is delivered (for example with allergen stickers or an enclosed menu).
The same guidance lists 14 allergens: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soybeans, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, and tree nuts. Your ordering site should let you tick the relevant ones on each dish and show them before the customer pays, not buried on a separate page.
What we build: an allergen field per dish and per option (the peanut sauce on one curry, not the whole menu), icons or text beside each item, a line in checkout pointing people with allergies to call you, and the allergens printed on the kitchen ticket so the bag can be labelled. You decide what goes into each dish and which allergens it contains; the site simply displays your information accurately. Your local authority's food safety officer is the right person to check your process.
Card payments, Apple Pay and cash on delivery for a takeaway website
Take cards and phone wallets through a processor account in your takeaway's own name, so money lands in your bank on your processor's schedule, and keep cash on delivery as an option only if your drivers handle it well. We connect the processor you choose; we never hold or route your takings.
Most customers ordering on a phone at 8pm want to pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay rather than type a card number. Most major processors support both wallets on the web once your domain is set up with them. We enable the wallets your processor offers, test a real order and a refund, and make sure the checkout works on older iPhones and budget Android handsets.
Cash on delivery still matters for some areas and older customers. If you offer it, set limits: maybe cash only for known customers, or only below a certain order total, or not at all after 10pm. The ordering site can enforce those rules automatically. For collection orders, “pay in shop” is another option, although prepaid collection reduces no-shows.
Refunds and partial refunds (a missing drink, a cold pizza) should be two taps in your admin panel, not a login to a separate dashboard. For more on connecting card payments to UK sites generally, see our payment gateway integration guide.
How do you set delivery zones by postcode on a takeaway ordering site?
Draw your zones by postcode district or sector, then attach a minimum order, a delivery charge and an estimated time to each. When a customer types their postcode, the site either shows the right fee or tells them politely that you only do collection there.
UK postcodes make this easier than in most countries. A shop in Leeds might deliver free to LS6 over a certain basket, charge a small fee to LS4 and LS5, and refuse LS1 on Friday nights because the drivers cannot get back in time. Sector-level zones (LS6 1, LS6 2) help where one district spans a busy main road.
We add a postcode and address lookup so customers pick from a list instead of typing, which cuts the “driver can't find flat 3B” calls. Radius-based zones are another option if your area is irregular, but postcode zones are easier for staff to understand and change.
- Zone name, postcode districts or sectors included
- Minimum basket for delivery in that zone
- Delivery charge, with an optional free-delivery threshold
- Estimated delivery time, adjustable when the kitchen is slammed
- Busy-night switch: pause delivery to far zones, keep collection open
How do you get regulars to order from your own takeaway website instead of the apps?
Give them a reason at the moment they are holding your food. A leaflet in every marketplace bag saying “order direct next time and get a free side” works because it reaches exactly the customers who already like you. Your own takeaway website with online ordering then has to be as quick to use as the app they are used to.
Make direct ordering visibly better. Common levers: a loyalty stamp (every tenth order earns something), a direct-only meal deal, free delivery above a threshold that the app does not match, or a “skip the queue” collection slot. Keep it simple enough that staff can explain it in one sentence at the counter.
Then reduce friction. Saved addresses and one-tap re-order for returning customers, guest checkout for first-timers, and a QR code on the counter, the menu and the bag that opens the site on the right page. The Google Business Profile for your shop can show an order link too, so people searching your name land on your own site.
Be careful about how you contact past customers. The next section explains what UK rules allow for texts and emails, and what they do not.
SMS, email and WhatsApp offers: what can a takeaway send legally?
You can usually send marketing texts and emails to people who have ordered from you before, as long as you gave them a clear chance to opt out when you collected their details and in every message. That is the “soft opt-in” in the UK's electronic marketing rules.
The ICO's guidance on electronic mail marketing sets out the conditions: the details were collected during a sale or negotiations for a sale, you are marketing similar products or services, and you gave a simple way to refuse both at collection and in every later message. It also confirms that texts count as electronic mail. It does not cover people who have never bought from you.
On the ordering site we build this in: an unticked marketing checkbox at checkout with a plain sentence, an unsubscribe link or “STOP” reply in every message, and a customer record that stores when and how consent or the opt-out was given. Order confirmations and delivery updates are service messages, not marketing, and go to everyone.
WhatsApp adds its own layer. Business messaging goes through Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform, which has its own rules on templates and opt-in. We set up order updates there and keep offers to people who have agreed. Your solicitor or the ICO guidance is the place to confirm your approach; we build the tools, not the legal opinion.
Does a takeaway need its own ordering app as well as a website?
Start with the website. A fast, mobile-first takeaway website with online ordering covers every customer with a phone and a browser, costs less and needs no store approval. Add an app when you have a large group of weekly regulars who would use saved orders and push offers.
An app earns its keep through habit: the icon on the home screen, one-tap “same as last Friday”, and push notifications for a Tuesday offer. For a takeaway taking a handful of direct orders a day, that is overkill. For a busy pizza shop with hundreds of repeat customers, it can shift real volume away from the marketplaces.
One App Store detail matters here. Apple's App Review Guidelines (4.2.6) say apps made from a commercialised template or app generation service are rejected unless submitted directly by the provider of the app's content. In practice, your branded app should be published under your own Apple developer account. The same guidelines (3.1.3(e)) say physical goods consumed outside the app, like food, are paid with methods such as Apple Pay or card entry rather than in-app purchase, so Apple's in-app commission does not apply to your orders.
Our ordering apps start at US$600 and share the same menu and orders as the website, so you update one admin panel. Apple's developer programme is US$99 a year and Google Play charges a one-time US$25 registration fee, both paid by you. The UK app development cost guide covers the wider budget.
What happens in the kitchen when an online order arrives?
The order should announce itself loudly and print cleanly, because nobody in a takeaway is watching a laptop. We set up an order tablet that rings until someone accepts, an optional thermal printer for the kitchen ticket, and a ready-time the staff choose when they accept.
Accepting the order sends the customer a confirmation with that time. When the driver leaves, one tap sends “on its way”. If the kitchen falls behind, staff can push all estimates out by fifteen minutes from the same screen, which saves the phone ringing with “where's my food?” calls.
Tickets are laid out for the line: dish, options in bold, notes, allergens, delivery or collection, paid or cash. For multi-site shops, orders route to the right branch by postcode. If you already use an EPOS till, we check whether it has an API or an import route; some do, some do not, and we tell you honestly before quoting.
Getting a takeaway website with online ordering found on Google and in AI answers
People search “pizza near me” or “Indian takeaway Headingley” and the map pack answers first, so your Google Business Profile matters as much as the site. Keep the profile's hours, menu link and order link accurate, and make sure your name, address and phone match everywhere.
On the site itself, we add structured data for a restaurant or takeaway, including the menu and opening hours, so search engines and AI assistants can read what you serve and when. Fast pages matter: Google's Core Web Vitals treat a Largest Contentful Paint of 2.5 seconds or less as good, and a menu page heavy with photos can blow past that on a phone signal in a car park.
A takeaway rarely needs dozens of blog posts. It needs a clear page for each area you deliver to, with honest details (delivery times, minimums), reviews shown where the platform allows, and a menu page that loads quickly. Nobody can promise a top position, but getting these basics right is how shops start showing up. If you want someone to keep working on it monthly, see local SEO services for UK businesses.
Running online ordering for two or more takeaway branches
Use one website with a branch picker driven by postcode, one shared menu with branch-level prices and availability, and a separate kitchen screen per shop. That keeps the brand consistent while each kitchen only sees its own orders.
Differences between branches are normal: one shop has a tandoor, the other does not; one stays open until 2am on Saturdays. The admin panel handles that with per-branch opening hours, sold-out switches and delivery zones. Reports show orders and takings by branch, so you can see which area is moving away from the marketplaces fastest.
Card payouts can go to one processor account or one per branch if they are run as separate businesses. That is a question for your accountant, and we set up whichever structure they prefer.
Building a takeaway ordering site with a team in India: hours, payments and the first two weeks
India is four and a half hours ahead of the UK in summer and five and a half in winter. Messages you send before opening are answered in our afternoon, and the hours after your lunch service overlap with our evening. We reply on WhatsApp seven days a week, which matters when a Friday-night problem cannot wait until Monday.
Calls are on WhatsApp, Zoom, Meet or Teams, usually before you open. Quotes and invoices come from India in USD; UK clients pay from a GBP account by Wise, bank wire or PayPal, against milestones in the written quote. Your domain, hosting and card processor account are in your name from day one, so you never depend on us to get paid.
Days 1–3
You send the menu (a photo of the printed one is fine), your delivery area and how the kitchen works on a busy night. We send questions and then an itemised quote.
Days 4–10
Menu modelled with options and allergens, delivery zones drafted on a map, processor account connected in test mode, first clickable pages on a preview link.
Days 11–14
You place test orders from your own phone, try the tablet or printer, and send feedback in one list. We fix, then plan a quiet weekday for launch rather than a Friday.
There are no site visits: printers and tablets are standard models you buy locally, and we walk you through setup on a video call. For more on remote working generally, see hiring developers in India.
Worked example: a takeaway website with online ordering for a Sheffield pizza shop
Picture a hypothetical pizza and kebab shop in Sheffield doing most of its evening trade through two delivery apps. It has three of its own drivers, a counter for collection, and a loyal crowd of students and families within a couple of miles. This illustration shows how we would scope it; it is not a client project.
Menu: pizzas in three sizes with half-and-half, crust choices and a topping builder; kebabs with sauces; meal deals built as rules. Allergens are ticked per item and per sauce. Delivery: zones by postcode district, free delivery above a threshold in the nearest two districts, a fee further out, and far zones switched to collection-only after 11pm on Fridays. Payments: cards and phone wallets through the owner's own processor account; cash only for customers with a previous paid order.
Getting regulars direct: a card in every marketplace bag with a QR code and a direct-only offer, a stamp card on the site, and consented SMS for a midweek deal. Kitchen: a tablet that rings, a thermal printer, and a “push all times back” button.
Estimate: this fits the ecommerce plan from US$750, around five to six weeks, with a branded app from US$600 as a later phase once direct orders prove the demand. The owner then compares next quarter's marketplace statements with direct takings to see what moved.
Launch checklist for a takeaway website with online ordering
Before you switch on online ordering for the public, run through every line below with a real phone, on mobile data, from outside the shop. Anything that fails here would fail on a Friday night too.
- Every dish, size and option tested in the basket; totals match your till
- Allergens shown before payment and printed on the kitchen ticket
- Postcodes inside and outside each zone tested, including edge cases
- Card, Apple Pay and Google Pay orders placed and refunded
- Cash rules working as you set them
- Tablet rings and printer prints with the volume on a noisy kitchen
- Order confirmation and “on its way” messages arrive
- Opening hours, holiday closures and the sold-out switch tested
- Privacy notice, cookie banner and terms linked; marketing checkbox unticked
- Google Business Profile order link pointing at your own site
Launch on a quiet weekday, watch the first evening together on WhatsApp, and only then put the QR cards in the bags. New builds get two months of free fixes, then care from US$120/mo if you want it.
Red flags when buying a takeaway ordering system
Be wary of any setup where you cannot see your own customer list, where takings pass through someone else's account before reaching you, or where leaving means losing your domain. Those three decide whether the system works for you or you work for it.
- The provider registers your domain in its own name
- Card payments settle to the provider first, then to you
- No export of customers, orders and consent records
- A per-order fee hidden inside a “free” website offer
- Your app published under the provider's developer account
- No allergen fields, or allergens only on a separate PDF
- Promises of guaranteed Google rankings
If you are weighing the whole budget first, the guide to how much a website costs in the UK explains ongoing costs and how to compare quotes like for like.