Direct Ordering vs Deliveroo: Which Is Better for Restaurants?
Direct ordering vs Deliveroo: the short answer
Direct ordering keeps more of each order in your pocket and gives you your customers' details. Deliveroo puts you in front of people who are already scrolling for dinner. Most restaurants end up using both. The question is how much of your business you let run through Deliveroo.
What Deliveroo actually costs
Deliveroo takes a commission on every order. In the UK and Ireland that's usually somewhere between 25% and 35% of the order value, depending on your plan and how well you negotiated. On a £25 order, £6 to £9 is gone before you've seen any of it.
Then there's the rest:
- VAT on the commission
- Packaging upgrades to meet the platform's standards
- Pressure to run discounts during Deliveroo's promotions
And you get no contact details. You can't email a Deliveroo customer, text them or retarget them. They're Deliveroo's customers, not yours.
What direct ordering costs
A direct online ordering system usually means a monthly subscription plus a payment processing fee. Flipdish doesn't charge a commission per order - you pay a fixed fee and keep the rest.
Take the same £25 order. With a 4% processing fee, you keep about £24. Through Deliveroo at 30%, you keep £17.50.
The margin comparison
| £25 order | Deliveroo (30%) | Direct ordering |
|---|---|---|
| You receive | ~£17.50 | ~£24.00 |
| Difference per order | - | +£6.50 |
| On 100 orders/week | - | +£650/week |
Move 100 orders a week from Deliveroo to direct and that's about £33,800 over a year that stays in the business.
Customer data
Deliveroo doesn't share customer data with restaurants. You can't see email addresses, order history or how often people reorder - even for regulars who've been ordering from you for years.
When people order direct, that data is yours. You can use it to:
- win back customers who haven't ordered in a while
- send loyalty offers automatically
- target promotions based on what people actually order
- see which dishes keep people coming back
A customer who orders from you every fortnight is worth a lot more than the £6.50 you save on one order. You can only build on that if you know who they are.
Where Deliveroo still wins
Discovery. A restaurant nobody has heard of can show up in front of thousands of people searching for pizza or Thai food in their area. If you've just opened, or you've moved into a new area, that's hard to get any other way.
So use it. Just make sure the people who find you on Deliveroo end up ordering direct next time.
How to move customers from Deliveroo to direct
- Put a leaflet in every Deliveroo bag with your direct ordering link or a QR code
- Give a first-order discount that only works on your own app or website
- Run loyalty points that only build up on direct orders
- Make ordering direct quicker than ordering through Deliveroo. If your site is slow or clunky, nobody switches.
- Use AI marketing tools to chase up lapsed customers automatically
Not everyone will switch. Some people only ever order through the app they already have open. But every customer who does switch is one you stop paying 30% on.
Platform risk
Deliveroo decides what it shows and when. Restaurants have been de-listed, lost promotional placements or watched their visibility drop after an algorithm change, often with no warning.
If all your online orders come through Deliveroo, you've got nothing to fall back on when that happens. Direct ordering is partly insurance.
The verdict
Deliveroo is a good way to get found. It's a bad place to keep all your orders. The commission scales with you, so the busier you get, the more you pay. And you never get to know the people who already like your food.
Flipdish gives you direct online ordering under your own brand, with no per-order commission and full ownership of your customer data. Restaurants running Flipdish alongside Deliveroo can use loyalty schemes and personalised offers that the marketplace won't let them run.
Use Deliveroo for discovery. Use direct ordering to make money.