Commission-Free Online Ordering: How Restaurants Get to 0%
By Taylor Brewster · June 2026 · 4 min read
Every restaurant knows the marketplace math by now: 15–30% headline commission, 30–40% all-in. The alternative isn't a smaller percentage. It's zero — ordering that lives on your own website, where every dollar of every order is yours.
What "commission-free" actually means
Platforms like Town put a full ordering experience on your site — menu, checkout, pickup and delivery options — with no percentage taken from your sales. The order comes to your kitchen the same way; the difference is whose customer it is and who keeps the margin. On direct orders, the answer to both is: you. You also get something the marketplaces will never give you — the customer's name, contact info, and order history, which is the raw material of every loyalty program and win-back campaign you'll ever run.
The hard part isn't the tech — it's the migration
Owners often launch direct ordering, see a trickle, and conclude it doesn't work. The platforms count on this. Direct ordering works when you run the conversion play deliberately:
- Bag stuffers in every marketplace order. A card with a QR code and a real incentive: "Order direct next time — free queso / 10% off / free delivery."
- Make the button unmissable. "Order Online" front and center on your website, Google Business Profile, and Instagram bio — pointing to YOUR ordering, not a marketplace.
- Capture and re-market. Direct ordering gives you emails and phone numbers. A monthly offer to that list costs nothing and pulls repeat orders off the apps.
- Keep marketplaces for discovery. Don't delist — new customers still find you there. The goal is graduating regulars to direct, order by order.
What about delivery drivers?
Direct platforms typically tap on-demand courier networks for fulfillment at a flat per-delivery cost (often passed to the guest) rather than a percentage of your sales. Pickup orders — a huge share of direct volume — cost you nothing at all.