Online ordering for takeaways: cutting friction (and third-party fees)

Takeaway is a margin game, and two things quietly eat the margin: friction at the point of order, and the 20–30% commission third-party platforms charge to stand between you and your own customer. Direct, zero-friction online ordering fixes both.

The problem with the status quo

• Phone orders tie up staff and produce errors.
• Walk-in queues cap how many orders you can take at peak.
• Third-party apps take a large cut and keep the customer relationship — and the data.
• Forcing customers to download your own app simply loses the order.

What 'zero-friction' ordering looks like

The goal is the shortest possible path from "I want food" to "order placed," with nothing in the way:

• No app — it runs in the browser, so there's nothing to install.
• Order ahead — customers order and pay before they arrive; the food's ready when they are.
• Direct — the order and the customer are yours, not a platform's.
• Instant routing — orders land straight in the kitchen, no re-keying.

Why direct ordering wins on margin

Every order that comes through your own channel instead of a third-party app is the commission saved — straight to the bottom line. Over a busy month that difference is often the gap between a profitable takeaway and a break-even one. You also keep the data: who orders, what, and how often.

Skip the app. Skip the queue. Skip the 30% — and keep your customer.

Getting it right

• Make it scannable and linkable — a QR on the counter and a link in every bio and message.
• Keep checkout to the fewest taps possible; every extra step loses orders.
• Push customers to reorder directly with simple incentives.
• Connect ordering to your POS so the numbers stay in one place.

Order is Remetico's takeaway product for exactly this: zero-friction, no-app, order-ahead that keeps the customer (and the margin) yours. Combined with an intelligent POS, every direct order also becomes data you can use.