Your own online ordering system or a platform: how to choose

The short answer

A platform is like a spot on a busy street: people walk past you, but the rent comes out of every sale, and the customer remains a customer of the street. Your own system is like your own shop: nobody walks in by chance, but everything that happens inside is yours.

That is why many restaurants with regular customers do not pick one, but use both for different things.

How delivery and booking platforms work

Delivery platforms such as Glovo, Bolt Food and Wolt gather the menus of many restaurants in one app. The customer searches, orders and pays there. The platform usually takes care of the app, the payment and often the delivery.

The restaurant usually pays a commission as a share of the value of each order, sometimes with extra fees. Terms differ by platform and by contract, so check them in the contract, not in the advertising. Booking platforms work on similar logic: they bring visibility, and you pay according to the model you agree with them.

Your own online ordering system: what it is

It is your website with a menu and a cart, connected to what happens in the restaurant. The customer orders or books a table with you, and the request goes straight to the team.

• Menu and cart on your website With your photos, prices and descriptions, in Bulgarian and English if you have foreign guests.
• Kitchen board A new order appears straight away on a screen and on a ticket printer, without anyone retyping it.
• Bookings A table request lands on the same board, not on someone's personal phone.
• Payment Cash, card on delivery or card online. The card payment provider charges its own fees.
• How you pay for the system The build, hosting and maintenance. There is no commission to a middleman on every order.

A point-by-point comparison

• New customers A platform shows you to people who do not know you yet. Your own site has to be found: through Google, social media, a note in the bag or a previous order.
• Payment model With a platform you pay on every order. With your own system you pay for the build and the maintenance, however many orders come in.
• The customer relationship With a platform the customer is the platform's, and you usually see only as much data as it shares. With your own system the order, the history and, with consent, the customer's contact details are yours.
• Control On a platform, the menu and the look follow its rules. On your own site you decide what is shown, how and at what price.
• Delivery Some platforms offer their own couriers. With your own system you deliver yourself, use a courier company or offer pick-up.
• Effort A platform is quick to join and needs little upkeep from you. Your own system has to be built, maintained and promoted.

When a platform is the right choice

• A new venue You do not yet have regulars who would order directly from you.
• Few orders If you get a handful of orders a week, your own system will not pay for itself.
• No couriers of your own If you do not want to organise delivery, the platform can take it on, where it offers that service.
• No time for another system If nobody on the team can keep an eye on one more board and one more menu.

When your own system is worth it

• Orders every day Orders and bookings are daily, and the commission already shows in the accounts.
• Customers who come back People order from you again and again. Every repeat order through your own site is entirely yours.
• Orders from many channels Phone, chat, social media. Your own system gathers everything in one place for the kitchen.
• You want to talk to your customers To tell them about a new menu or an event, with their consent, without a middleman.

Running both at once

Many restaurants keep both. The platform brings new customers, and your own site keeps them. A new customer discovers the restaurant in the app, and next time orders directly.

Before you point customers from a platform to your own site, read the contract. Ask whether it limits what you can put in the bag, whether it requires the same prices everywhere and what customer data it gives you. These terms depend on the platform and change over time, so ask in writing.

How we help

We have built an ordering system for a delivery kitchen, with a live kitchen board and ticket printing, and a booking system for a restaurant and bar. Both are live. If your orders are too few for your own system, we say so on the first call.

• Booking and online ordering system What it includes and how the work runs.
• What drives the price What goes into the scope of a system like this.