What restaurant commission really costs each year

The percentage that hides in plain sight

A 20% commission on a €28 order is €5.60. Easy to ignore on a busy Friday. Multiply it by weekly volume and the number stops being abstract.

Independent restaurants often accept marketplace rates because the channel “brings customers.” Some of those customers already knew you. You are paying discovery pricing for loyalty traffic.

A simple annual model

Use three inputs:

• Orders per week through commission channels
• Average order value
• Commission rate (often 15–30% all-in once you include fees)

Annual commission ≈ orders × AOV × 52 × rate.

Example: 80 orders/week × €28 × 52 × 20% ≈ €24,000/year.

That is not a software bill. That is revenue leaving the till.

Fixed software vs percentage of sales

Flat pricing behaves differently:

• A strong month does not punish you
• You can raise prices without raising your platform bill
• You keep guest data on a page you control

Orderzest charges €10/month (€120/year) with 0% commission on orders and bookings. The gap versus a percentage channel is usually measured in thousands, not tens.

Try the interactive commission calculator with your own volume.

When a marketplace still makes sense

Keep marketplaces if they produce net-new guests you cannot reach elsewhere — and treat them as paid acquisition. Do not make them the only way regulars can order from you.

A healthy setup for many cafés and takeaways:

1. Your own ordering link for regulars, Google profile and social
2. Optional marketplace presence for discovery only
3. Clear delivery zones and honest fees on your own checkout

What to put on your own link

To replace commission volume you need a page guests trust:

• Delivery, collection and dine-in where relevant
• Clear menu modifiers
• Map-drawn delivery zones
• Confirmations that land with the kitchen

That is the product surface Orderzest ships in one dashboard, alongside table reservations so staff are not juggling two tools. See online ordering and pricing.

Practical next step

1. Pull last month’s marketplace payouts
2. Estimate the commission line
3. Compare it to €120/year
4. Move regulars to your own link first — they convert easiest

Start a free 14-day trial or read the GloriaFood alternative guide if you are migrating off a retiring tool.

Extra operational notes restaurants ask about

Staff adoption matters more than feature lists. Pick one person to own the new link for the first two weeks: they check that tickets arrive, that printers or phone alerts work, and that delivery drivers still understand the address format. A quiet Tuesday is a better cutover day than Saturday brunch.

Write a three-line guest message you can reuse on Instagram Stories, WhatsApp broadcasts and email: what changed, what stayed the same (your food), and the new link. Guests forgive a software change when the message is clear and the food is familiar.

If you run more than one branch, migrate one location first. Prove the kitchen flow, then clone hours, zones and menus. Trying to flip every branch on the same afternoon creates support noise you do not need during service.

Keep a short rollback plan for seventy-two hours: old link still live but unpromoted, new link in every bio, one manager with authority to pause online ordering if the POS or printer misbehaves. After three clean services, remove the old buttons.

Finally, measure the right thing. Track orders on your own link weekly, marketplace commission paid monthly, and no-show rate on reservations. Those three numbers tell you whether the switch is working faster than any vanity dashboard.

For Orderzest specifically, use the free trial to place real test tickets, then subscribe only when the floor team is comfortable. Migration help and pricing are on the site; the goal is a boringly reliable Friday night, not another complicated vendor relationship.

A second-week checklist

• Confirm every public QR code resolves to the new page
• Remove outdated “Order with …” buttons from the website footer
• Train one backup person on refunds and cancelled bookings
• Screenshot your delivery zone map for the records
• Add the ordering link to Google Business Profile if you have not already
• Ask three regulars to place a real order and reply with friction notes
• Schedule a thirty-minute review after fourteen days of live traffic

None of this is glamorous. It is how restaurants keep weekends calm while the industry toolscape keeps changing.