Uber Eats Alternative for Restaurants: How to Build a Direct Ordering Channel
Why restaurants look for an Uber Eats alternative
Uber Eats sends real order volume to a lot of restaurants in the UK and Ireland. It also takes a big cut of every order.
Commission on third-party delivery platforms runs from 15% to 35% of the order value, depending on the platform and the deal you've agreed. If your net margin is 10-15%, a 25% commission wipes out the profit on a delivery order and then some. Do that at volume and a large slice of your revenue never reaches your bank account.
Uber Eats isn't the real issue. Dependency is. If most of your delivery orders come through one marketplace, you can't see who your customers are, you can't message them, and you have very little room to push back when the terms change.
A direct ordering channel doesn't mean leaving Uber Eats. It means building a second way to order that you own, where the customer is yours and the maths is different.
What counts as a direct channel
Any way for a customer to order without a marketplace taking commission. In practice that means:
- a branded ordering website
- a branded mobile app
- QR code ordering in the restaurant
- phone orders, including AI phone ordering
- self-service kiosks
The aim is to move part of your order volume onto these channels over time, using offers and a faster ordering experience. Nobody switches overnight.
How Flipdish handles direct ordering
Flipdish is built for restaurants that want their own ordering channels. It covers websites, apps, kiosks and phone ordering, and all of them feed the same POS and kitchen system. Staff don't end up with a separate screen for every channel.
Ordering website
A Flipdish restaurant ordering website carries your brand, not a marketplace's. The customer orders from your site, the payment goes to you, and you keep the customer's details.
The cost structure is the big difference. Instead of 20-30% commission on every order, you pay a flat platform subscription. The more delivery volume you have, the more that gap adds up.
Mobile app
A branded restaurant app is the best long-term answer to marketplace dependency. Once a regular customer has your app on their phone, ordering takes a few taps, their points are already there, and you can send them a push notification about a new dish or an offer without paying anyone for access.
Flipdish builds and maintains the app for you. The customer relationship stays with you.
Self-service kiosks
If you have a physical site, self-service kiosks take in-person orders directly. They prompt customers to add extras, which lifts the average order, and they take pressure off the counter at peak times. Orders go straight into the POS and loyalty points are applied automatically.
AI phone ordering
Plenty of restaurants still get a steady stream of orders by phone. Flipdish AI phone ordering answers those calls, takes the order, answers menu questions and takes payment, so nobody has to stop what they're doing in the kitchen to pick up.
QR code ordering
In the restaurant, a QR code on the table lets people order and pay from their own phone. It's a direct order like any other, so there's no commission, and it feeds into the same POS as everything else. It's also a handy way to get diners used to ordering from you rather than from a marketplace app.
The economics of direct ordering vs Uber Eats
Take a restaurant putting £30,000 a month through Uber Eats at 25% commission. That's £7,500 a month, or £90,000 a year, handed over in fees.
Now say 30% of that volume moves to a direct channel. That's £9,000 a month of orders that no longer carry commission, which comes to £2,250 a month or £27,000 a year. You still have to pay for the platform subscription and some marketing to get customers across, but the saving is large enough that the payback period is short.
The rate matters a lot. At 15% commission the same £30,000 costs £4,500 a month. At 35% it costs £10,500. Whichever number you're paying, you can work out your own version of this in a couple of minutes: take last month's marketplace sales, multiply by your commission rate, and then ask what a third of it would be worth to you.
Building the channel isn't the hard bit. Getting customers to use it is.
How to move customers from Uber Eats to your own channel
People order from marketplaces out of habit, so you need to give them a reason to change. A few things work well together.
Start with loyalty. Someone ordering through Uber Eats earns nothing with your restaurant. Someone ordering direct collects points they can spend on their next order. For regulars, that adds up fast enough to make the direct channel the obvious choice. Flipdish loyalty runs across the website, app, kiosk and counter, and points are awarded automatically. No stamp cards, nothing for staff to remember.
Offers help too. A discount, a free side or free delivery that only applies on your own website or app gives people a concrete reason to try it. It doesn't need to be big. A small first-order offer that's easy to spot is often enough.
Then use the people who are already in front of you. Table cards, receipts, packaging inserts and a quick word from staff at the counter can all point customers to your app. Someone who has just enjoyed a meal at your restaurant is far more likely to download it than a stranger on a marketplace. It costs almost nothing.
Some restaurants set slightly higher prices on marketplaces to cover the commission. That makes your direct prices look better by comparison and stops marketplace orders from losing you money.
Finally, bring lapsed customers back. Flipdish automated marketing can pick out customers who haven't ordered direct in 60 or 90 days and send them a reactivation message. You set it up once and it keeps running.
Should you stop using Uber Eats altogether?
Probably not. Marketplaces bring in customers who'd never find you otherwise. Someone hungry at 10pm in an unfamiliar area is going to open a marketplace app, not search for your website. You want those orders.
What you want to change is the ratio. A restaurant taking 80% of its delivery orders through Uber Eats and 20% direct is exposed. One change to commission or to the ranking algorithm and revenue moves overnight. The same restaurant at 40% marketplace and 60% direct keeps more of each order, owns a customer database, and isn't at the mercy of someone else's rule changes.
Your regular Friday night customer should be ordering from your app. The marketplace is for finding new ones.
You don't have to choose between the two on the kitchen side. Flipdish order management brings orders from Uber Eats, Deliveroo and Just Eat into the same POS as your direct orders, so the kitchen works from one queue.
What the first few months look like
The direct share will start small. That's normal. Most of your delivery customers are used to opening Uber Eats, and a new website or app has to earn a place on their home screen.
Don't pull your marketplace listing to speed things up. You'd lose the customers who find you there, and the ones who already know you won't all follow you straight away. Keep both running, push the direct channel at every chance, and watch the split. When the direct share is growing month on month, you're doing it right. When it's flat, the offer probably isn't good enough or customers aren't seeing it.
Expect the customers who switch first to be your regulars. They're also the ones worth the most to you, because they order often and you can reach them directly with new menu items, seasonal offers and reminders.
Direct ordering vs marketplace
| Uber Eats | Direct ordering (Flipdish) | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per order | 15-35% | None |
| Customer data | Owned by Uber Eats | Owned by you |
| Marketing to customers | Not possible | CRM, SMS, email, push notifications |
| Loyalty | Not possible | Fully integrated |
| Branded experience | No | Yes |
| Customer discovery | High | Lower at first |
| Pricing control | Limited | Full |
| Long-term margin | Low | High |
How to launch your direct ordering channel
Pick your platform. A Flipdish website or app can be set up quickly, and your menu, prices and operational setup carry across from your POS.
Turn on loyalty before launch. If every direct customer earns points from their first order, your best customers are enrolled from the start rather than later.
Set a launch offer. Make it specific and time-limited. Free delivery on a first direct order works, as does a discount code printed on packaging that goes out to your marketplace customers.
Promote it every day. Packaging, receipts, signage in the restaurant, social media, emails to people you already know. Changing someone's ordering habit takes repeated nudges over months, not a single campaign.
Check the split every month. Look at marketplace orders against direct orders, and compare average order value on each. If the direct share isn't moving, change the offer.
Automate win-back. Use Flipdish marketing tools to set up campaigns for direct customers who've gone quiet. Once they're configured they run on their own.
Find out more about Flipdish online ordering.
For more restaurant technology comparisons and strategy guides, visit restauranttech.co.uk.