Online food-ordering platforms are a key channel partner for delivery-only and virtual restaurant concepts. Not only does outsourcing this important service help restaurants focus their time and resources on other aspects of the business, partnering with apps also provides an incredible marketing platform and helps reach new customers. The visibility and marketing support are especially important for newly launched virtual restaurants who may not have any physical presence to support their brand.

There are multiple online food-ordering platforms available, and the process of setting up these partnerships may seem daunting and cumbersome at first. This article is meant to answer your questions and help you get started.

Remember that each online food-ordering app will provide you with its own tablet to receive orders. As most delivery-only restaurants will choose to partner with multiple apps, the process of managing 3-4 tablets can be very inefficient for your kitchen staff. It may make sense to partner with a platform that consolidates all your food delivery orders in one tablet and integrates them with your POS. There are now several apps providing this service, including Cuboh, Ordermark, Otter, etc. These platforms generally offer month-to-month contracts and work with all large delivery apps (Grubhub, Doordash, Postmates, Uber Eats, etc.). Their websites are user-friendly, and you can easily schedule a call online with one of their sales reps who will walk you through a product demo, provide pricing information and answer any questions you might have.

Note that for Kitch subscription customers, you can get a 20% discount on monthly pricing with many of our partners. Contact us for additional information and we will be happy to help connect you.

An important factor to consider when choosing between online-ordering platforms is your location. Some delivery apps will have a much larger share of the market in certain locations vs. others. Current overall market share leaders are:

Overall –

1. Doordash (~45%)

2. Uber Eats (~23%)

3. Grubhub (~23%)

4. Postmates (~8%)

Market share leaders in key geographies are:

New York – Grubhub

LA and San Francisco – Doordash

Chicago – Doordash

Dallas and Houston – Doordash

Miami – Uber Eats

Atlanta – Uber Eats

The following step-by-step process is meant to be a general guide for partnering with online food-ordering apps. The actual process may vary slightly depending on the app.

1) Go to the page on each respective website designed specifically for restaurant partners and provide some basic information to get started. This includes the restaurant’s name and zip code, the owner’s first and last name, and contact information for the restaurant (address, phone and email address). Note: This is the phone and email address that will be used to send orders and address any issues, so make sure it belongs to someone who will be able to monitor it at all times.

2) Complete business entity verification by providing:

a. Business Entity/Company Name

b. Federal Employer Identification Number

c. Food Service Establishment (FSE) permit for the physical space where your kitchen is operating

3) Provide additional information about your restaurant:

a. Provide menu or upload menu photo

b. Upload photos of menu items – the major delivery apps will give you an option to schedule free photoshoots if you are interested

c. Confirm hours of operation

4) Set up payments by providing direct deposit information/voided check

5) Review terms and conditions and submit signed agreement

Once the above steps are complete, a representative from the app will reach out to schedule a call and request any additional information required. Please keep track of the credentials provided as you will be using them to log into the restaurant dashboards where will you be receiving orders, reviewing sales information etc.

Pricing varies between pick up vs delivery orders. Typically, apps charge 15% per order for pick up orders and 30-33% per order for delivery orders. Note that these fees are capped during COVID at 15%. A quick comparison between the major apps is provided below:

Uber Eats – $350 activation fees (waived during COVID), 30% per order for delivery orders, 15% per order for pick up orders

Doordash - 30% per order for delivery orders, 15% per order for pick up orders

Postmates – 33% per order for delivery orders, 15% per order for pick up orders

Grubhub – 33.05% per order for delivery orders (broken down as 20% marketing

commission, 10% order commission and 3.05% processing fees), 15% per order for pick up orders