Online ordering
A direct-ordering website that works like an app on a phone, with your menu, payments and collection slots, and no commission on each order.
from €3,500fixed fee
Industry
Take orders directly, keep the margin
We build websites for restaurants, takeaways, cafés, guest houses and independent shops in Ireland, with ordering, booking and selling built in so your customers deal with you and not with a marketplace.
- No long-term contracts
- 24-hour response
- Free consultation
The problems
What is costing you enquiries today
Marketplace commission is eating the margin
Delivery and ordering platforms are a useful way to be found, but every order through them carries a commission and the customer relationship belongs to the platform. Owners tell us the same thing: the busier they get, the less they keep. A direct ordering path on your own site changes that arithmetic for your regulars.
The menu online is not the menu in the kitchen
Prices change, specials come and go, and the PDF menu uploaded last spring is still the one Google shows. Customers ring to check, or order something you no longer make. The menu has to be a page you can edit on your phone in a minute, and it has to be the single source every other listing pulls from.
There is no way to order or book without ringing
Most independent food businesses still take orders and bookings by phone during the busiest hour of the day. A site that takes a collection order, a table booking or a room enquiry at 9pm on a Thursday, without anyone picking up, earns its fee quickly.
The Google Business Profile is running itself
For a restaurant or shop, the Business Profile is often seen more than the website. Wrong hours, old photos, unanswered reviews and no posts cost footfall every week. We set it up properly, link it to the site and give you a simple routine for keeping it alive.
The fix
The services that solve them
Web design and build
A Growth Website for a café, guest house or shop: menu or product pages, booking or enquiry, and a Google Business Profile that matches.
from €2,500fixed fee
SEO and content
Local SEO so you appear for ‘pizza near me’, ‘guest house Accra’ or ‘made-to-measure Dublin’, with reviews and a Business Profile that is kept current.
from €950fixed-fee audit
Care plans and hosting
Hosting, updates and backups, plus a monthly allowance for menu changes, new photos and seasonal offers.
from €60a month
Proof
Case studies in this sector
What we have built for food and retail businesses
Pesto Kitchen in Gormanston, Co. Meath sells Neapolitan pizza through a direct ordering site built as a progressive web app, so a customer can add it to their phone’s home screen and order again in a few taps. Yellow Bear, on the same farm, needed a fast menu site that works in a field with poor signal. Smart Grill sells app-controlled grills online. Cindy Coutour sells ready-to-wear and takes made-to-measure enquiries from a Dublin atelier. Tranquility Lodge is a guest house in Accra with rooms and dining.
Five different businesses, one approach: find the transaction the owner most wants to happen on the site, build the shortest possible path to it, and make the page fast enough to work on a phone in a car park.
How direct ordering works on your site
The ordering site runs on WordPress with a commerce layer, so you own the menu, the customer list and the order history. Customers pay by card online. You set the collection slots and the lead time. Orders print or ping in the kitchen the moment they land. The site installs on a phone like an app, which is what brings regulars back without the marketplace in between.
We keep the marketplaces where they earn their keep, as a discovery channel for new customers, and move the repeat business to your own site where you keep the full price. The Pesto Kitchen case study shows the build; the numbers are being agreed with the client and will be published here.
Pricing and timing
A direct-ordering website is a fixed-fee project, delivered in four to eight weeks, with the full price on the pricing page. A simpler Growth Website for a café, shop or guest house starts from €2,500. Monthly Care Plans cover hosting, updates and menu changes, and you can stop them at any time.
Free guide
Researching, not buying yet?
Take the checklist. It is the same list we run a new client’s site through on day one.
- No long-term contracts
- 24-hour response
- Free consultation
Free guide
Taking orders online without marketplace fees
For restaurants, takeaways, cafés and food producers. The break-even formula with a fill-in worksheet, and the six ways to move regulars from the apps to your own site.
- The break-even worksheet: your order value, your commission rate, and the number of direct orders a month that make a site pay.
- What a direct-ordering site must do on a phone, and the features that add cost without adding orders.
- Six proven ways to move regulars off the apps, from bag inserts to Google Business Profile buttons.
- How to keep the marketplaces for discovery without paying commission on your repeat customers.
- A launch-week plan: what to tell staff, what to print, what to post.
FAQ
Questions from food, drink and local retail owners
Will direct ordering replace the delivery apps?
Not on day one, and it should not have to. The apps bring new customers; your own site is where repeat customers order without commission. Most owners run both and shift the balance over a few months as regulars learn the direct route.
Can I change the menu and prices myself?
Yes. The menu is a set of items you edit from your phone or laptop, and the change is live immediately. We show you how during handover, and the Care Plan covers any changes you would rather send to us.
How are payments handled?
Card payments go through a standard payment provider such as Stripe, paid into your account on their schedule. We set it up with you; the account is in your name and the fees are theirs, not ours.
Does this work for a shop with physical products?
Yes. Smart Grill and Cindy Coutour both sell physical products from their sites. Product pages, stock, shipping options and payment are built the same way as an ordering site, and we can add made-to-measure or custom-order enquiry forms alongside.
See what direct ordering would do for you
A free 30-minute call. Bring your current menu and your marketplace statement, and we will show you the path to taking that business directly.
- No long-term contracts
- 24-hour response
- Free consultation