Order the pickup straight from the restaurant
A delivery app takes a cut from the restaurant and often adds fees. If you are collecting the food yourself, ordering direct can cost less.
From people's advice and experience shared online about ordering food, and about restaurants' own side of it; the fee figures were read from a delivery company's page for restaurants in October 2026.
You open the app, build the order, and the total is a lot more than the food. The delivery fee is on one line, and something called taxes and fees is on another. One person says apps tuck service charges into that second line so the visible delivery fee looks smaller.
When you are going to collect the food yourself, order it from the restaurant directly, by its own phone number or website, instead of through a delivery app.
If you cannot go and get it, or cannot make a call, this page is not asking you to. There is a section for you near the end.
Why direct can cost less
Many people say ordering direct is cheaper, because the app takes a commission from the restaurant and adds fees on top for you. Some people say restaurants price their food higher on the apps to make up for that commission. So the same meal can cost one amount at the counter and another on the screen.
One large delivery company’s own page for restaurants lists what it charges them: a share of each delivery order that rises from 15 per cent to 30 per cent depending on the plan the restaurant picks, and a flat 6 per cent for pickup orders. It adds that restaurants can set different prices for delivery, and that “many restaurants do”. For pickup it says the 6 per cent rate applies to partners who keep the app’s menu prices the same as the prices in the shop. That is one company, in the US, and the figures can change.
What that means for you: on a delivered order, the markup in the menu price and the fees are both possible. On a pickup order the menu price may be the same, and the difference is mostly the fees you pay and the share the restaurant loses. Some people say restaurant owners would rather you ordered direct, because they keep more of the money and control more of the experience. Some people add that restaurants accept the apps anyway as a way to be seen, even if they would prefer you rang.
None of this tells you what your restaurant charges. Compare one order yourself.
How to order direct
Find the restaurant’s own website, or the number printed on it. Search results are a trap here: some people pointed out that the top links are often paid ads, and that you may need to scroll past that section to reach the restaurant’s real result.
The number matters. Some people warn that a number shown on a listing site, or at the top of search results, can be a forwarding number that the restaurant is billed for when you call. Others disagree about how widespread this is. One person who manages a restaurant says their real number is on the listing and nobody has pressed them to change it, and another points out that a number in a search ad can be an ordinary advertising number that costs the restaurant nothing per call. If you can, use the number on the restaurant’s own website or its door.
A few other ways in:
- Some people say they use an app only to read the menu and then call the restaurant to place the order, which spares both them and the restaurant the commission. One person says menus are sometimes hard to find anywhere else, and another that app menus can be out of date or wrong, so what you read there may need checking with the restaurant.
- One person says that if you do use a delivery company, going to it from the restaurant’s own website, rather than searching inside the app, saves the restaurant a finder’s fee. The same person later added that the restaurant may still be charged. So that one is a gamble, not a rule.
When the app is the better choice
This is a choice people argue about, and what decides it is your own situation, so this page does not settle it for you. One person says the higher price is justified by the speed, the ease and the customer service. Another says the fees are wasteful and that you should order direct or cook. What decides it, they said, is how much time you have, whether you can travel, and how much dealing with a restaurant’s phone or website bothers you.
Reasons given for using the app, one at a time:
- One person says apps handle refunds, credits and replacements when an order goes wrong, where a restaurant may not. Another warns that ordering direct may leave you with less recourse.
- One person says an order through a pizza place’s own app arrived late and cold, while the app had been reliable for the same restaurant.
- Some people say apps sometimes run promotions set by the platform, which the restaurant may never have heard of, so the app can be the cheaper way for one particular order. Compare what is on offer that day.
- Apps let you see the items, manage the cart and confirm the order on screen. Some people say that means fewer mistakes than a phone call.
- One person says some restaurants cannot take a card by phone, which is why they use the app.
If you need it delivered
Some small restaurants do not run their own delivery, because they lack the staff or do not want people leaving the premises. For those, some people say the app is the only way to get it delivered, even though pickup could go direct. One person adds that many places that say they deliver direct still use outside drivers, so the saving can be smaller than it looks, and that collecting the food yourself is the cheapest route.
Some people say that ordering delivery through the restaurant’s own website is cheaper and better than using the app, while others say it can be unreliable, or the food does not arrive, and that the app at least guarantees delivery. What decides it, they said, is how that restaurant’s website is connected to its delivery partner and how reliable the local drivers are.
If delivery is what you need, the savings in this page mostly are not available. The step that still works is the comparison: look at what the app charges in total and what the restaurant would charge you.
Surplus-food apps
Many people say the value of apps that sell surplus food cheaply depends on where you live. In some areas there is plenty listed, in others very little, or only things that are not worth the price. So look at what is listed near you before you count on it to save you money.
Who this page is not for
If you have a health condition, limited mobility, or children and no one to leave them with, you are not being told to do something harder. One person says delivery can be worth the extra money for people with health conditions or limited mobility, and another says the same for those short of time or childcare. The comparison in the first step may still be worth doing once, but nobody is asking you to explain your choice.
And this page is about the person ordering. It does not cover what delivery drivers earn, or how their insurance works.
Common questions
Is it really cheaper, or does the restaurant charge the same either way?
Some people say restaurants price higher on the apps to cover the commission, so calling or ordering in person costs less. One person gave an example: a large pizza special listed on an app for about six and a half dollars more than the shop's own price. The picture from the delivery side is more mixed. One large delivery company's own page for restaurants says it charges them a bigger share on delivery orders than on pickup, and that restaurants can set different prices for delivery. For pickup, that same page says its 6 per cent pickup rate applies to partners who keep the app's menu prices the same as in-store prices. So for a pickup the gap you see may be mostly fees, and sometimes small. The only way to know is to compare your own order, the way the step above says.
The restaurant told me to use the app.
One person warns that some restaurants do tell callers to use an app rather than take the order. Some people point out that many small places have no website or online ordering of their own, while larger chains and independent restaurants often do, so it is worth checking before you default to the app. Where the app really is the only way to order, that is a fair reason to use it. One person also notes that if you ask a restaurant to honour a promotion you saw on an app, they may not have set stock aside for it.
I hate phoning. What can I do instead?
Some people say they would rather type their card number into a screen than read it out to someone, so a restaurant's own online ordering page, where it has one, may suit you better than a call. One person describes language barriers as a reason phone orders go wrong at some restaurants, and another says the same. If neither a page nor a call works for you, the app is a reasonable choice, and one person says you do not need to justify choosing it.
Questions this step helps with
What people worked out
Shorter, plainer notes on the same ground — each with the number of people behind it.
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