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Delivery Without Commissions: How to Break Free from Glovo and Deliveroo

Tired of paying 15-35% on every delivery order? Learn how restaurants are ditching marketplace commissions and building their own direct delivery channels.

Sigital Team·March 12, 202610 min read

Every time a customer orders from your restaurant through Glovo, Deliveroo, or Just Eat, you lose between 15% and 35% of the order value. On a €30 order, that's up to €10.50 — gone before you've paid for ingredients, staff, or packaging.

For many restaurants doing €5,000 per month in delivery, that translates to €1,250–€1,750 in monthly commissions. Over a year, you're handing over €15,000–€21,000 to a platform that sits between you and your customer.

It doesn't have to be this way.

The Real Cost of Marketplace Delivery

Let's break down what you're actually paying for when you use a delivery marketplace:

The Commission Structure

These percentages might look manageable on paper, but they compound devastatingly over time. A restaurant paying 30% commission on €5,000 monthly delivery revenue loses €18,000 per year — money that could fund a kitchen renovation, hire another cook, or simply be profit.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Talks About

Commission percentages are just the beginning. Marketplaces extract value in ways that aren't immediately obvious:

You don't own the customer relationship. When someone orders through Glovo, that's Glovo's customer — not yours. You don't get their email, their order history, or the ability to reach out with a promotion. Next time they're hungry, the app might suggest your competitor instead.

Forced discounting. To maintain visibility on these platforms, you often need to participate in promotions — "20% off your first order," free delivery deals, featured placement fees. These further eat into already thin margins.

Rating vulnerability. A single bad delivery experience — caused by the platform's rider arriving late — damages your rating, not theirs. Your reputation is in someone else's hands.

Menu inflation pressure. Many restaurants raise prices by 15–30% on marketplace menus to offset commissions. Customers notice. It erodes trust and pushes price-sensitive diners away.

Why Restaurants Are Going Direct

A growing number of restaurants across Europe are reclaiming their delivery channels. The reasons are straightforward:

1. Every Euro Stays Yours

With direct ordering, the only transaction fee is your payment processor (typically 1.4% + €0.25 per transaction with Stripe). On that same €5,000 monthly delivery volume, you'd pay roughly €95 in processing fees instead of €1,500 in marketplace commissions.

2. You Own the Customer Data

When customers order directly from you, you capture their name, email, phone number, order history, and preferences. This data is gold:

• Send personalized promotions to customers who haven't ordered in 30 days
• Offer birthday discounts automatically
• Launch a loyalty program that rewards repeat orders
• Understand which dishes drive reorders and which don't

3. Your Brand, Not Theirs

On a marketplace, your restaurant is one of hundreds in a scrollable list. On your own platform, customers interact with your brand — your colors, your photos, your story. This builds recognition and loyalty that no marketplace can replicate.

4. Better Margins Enable Better Food

When you're not hemorrhaging 30% on every order, you can invest in quality. Better ingredients, better packaging, a dedicated delivery setup. The irony of marketplace commissions is that they often force restaurants to cut corners — which leads to worse reviews — which requires more promotional spending — which further squeezes margins.

How to Set Up Commission-Free Delivery

Making the switch isn't as complex as it sounds. Here's a practical roadmap:

Step 1: Choose Your Direct Ordering Platform

Look for a solution that includes:

• Online ordering with a clean, mobile-first interface
• Integrated payments (Stripe Connect means money goes directly to your bank account)
• Real-time notifications so your kitchen knows instantly when an order comes in
• Custom branding so it looks and feels like your restaurant, not a generic tool
• QR code support for in-restaurant ordering that can extend to delivery

Avoid solutions that charge their own commissions — you'd just be switching from one middleman to another.

Step 2: Set Up Your Digital Menu

Your delivery menu needs to be compelling:

• Professional food photography increases order rates dramatically
• Clear descriptions with allergen information build trust
• Logical categories (starters, mains, desserts, drinks) make browsing intuitive
• Accurate pricing — no inflation needed when you're not covering commissions

Step 3: Handle Delivery Logistics

This is where most restaurants hesitate. But you have options:

Own drivers: If you already have delivery staff, this is the most cost-effective route. You control the experience end-to-end.

Hybrid approach: Use your own drivers during peak hours and a local courier service for overflow. Many cities have independent courier services that charge a flat per-delivery fee (€3–5) rather than a percentage.

Customer pickup: Don't underestimate takeaway. Many "delivery" orders can be converted to pickup with the right incentive — a small discount or faster preparation time.

Step 4: Drive Traffic to Your Direct Channel

The biggest challenge isn't technology — it's getting customers to order directly instead of defaulting to their marketplace app. Here's how:

In-restaurant promotion: Every dine-in customer is a potential direct delivery customer. Include flyers with the check, QR codes on tables, and verbal mentions from staff.

Social media: Your Instagram, Facebook, and Google Business profile should all link to your direct ordering page — not to a marketplace.

Incentivize the switch: Offer a small perk for first-time direct orders — free dessert, a discount code, priority preparation. The lifetime value of a direct customer far exceeds the cost of a one-time incentive.

Google presence: Update your Google Business profile to link directly to your ordering page. When someone searches "pizza delivery near me," your own ordering link should be what they see.

Packaging inserts: If you're still fulfilling some orders through marketplaces during the transition, include a card in every delivery bag: "Order directly at [your-website] — same food, better prices, faster delivery."

Step 5: Transition Gradually

You don't have to quit marketplaces cold turkey. A smart transition looks like this:

1. Month 1: Launch your direct ordering platform alongside existing marketplace presence
2. Month 2–3: Actively promote direct ordering; track what percentage of orders shift
3. Month 4–6: Evaluate results. Many restaurants find 40–60% of orders migrate within 3 months
4. Month 6+: Consider reducing marketplace presence or increasing marketplace prices to encourage direct ordering

The Numbers: A Real-World Comparison

Let's compare a restaurant doing €5,000/month in delivery across two scenarios:

That €16,000+ in annual savings can fund meaningful improvements to your restaurant — or simply be the profit margin that makes delivery worthwhile.

Common Objections (And Why They Don't Hold Up)

"But marketplaces bring me new customers"

They do — but at what cost? If you're paying 30% commission for customer acquisition, you're paying one of the highest acquisition costs in any industry. And unlike Google Ads or social media marketing, you don't own the customer afterward.

A better approach: use marketplaces strategically for discovery, but convert those customers to your direct channel as quickly as possible.

"I don't have the technical skills"

Modern restaurant platforms are designed for non-technical users. If you can post on Instagram, you can set up a digital ordering page. Most can be configured in under an hour with no coding required.

"My customers are already on Glovo/Deliveroo"

Your customers are on Glovo because that's what you've directed them to. When you give them an equally convenient alternative that's faster and cheaper (because you can pass on some commission savings), they'll switch. People are loyal to your food, not to an app.

"I can't handle my own delivery"

Start with takeaway only. Many restaurants find that 30–50% of their "delivery" customers are happy to pick up — especially with a small discount incentive. For actual delivery, start with a small radius and expand as you build confidence.

Building Customer Loyalty Without a Marketplace

One of the biggest advantages of direct ordering is the ability to build genuine customer relationships:

Loyalty programs: Reward repeat orders with points, free items, or exclusive discounts. This is impossible when orders come through a marketplace — you don't even know who your regulars are.

Personalized communication: Send a "we miss you" email to customers who haven't ordered in 3 weeks. Share your new seasonal menu with your biggest spenders. These small touches build the kind of loyalty that no marketplace algorithm can replicate.

Feedback loops: When customers order directly, you can follow up with satisfaction surveys, respond to concerns personally, and continuously improve. On marketplaces, negative experiences become public 1-star reviews before you even know something went wrong.

The Bottom Line

Delivery marketplaces solved a real problem when they launched: they made restaurant delivery accessible and convenient. But the economics have shifted decisively against restaurants. Paying 15–35% commissions on every order is not a sustainable business model — it's a tax on your success.

The technology to go direct is now affordable, accessible, and proven. Thousands of restaurants across Europe have made the switch and are keeping more of what they earn while building stronger customer relationships.

The question isn't whether you can afford to leave marketplaces. It's whether you can afford to stay.

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Ready to take control of your delivery revenue? See how Sigital helps restaurants go commission-free.