How to Replace Foodhub With Direct Online Ordering
Foodhub is a food delivery marketplace operating in the UK. Like other marketplaces, it connects customers to local restaurants and charges commission on every order it sends you. That model is convenient when you are starting out, but it becomes expensive at scale — and it keeps your customers at arm's length.
Replacing Foodhub with a direct ordering channel means building a way for customers to order from you without going through a third party. You keep more of each order value, and you build a customer base you actually own.
Why restaurants use Foodhub — and why some leave
The appeal of any marketplace is reach. Foodhub brings customers who may not otherwise find you. In the early stages of a delivery business, that traffic has real value.
The problems emerge over time.
Commission on every order. Every order processed through Foodhub costs you a percentage of the order value. Over months and years, this is a significant cost. The more your delivery business grows, the higher your absolute commission spend.
No ownership of customer data. Customers who order through Foodhub are Foodhub's customers, not yours. You do not get their contact details and cannot market to them directly.
Marketplace dependency. Your revenue through Foodhub depends on their algorithms, their promotional pricing, and their platform decisions. If Foodhub changes its fee structure or your ranking on the platform drops, your revenue changes with it.
Operational complexity. Managing a separate Foodhub tablet in the kitchen adds a device, a queue, and an additional point of failure.
Direct ordering solves all of these problems.
What direct ordering means in practice
A direct ordering channel is any way for a customer to place an order with you that does not pass through a third-party marketplace. That typically means:
- An ordering website at your own domain or subdomain
- A branded mobile app that customers download once and reuse
- A kiosk in your restaurant for in-person orders without queuing at the counter
When a customer orders through your direct channel:
- You receive the full order value, minus payment processing fees (typically around 1–2%)
- Their data — name, email, phone, order history — belongs to you
- You can market to them directly and build loyalty
- The order goes straight to your kitchen without an extra tablet or integration layer
The commission calculation
Here is the rough maths. If a marketplace charges a commission rate and you process several thousand pounds per month through the platform, your monthly commission cost multiplies accordingly.
At modest volumes — say £5,000 per month in marketplace orders — even a 10% commission rate costs £500 per month. A direct ordering platform typically costs a fraction of that in platform fees.
Restaurants doing £20,000–£30,000 per month through marketplaces are often paying more in commission than their entire technology stack would cost otherwise.
How to build your direct ordering channel
Step 1: Choose a platform.
You want a system that gives you a branded ordering website, handles payment processing, and sends orders directly to your kitchen. Look for:
- A website you can customise with your branding
- A mobile app option
- A direct integration with your POS so orders do not need re-entering
- Loyalty tools to reward customers who order direct
- UK-based support
Flipdish online ordering is built for this. It provides branded websites and mobile apps that connect directly to the Flipdish POS, or integrate with your existing system.
Step 2: Set up your menu and payment processing.
This typically takes a few days with the right support. Get your menu live, set your delivery zones and minimum order values, and confirm payment processing is connected.
Step 3: Tell your existing customers.
Your Foodhub customers can become direct ordering customers if you tell them how. Use every touchpoint:
- Include your direct ordering URL on packaging and bags
- Add it to receipts
- Post about it on social media
- Add a banner or sign at your counter
Most customers are indifferent to which platform they use. They want food from you. If you make the direct channel easy to find, many will use it.
Step 4: Give people a reason to order direct.
A first-order discount for new direct ordering customers can shift behaviour quickly. A loyalty scheme that rewards every direct order — points, stamps, free items — gives customers a reason to keep coming back through your channel rather than through Foodhub.
Flipdish's built-in loyalty tools handle this without requiring separate software.
Step 5: Run both channels during the transition.
You do not need to leave Foodhub on day one. Keep your Foodhub presence while you build your direct order volume. Monitor the split monthly. When your direct orders generate comparable volume and the commission you are saving exceeds the revenue Foodhub brings at the margin, that is your signal to reduce your Foodhub presence.
What to measure
| Metric | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Direct orders per week | Your core growth indicator |
| Marketplace orders per week | Shows whether you are displacing or supplementing |
| Average order value, direct vs marketplace | Direct orders often run higher |
| Monthly commission spend | What you are saving |
| Customer retention rate | Direct customers return more often |
Choosing the right platform
Not all direct ordering platforms are equal. Beyond the basics of a branded website and payment processing, look for:
POS integration. Orders placed online should arrive in your kitchen automatically, not on a separate tablet. A restaurant POS that is native to the ordering platform eliminates the integration problem entirely.
Loyalty tools. Rewarding direct orders is one of the fastest ways to shift customer behaviour away from marketplaces. Points, stamps, and exclusive offers all work.
Marketing automation. The ability to reach your customers directly via email or push notification — with offers timed to their behaviour — compounds the value of building a direct customer base.
Kiosk compatibility. If you want self-service kiosks at any point, having them on the same platform as your online ordering simplifies everything.
Does this work for smaller restaurants?
Yes. A restaurant doing modest delivery volumes still pays commission on every marketplace order. If your direct ordering platform costs £100–£200 per month and you save that much or more in commission within the first few weeks, the platform pays for itself.
The customer data ownership advantage applies at any scale. A small restaurant with a few hundred direct ordering customers who can be reached directly is in a meaningfully stronger commercial position than one with the same volume entirely through a marketplace it does not control.
What about Foodhub's customer base?
Foodhub customers who have ordered from you through the marketplace already know your food. The transition to ordering direct is not usually a hard sell — it is primarily a communication task.
Restaurants that have successfully shifted volume away from marketplaces typically do it through consistent, multi-channel communication over several months. A sign at the counter, a sticker on the bag, a social post, and a loyalty reward in combination shift customer habits faster than any single touchpoint.
How Flipdish helps
Flipdish is used by restaurants across the UK and Ireland to reduce marketplace dependency and build direct ordering channels. Its platform covers the branded website, mobile app, POS integration, loyalty, and marketing tools needed to make the transition.
Restaurants that have made the shift typically find that the commission saving more than covers the platform cost, and that they are building a customer asset — a database of people they can reach directly — with long-term commercial value beyond the monthly saving.
If you want to reduce your Foodhub dependency and build a direct channel, the Flipdish team can show you how others have made that transition and what results to expect.