Online ordering system for restaurants and takeaways

An online ordering system for restaurants takes a customer from your menu to a paid order on your kitchen printer or screen, through your own website and under your own name. For an independent takeaway, pizzeria or restaurant in Ireland or the UK, it runs next to Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats, not instead of them. The apps put you in front of people who have never heard of you. Your own ordering system is where those people place their second, third and tenth order, at a lower cost to you.

Four things decide whether a system suits you: how the provider charges, how quickly a customer can order on a phone, who keeps the customer list, and how hard the contract is to leave. Card fees sit on a separate line in most models. Some providers process cards themselves and set their own rate. Others, Eclyde included, connect your own Stripe account, so Stripe charges you directly at its published rates.

Fee structures and break-even maths in full are on the commission-free online ordering page. The pages a restaurant website needs, and what one costs to build, are on the restaurant website builder page. This page is for choosing and setting up the ordering system itself.

Types of online ordering system for restaurants

There are five common models in Ireland and the UK. Each charges in a different way, and each puts the customer relationship in a different place.

Marketplaces

Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats list your menu beside every other takeaway in the area. You pay commission on each order at the rate in your partner contract. Current published rates, VAT on commission and worked examples are in the Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats commission guide.

The customer signs up with the app, not with you. Deliveroo’s Irish merchant terms, shown as last updated on 11 November 2020 when checked in September 2026, say partners must not use order information for any purpose other than fulfilling that order. The same terms ask for menu prices on the platform to match your dine-in or in-store menu prices. Read your own contract with each app before you plan any direct-order promotion.

Commission-based white-label ordering

A provider builds a website and app under your brand and takes a percentage of the sales that come through them. Upfront cost is low. The monthly bill rises with every order.

OrderYOYO is one example in the UK. Its GB terms and conditions describe commission as an agreed share of turnover from online orders, with the tier set by each location’s turnover. The same terms say neither side can end the contract during the first 12 months. From 7 April 2025, OrderYOYO raised the service fee paid by customers to £0.75 per website and app order, on top of the commission the restaurant pays.

Subscription ordering platforms

You pay a fixed monthly fee per site. Some platforms also charge per order or run card processing themselves, so ask for the full rate card as well as the plan price.

Flipdish publishes plan prices for Ireland and the UK. When checked in September 2026, Starter (branded website and online ordering) was €69 or £69 a month billed monthly, or €588 or £588 a year, per site. Professional, which adds a branded app, was €99 or £99 a month, or €948 or £948 a year. The pricing page says hardware and implementation costs vary and that Flipdish handles card processing. It does not list per-order fees, so ask for them in writing.

Eclyde charges €499 to launch and then €99 a month for the whole platform, with no Eclyde commission on direct orders and no limits on orders or customers. Card payments go through your own Stripe account. The breakdown is on the Eclyde pricing page.

Website builders with an ordering add-on

General website builders let you add ordering to a site you build and look after yourself. Square’s UK pricing page listed a Free Square Online plan with no monthly fee, a Plus plan from £29 a month, and online card rates of 1.4% + 25p for UK cards, when checked in September 2026. Wix’s plans page lists accepting payments on its Core, Business and Business Elite plans, and not on Light.

Builders suit owners who enjoy building pages and have time to maintain them. Test the restaurant parts before you commit: required modifier choices, prep-time settings, pausing orders on a busy night, delivery areas and kitchen printing.

Free ordering widgets

A free widget adds an order button to a site you already have. GloriaFood’s pricing page lists a free plan with unlimited orders and no commission, and paid add-ons such as online payments at US$29 a month. GloriaFood’s home page states that the product reaches end of life on 30 April 2027. A restaurant starting on it in September 2026 would need to move again within eight months.

Model comparison

Must-have features in an online ordering system for restaurants

Feature lists from providers run to hundreds of lines. The features below are the ones that change how many orders you take, how fast the kitchen works and how often customers come back.

Menu

• Modifiers with prices. Size, base, extra toppings, spice level, meal upgrade. Every paid extra needs its own price, or staff end up adding charges by hand.
• Required and optional choices. A pizza needs a size. Extra cheese is optional. The system should force required choices and cap optional ones.
• Sold-out switch. When the kitchen runs out of lamb bhuna at 8pm, one tap should hide it from the website straight away, from the till or a phone.
• Menu schedules. Lunch deals that disappear at 3pm and a late menu that appears after 10pm, without manual edits each day.
• Allergen information. Listed against each dish or no more than one click from the menu. The legal detail is in the rules section further down.
• One menu everywhere. A price change on the POS should reach the website. Separate menus for the till, the website and each app are where prices drift apart. The detail is in restaurant menu management.

Checkout

• Guest checkout or a short sign-up. A password screen before the first order is one more step between a hungry customer and a paid order.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay. Typing a 16-digit card number on a phone keyboard is slow. Wallets skip it.
• Address lookup and verification. A wrong address costs the driver time and the customer a cold meal. Checking it at checkout fixes the problem before the food is cooked.
• Order for later. Customers choose a pickup or delivery time, including later in the week.
• Discount codes. One field, clear rules, and a plain message when a code does not apply.
• Costs before payment. Delivery fee, minimum order and any service fee visible on the menu page, not added on the last screen.

Order handling

• Orders on the POS or a tablet with a loud alert. A missed order on a Friday can turn into a refund and a complaint.
• Kitchen tickets or a kitchen screen. Online orders should print, or appear on a kitchen display system, without anyone re-keying them.
• Accept, reject and prep-time controls. Push pickup times from 20 to 40 minutes when the pass is full.
• Pause online ordering. One switch when the fryer breaks or a driver calls in sick.
• Customer updates. Order confirmed, ready for pickup, out for delivery, by email or SMS.

After the order

• Customer profiles. Name, contact details, order history, favourite items and order frequency, held in your account and exportable. What to collect and the consent rules are in the restaurant CRM guide.
• Reorder. Saved basket and saved address for returning customers.
• Loyalty and referral rewards. Points earned on your own site give a regular a reason to order direct next time.
• Review requests. Ask every customer after the order, whatever you expect them to say.
• Marketing consent at checkout. A separate choice for email and SMS offers, never bundled into the terms.

Conversion on a takeaway online ordering website

Test your ordering site the way customers use it: on a phone, on mobile data, one-handed, between other things. Then fix what slows them down.

Speed on a phone

Google uses the mobile version of a site’s content for indexing and ranking, according to its mobile-first indexing guidance. Its page speed guidance, last updated 10 December 2025, sets these targets:

PageSpeed Insights shows real-user data from the previous 28 days next to a simulated lab test. Check the real-user figures first, because they reflect your customers’ phones.

Common causes of a slow ordering page:

• Uncompressed photos straight from a camera or phone.
• An ordering widget loaded inside a slow website, so the menu waits for both.
• A menu published as a PDF, which has to download before anyone can read it.
• Pop-ups that cover the menu. Google’s page experience guidance advises against intrusive interstitials.

Taps to pay

Count the taps from opening your link to a paid order. Use this as the target:

1. Menu visible on the first screen, with nothing covering it.
2. Items without required choices added in one tap.
3. Basket total visible at all times.
4. One checkout screen: name, phone, address or pickup time, payment.
5. Apple Pay or Google Pay as the first payment option on a phone that supports it.

Clear prices

Put the delivery fee, minimum order and any service fee on the menu page. In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority’s price transparency summary, published 7 January 2026, says the total price must be given up front including mandatory charges, that hiding fees until later in the purchase is illegal, and that fines can reach 10% of turnover or £300,000, whichever is greater. In Ireland, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission says traders selling online must give the total price and any extra charges, or how the price will be calculated, before the purchase.

Photos and descriptions

• Photograph your own food, in daylight, on the pass, the day it is cooked.
• Say what is in the dish, the portion (“12-inch, 8 slices”, “serves 2”) and the spice level.
• Put the top three sellers first in each category.
• Keep descriptions to one or two lines, so the menu scrolls quickly on a phone.

Honest times

Quote real prep and delivery times, and change them on busy nights. A promised 30 minutes that turns into 70 creates phone calls the kitchen cannot answer during service.

Reasons to order direct

A customer who finds you on an app needs a reason to use your site next time. Loyalty points, a referral reward or a direct-only deal are common choices. Check your marketplace contracts first, because some tie platform prices to your in-store prices. The full playbook, including marketplace rule limits, is in how to get more direct orders. Tactics for raising basket size are in how to increase average order value.

Online ordering costs with the maths shown

The monthly cost of an online ordering system is the provider fee plus card fees plus anything charged per order. The worked example below uses published Stripe rates and labelled example fees.

Example: a takeaway in Ireland. 600 direct orders a month at an average of €25, so €15,000 in direct sales. Every payment is on a standard EEA consumer card through Stripe, at Stripe’s standard Irish rate of 1.5% + €0.25, checked September 2026.

• Card fee per order: 1.5% × €25 = €0.375, plus €0.25 = €0.625.
• Card fees per month: 600 × €0.625 = €375.

The commission rates in the table are examples, not quotes from any provider. Your own marketplace rates are in your partner contract. Eclyde’s first year also includes the €499 launch fee, so the first 12 months cost €499 + (12 × €99) = €1,687 before card fees, or about €140.58 a month.

Card mix

Not every card costs the same. Stripe’s Irish pricing lists premium EEA cards at 2.8% + €0.25 and UK cards at 2.5% + €0.25.

Example: if 120 of the 600 orders use premium EEA cards, those cost 2.8% × €25 = €0.70, plus €0.25 = €0.95 each, or €114. The other 480 cost 480 × €0.625 = €300. Monthly card fees become €414, not €375.

Volume

A flat fee costs less per order as volume grows. A percentage costs the same share at any volume.

Example, same €25 average order:

• At 100 orders a month, the €99 flat fee adds €0.99 per order. With card fees that is €1.62 per order. A 5% commission is €1.25 per order, €1.88 with card fees.
• At 50 orders a month, the flat fee adds €1.98 per order, €2.61 with card fees. The 5% commission stays at €1.88.
• The crossover: €99 ÷ €1.25 = 79.2. Below about 80 direct orders a month at €25, a 5% commission costs less than a €99 flat fee. Above it, the flat fee costs less.

UK version

Example: a takeaway in the UK. 600 direct orders a month at £22, so £13,200 in direct sales, all on standard UK consumer cards at Stripe’s standard UK rate of 1.5% + 20p.

• Card fee per order: 1.5% × £22 = £0.33, plus £0.20 = £0.53.
• Card fees per month: 600 × £0.53 = £318.
• With an example flat fee of £99: £417 a month, 3.2% of direct sales.
• With an example 5% commission plus card fees: £660 + £318 = £978 a month, 7.4% of direct sales.

The full set of fee types, hidden charges and break-even calculations is on the commission-free online ordering page.

Card payments through Stripe

Eclyde does not process cards. Restaurants on Eclyde connect their own Stripe account during set-up, Stripe charges them its fees, and Stripe pays out to their bank. The figures below apply to any Stripe account on standard pricing.

Sources: Stripe Ireland pricing and Stripe UK pricing.

Payouts

Stripe’s payout documentation says the first payout is typically scheduled within 7 to 14 days of your first live payment. After that, the default settlement timing for Irish and UK accounts is 3 business days. Plan for the first fortnight of online sales arriving later than your usual card takings.

Refunds

Stripe says its processing fees from the original payment are not returned when you refund a card payment. On the €25 example, a full refund leaves you €0.625 down. Wrong orders and missing items cost more than the food.

Strong Customer Authentication

Stripe’s Strong Customer Authentication guide explains that the rule took effect on 14 September 2019 under Europe’s PSD2 regulation and that card payments use 3D Secure to meet it. A customer’s bank can ask them to confirm a payment in their banking app, and banks can decline payments that do not support authentication. When a payment authenticated through 3D Secure is disputed as fraud, the liability typically shifts to the card issuer. Ask any ordering provider whether its checkout supports 3D Secure.

Providers that process cards themselves

Some ordering companies run their own payment service. When checked in September 2026:

• OrderYOYO listed YOYOPay at 0.99% per order on its April 2025 fee update page.
• Slerp’s help centre listed Slerp Pay at 1.5% + 20p for UK standard cards.
• Square listed 1.4% + 25p for online payments with UK cards.
• Flipdish’s pricing page says it handles card processing, without listing the rate.

A low headline card rate can sit beside a commission, a customer fee or a longer contract. Compare the full monthly total, not the card rate alone.

Cash

Cash on delivery and cash on collection avoid card fees but carry no-show risk and a driver float. The usual options are card only, cash for pickup only, or cash for known regulars. Decide the rule before launch and set it in the system.

Pickup and delivery settings

Pickup

• Prep time. Set a default per order size, and a busy-night setting you can switch on.
• Time slots. Limit the number of orders per 15-minute slot so a rush of Friday pre-orders does not land at once.
• Handover. Name on the bag, a shelf by the door, and a text when the order is ready.
• Opening hours and holidays. Ordering should close automatically when you close, including bank holidays.

Delivery

You have three ways to get food to the door:

• Your own drivers. A wage cost spread across every delivery, with employment status, insurance and scheduling to manage.
• On-demand couriers. A courier service such as Uber Direct collects from you on request, and you pay per delivery.
• Marketplace riders. Available only for orders placed on that marketplace.

Cost per delivery maths, driver employment status and insurance in Ireland and the UK are covered in restaurant delivery management software.

Delivery rules to set

• Delivery area, by distance or by postcode and Eircode.
• Minimum order value for delivery.
• Delivery fee, shown on the menu page.
• Estimated delivery time, updated on busy nights.
• Address verification at checkout.
• What happens when a driver cannot find the customer: call, wait time, and refund policy.

Rules for online food orders in Ireland and the UK

Allergens in practice

• Keep allergen data per dish in the same menu the website reads from, so a recipe change updates the site.
• Show a clear allergen link on the menu page and in the basket.
• Print allergens on the kitchen ticket and on a sticker or enclosed menu at delivery.
• Train whoever answers the phone to read the same information, not guess.

VAT in practice

Hot and cold items on the same order can carry different VAT rates. In Ireland, a hot curry is at the second reduced rate from 1 July 2026 and a cold sandwich is zero rated. In the UK, a hot takeaway meal is standard-rated and cold takeaway food is usually zero-rated, with exceptions such as bottled water. Your ordering system and POS must record the rate per item, not one rate per order. Confirm the treatment of each menu item with your accountant.

Cancellations

In the UK, the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 exclude goods liable to deteriorate or expire rapidly from the right to cancel. That does not remove your duty to deal fairly with wrong or missing orders. Write a short refund policy and show it at checkout.

Online ordering next to Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats

Keep the apps. They are where new customers find you. The goal of your own system is that a customer who tried you on an app orders directly the next time.

What to check before you promote your own channel:

• Price parity clauses. Deliveroo’s Irish terms, as shown in September 2026, ask for platform menu prices to match your dine-in or in-store menu.
• Customer data. The same terms limit the use of order information to fulfilling the order. Do not add app customers to your own marketing list from app order details.
• Marketing in the bag. Read the marketing and data sections of your Just Eat and Uber Eats agreements before adding leaflets to app orders. Terms differ by contract and change over time.

Channels you control without touching marketplace customers’ data:

• The order button on your own website.
• Your Google Business Profile. Google’s help centre says businesses outside the US can add Place an order links and mark a provider as preferred for pickup or delivery.
• Your Instagram and Facebook profiles.
• Your shop window, counter and printed menus for walk-in customers.
• Receipts and loyalty rewards on direct orders.

Set-up steps

1. Pull last month’s numbers. Orders by channel, average order value, and commission paid to each app. Every quote you get is compared against these.
2. Build one master menu. Categories, items, modifiers with prices, allergens and photos. Use the menu on your POS as the source.
3. Set direct prices. Decide whether website prices match in-store prices. Check each marketplace contract for price rules first.
4. Confirm VAT per item. Mark hot and cold items correctly and check the treatment with your accountant.
5. Secure the domain. Register it in the business’s name and keep the login. A .ie domain needs a connection with the island of Ireland and goes through an accredited registrar. The domain detail is on the restaurant website builder page.
6. Open or connect your payment account. Put the Stripe account in the business’s name, add bank details and complete identity checks early, because the first payout takes 7 to 14 days.
7. Set pickup and delivery rules. Prep times, slots, delivery area, minimum order, delivery fee, opening hours and holiday closures.
8. Connect the kitchen. Printer or kitchen screen, alert volume, ticket layout, and who accepts orders on each shift.
9. Publish the legal pages. Allergen information, privacy notice, cookie controls and a refund policy.
10. Run test orders. Card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, discount code, a delivery at the edge of the area, a pickup for tomorrow, and one refund. Check the ticket and screen every time.
11. Train staff. Who accepts orders, who pauses ordering, who refunds, and what to say when a customer rings about a late order.
12. Publish the link. Website order button, Google Business Profile ordering link set as preferred, social profiles and printed menus.
13. Review after four weeks. Direct orders, average order value, repeat customers, and card fees as a share of sales.

Online ordering checklist

• Total monthly cost calculated at your current volume, including card fees and any per-order or customer fees.
• Minimum term, renewal date and notice period written in your diary.
• Domain registered in the business’s name, with the login held by you.
• Customer list exportable with order history and marketing consent.
• Menu matches the POS, with modifiers priced and sold-out switches working.
• Allergen information on every dish or one click away, and on the delivery.
• VAT rate set per item for hot and cold food.
• Delivery fee, minimum order and service fee shown before checkout.
• Apple Pay and Google Pay working on a real phone.
• Address verification tested with a tricky address.
• Orders printing or showing on the kitchen screen within seconds of payment.
• Pause switch tested and every shift lead trained on it.
• Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile real-user data, or a plan to fix it.
• Cookie banner with a real choice, and a privacy notice linked in the footer.
• Google Business Profile ordering link pointing at your own ordering page.
• Refund policy shown at checkout.

Questions to ask an online ordering provider

1. What is my total monthly cost at 200, 600 and 1,200 orders? Ask for provider fees, card fees and customer fees in one table.
2. Do you process cards, or do I connect my own Stripe account? If the provider processes cards, ask for rates on premium cards, cross-border cards and chargebacks.
3. Do you charge my customers a fee on each order? If so, how much, and how is it shown before checkout.
4. What is the minimum term, the renewal term and the notice period? Flipdish’s published client terms, updated 19 September 2025, set a 12-month initial term that renews for 12-month periods unless you give 3 months’ written notice, unless the client agreement says otherwise. Ask every provider for the equivalent clause.
5. Is there a charge for leaving early? Some contracts set termination compensation based on the fees remaining in the term.
6. Who registers the domain, and does it stay with me if I leave?
7. Can I export my customer list, with order history and consent, whenever I want?
8. What hardware do I need, and can I use my own tablets and printers? OrderYOYO’s GB terms, for example, provide hardware on loan for a three-month run-in period, after which the customer buys it.
9. How do online orders reach the kitchen if the shop’s internet drops?
10. What set-up work do you do, and what is left to me? Menu build, photos, printer set-up and staff training are the time-consuming parts.
11. Can I change prices, mark items sold out and pause ordering from my phone?
12. How much notice do you give before a price increase?

Common online ordering mistakes

• Comparing plan prices only. Example: a €49 plan with a customer fee and a card rate you cannot see can cost more than a €99 plan with Stripe’s standard fees.
• Letting the provider own the domain. If the domain sits in the provider’s name, leaving means losing the address your customers and Google know.
• Hiding the order button. The order link should be the first button on your website and your Google profile.
• Running separate menus. A price rise on the till that never reaches the website loses margin on every online order.
• Launching without test orders. The first real order should not be the first time the printer sees an online ticket.
• Ignoring the renewal date. A 12-month term with 3 months’ notice means deciding at month nine.
• Promising fast delivery on a busy night. Late food creates refunds, and refunds keep the card fee.
• Breaking marketplace terms. Using app customers’ details for your own marketing can breach your partner agreement.
• Asking for marketing consent in the terms box. Keep marketing consent as its own choice at checkout.

Online ordering on Eclyde

Eclyde is a restaurant growth platform for independent restaurants, starting in Ireland and the UK. Online ordering is one part of it, alongside the POS, kitchen display, delivery, loyalty and marketing.

• Ordering website. Branded ordering website on your own domain, with pickup and delivery, built for conversion, order value and repeat orders rather than endless configuration.
• Checkout. Apple Pay and Google Pay, address lookup and verification, and discount codes.
• Payments. Eclyde does not process cards. You connect your own Stripe account during set-up, and Stripe charges you its fees directly.
• Menu. Menu import from a photo and menu photo enhancement.
• Kitchen. Incoming-order and live-order screens on the Android POS app, a kitchen display with order timers, and 50+ compatible receipt and kitchen printers. The POS keeps taking orders during an internet outage and syncs when the connection returns.
• Delivery. An own-driver app with live driver location.
• Customers. You own the customer data: who your customers are, what they order, how often, and their favourite items. Points-based loyalty, referral rewards, email and SMS campaigns, and review requests after every order run from the same account.
• Website extras. SEO landing pages, a sitemap and table bookings.

Price. €499 to launch, covering menu build, website and ordering set-up, POS and printer configuration, customer import, staff onboarding, testing and go-live support. It is refunded in full within 30 days if Eclyde is not right for your restaurant. Then €99 a month for the whole platform, with no Eclyde commission on direct orders and no limits on orders or customers. Stripe’s card fees are separate.

Getting live. Sign up, complete the set-up flow (connect your domain, walk through the dashboard, connect Stripe), install the POS app on an Android tablet, enter the activation code from the Devices tab, and start taking orders.

Where something else may fit better. Below about 80 direct orders a month at a €25 average, the maths above shows a 5% commission costing less than a €99 monthly fee. If self-service kiosks or QR table ordering are a priority, choose a provider that lists them.

Your restaurant’s numbers

Before you compare ordering systems, work out what your current mix of app and direct orders costs you. The free Eclyde restaurant audit looks at your Google profile and website and estimates what you pay in marketplace commission each year, in euro. Use that figure with the cost tables above to see how many orders a month would need to move to your own ordering system to cover its fee, and bring the result to any provider conversation.