5 ways to recover the 15–30% delivery apps take from you

This isn't an anti-app manifesto. Apps work: they bring you new customers and reach you can't get on your own. The problem starts when they're 100% of your orders.

Domino's sends about 80% of its orders through its own channel and only 20% through apps. Apps for reach, your own channel for margin.

The goal isn't "quit Rappi." The goal is to control where your orders come from. Here are 5 concrete ways to start.

01 Open your own ordering channel

The biggest shift: letting your customers order directly, with no middleman. A WhatsApp ordering link or your own page where they see the menu, order, and pay.

• What you recover: the full 15–30% on every order that comes in here instead of through the app.
• What it looks like: the customer taps a link, sees your menu, pays, and gets a confirmation. No waiting for someone to answer a chat.
• Where to start: don't migrate everything at once. Start with your regulars — they're the first to order direct if you make it easy.

It's not about switching off the apps. It's about having somewhere to send the people already looking for you.

02 Turn app customers into direct customers

Every app order is a customer the platform considers theirs, not yours. But the customer is eating your food. Win them back.

• The packaging trick: drop a QR code or a card into every order that goes out through an app. "Next time order direct and get a free dessert." The first order was paid for by the app's commission; the second one is yours.
• The math: if you recover even 2 out of every 10 app customers to your direct channel, in six months you've changed your mix without losing reach.

03 Charge the commission where it belongs: on the app menu

Most owners don't realize they can set different prices on the app and on their direct channel. The app costs you 30%; that cost can live in the app price, not in your margin.

• How it works: the same dish costs a little more on Rappi/Uber Eats than ordering direct. The customer who orders by app pays for the convenience; the one who orders direct gets the best price.
• The side effect: you teach the customer, without a speech, that ordering direct is better for them too. The price does the educating.

04 Bring your apps and your own channel into one platform

The reason many restaurants don't run their own channel is simple: it looks like more work. Another menu, another inventory, another screen to check. The real change is putting it all in one place: your delivery apps connected alongside your own ordering channel, with loyalty and customer data built in.

• One dashboard: your Rappi, Uber Eats and DiDi Food orders next to your direct ones — same menu, same inventory, one view. Apps keep bringing reach; your channel gives you margin.
• The relationship is yours: the phone number, the history, and the customer data stay in your platform, not a third party's.
• Loyalty included: the customer who already bought from you has a reason to come back — and to come back direct, not through the app.

05 Win back the customers you already have

You don't need more customers to make more money. Most restaurants never talk again to the people who already bought from them. That's the cheapest money there is.

• Build your base: every direct order leaves you a contact. That's an asset the apps never hand you.
• Reactivate: a well-timed message ("haven't seen you in 3 weeks, here's something on us") brings back customers who already knew you. It costs almost nothing and pays no commission.
• Loyalty without a middleman: the customer who orders direct and who you talk to is truly yours. The app doesn't get in the way.

In summary

The core idea is just one: apps for reach, your channel for margin. You don't have to choose between growing and earning. You have to control where your orders come from.