Online Ordering
Free Online Ordering vs Commission-Based Ordering Platforms
A commission-based ordering platform takes a percentage of every order, so its cost rises exactly as fast as your sales. Commission-free ordering shifts the cost elsewhere: a flat monthly fee, an order cap, a fee on online payments, or nothing beyond the card processor. At low volume the difference is small; at a few hundred orders a month it is usually the largest technology cost a small restaurant has.
Three ways to pay for ordering
| Model | What you pay | How it grows |
|---|---|---|
| Commission per order | A percentage of each order | In step with sales, on every order |
| Flat monthly fee | A fixed amount a month, sometimes with an order allowance | Flat until you outgrow the allowance |
| Fee on online payments | A percentage of payments made online | Only with online payments; cash orders cost nothing |
Card processing — the fee your payment provider charges on each card payment — comes on top in every model, and is the same whichever model you choose for the same provider.
Reading a platform's fee page
Commission-based delivery apps publish their marketplace fees on their merchant pages, often as several packages with different percentages, and a lower fee for pickup orders than for delivery. Some ordering vendors take no commission per order and charge in another way instead. Read the fee page of each platform you consider, for delivery and for pickup, in your own country.
A worked example
Illustrative round numbers, not a statistic: 400 orders a month at an average of 25 in your currency is 10,000 a month in orders.
| Model | Monthly cost |
|---|---|
| Commission of 20% on every order | 2,000 |
| Commission of 30% on every order | 3,000 |
| Flat fee of 50 a month | 50 |
| Fee of 1% on online payments, if every order is paid online | 100 |
| Fee of 1% on online payments, if half are paid in cash | 50 |
A marketplace commission also pays for things the other models do not: the app's audience and, often, couriers. Compare like with like — for orders from guests who already know you, you are paying for reach you do not need.
Reach versus relationship: direct ordering vs third-party delivery apps.
The Thmenu model
Thmenu is our product, and it uses the third model. There is no commission on orders and no monthly fee. Thmenu's revenue is a 1% platform fee on payments guests make to you online through Thmenu; the payment processor's fee is separate, and orders paid in cash or on your own card terminal carry no Thmenu fee. Online card payment needs a Stripe account in a country Stripe supports; elsewhere, guests order through Thmenu and pay at the venue. Delivery is by your own staff — Thmenu does not provide couriers or an audience of app users.
See online ordering in Thmenu.
Sources
- Thmenu — Free Forever (accessed 28 October 2026)