Off-premises dining is one of the fastest growing segments of the restaurant industry. For most restaurants, it’s no longer a question of whether or not to offer online ordering. It’s really a question of how to promote online ordering for your restaurant.
After all, Statista reports that online food delivery generated $432 billion dollars in revenue in 2025. That number is predicted to surpass $600 billion by 2030. Meanwhile, restaurant foot traffic is on a general decline. As a result, a lot of restaurants are changing their policies on delivery and online ordering.
“Ironically, a lot of the same restaurants that were reluctant to begin offering online ordering during COVID are now actively looking for ways to increase online orders,” says Back of House Marketing Director Hilary Young.
But delivery sales aren’t the only thing going up. So are delivery fees. So it’s not just about how to promote online ordering for your restaurant. As we’ll discuss below, it’s also about finding ways to improve the margins you get from your online takeout and delivery sales.
Mobilizing in a Growing Market
The online ordering segment has simply grown too large to ignore. This growth is also coming at a time when in-person dining is on the decline.
According to the National Restaurant Association’s 2025 report on Off-Premises Restaurant Trends, 47% of surveyed adults get takeout at least once a week. The survey also showed that 42% of respondents use drive-thru every week and 37% order delivery at the same rate.
So clearly, a lot of your customers are in their car or their home, as opposed to your dining room.
Restaurants in every part of the market are adapting to the change. The National Restaurant Association says that 30% of full-service restaurants and 40% of limited-service operators have actually transformed their interior spaces and/or parking lots to accommodate more off-premises orders.
In other words, restaurants aren’t just seeing more online orders than ever. They also expect this growth to continue. It’s reasonable to assume that online ordering will only grow to occupy an even bigger share of the restaurant market.
So in addition to accommodating the increasing demand for online ordering, many restaurants today are looking for new ways to increase online food orders. And these same restaurants are also looking for smart ways to navigate the rising costs associated with today’s delivery space.
5 Ways to Increase Online Food Orders For Your Restaurant
“Restaurants may be doing more online sales these days, but they are doing it in an extremely challenging environment,” Back of House operations expert Rachel Morgan points out. “Big third-party delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats dominate this market and they can also charge really high commission fees on every delivery.”
As Rachel points out, these fees cut into delivery profit margins for restaurants and drive up prices for consumers. But the same big delivery companies also provide a huge marketplace and excellent visibility for restaurants. So how can you promote online ordering for restaurants while navigating this tricky landscape?
“The good news is that there’s actually a lot of opportunity to boost restaurant takeout sales and profit from them,” says Rachel. “You just have to know how to work the system.”
Here are five ways to do exactly that.
1. Understand Your Options
Statista says that the delivery vendor market is actually getting more competitive. Customers are familiar with DoorDash because of its visibility – nearly 109 million monthly web visits as of early 2026 – but at the same time, customers have no actual loyalty to this brand.
There are opportunities to draw customers into your sales pipeline through other online ordering and delivery platforms. With that in mind, make sure you know what your options are.
- First-party delivery means you process online orders directly on your restaurant’s website and/or mobile app while handling delivery with your own staff of drivers.
- Third-party delivery services include big national vendors like DoorDash, Grubhub, and Uber Eats. With this option, your restaurant is listed on the vendor’s website and mobile app. Customers place orders through these apps, you fulfill the orders, and the vendor’s driver completes the delivery. You’ll pay a percentage-based commission fee on each delivery.
- Hybrid delivery services like ChowNow, Cartwheel, and Paytronix let you process delivery orders directly on your own website just like first-party delivery, but you’ll pay a flat fee per delivery instead of a commission. This option is generally more affordable than third-party delivery.
There are pros and cons to each option. You’ll definitely want to do your research before picking the best approach for your restaurant.
2. Choose a Combination of Providers
A growing number of restaurants will actually list their restaurant on a selection of big third party websites while also offering their own hybrid or first-party delivery options on their own website. This strategy gives you access to the huge market of customers who do their online ordering through DoorDash and the others.
As Rachel points out, “When push comes to shove, these delivery platforms still offer access to the biggest slice of the delivery market. Even with rising commission costs, third-party delivery is still one of the most effective ways to promote online ordering for restaurants.”
But by also offering an effective hybrid alternative on your website, you’ll have a place to send your customers for all future orders. It bears noting that many of these hybrid providers also incorporate loyalty programs into their online delivery system.
This is important because it means you get access to an incredible amount of data about your own customers that you don’t get to see with third-party providers like DoorDash. With the powerful combination of a good loyalty program and a trove of customer data, you can boost online orders by strategically targeting individual customers with delivery discounts and special offers.
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3. Know Your Customers and Understand Their Expectations
“Before you can choose the right combination of delivery services, you need to understand who your customers are and what they expect out of their online delivery experience,” says Hilary. “For one thing, we’re seeing that the rise in online ordering is being driven by younger consumers.”
The National Restaurant Association’s 2025 report says six in ten millennials and GenZ consumers used takeout, drive-thru and delivery more in 2025 than they did the year before. And what do these consumers expect from their online ordering experience? The NRA highlights expectations like speed, customer service and ease of use. But these consumers also expect value and loyalty rewards.
The National Restaurant Association says consumers are looking for things like:
- Daily specials and value combos
- Discounts on drinks and desserts
- More options on portion sizes
- Lower prices during off-peak hours
- Buy-one-get-one free offers
Whatever combination of vendors you use to provide and promote your online ordering options, make sure you’ll have the tools, tech, and support you need to meet these expectations.
4. Take Advantage of Third-Party Delivery, Even If It Hurts
Once you have the right combination of online ordering options in place, make sure you’re getting the most out of each option. Whether you like it or not, that probably starts with your third-party delivery service(s) of choice.
As Hilary explains, “There’s no question that it can get expensive to handle deliveries through the bigger platforms – anywhere in the range of 15 to 30%. But there's always a trade-off; these platforms also give you the best visibility online, so you can almost categorize it as more of a marketing expense than an operating expense. The key is to track effectiveness as you would any other marketing investment to make sure it's worth the added cost in the long run. If it costs you more than you bring in as a result, you can always cancel.”
In fact, when you do think of these online delivery platforms as a marketing expense, you may also see the value in buying additional ad space on platforms like DoorDash, Grubhub and Uber Eats. Ultimately, you’re doing it for visibility. So you might consider spending a little more to help boost that visibility, and consequently, boost restaurant takeout sales.
Pro Tip: “It’s also worth noting that your delivery fees with the big vendors may be negotiable,” says Rachel. “This is especially true as you do more delivery volume. So don’t be afraid to reach out to your third-party delivery services and tell them you want to pay less in commissions. No guarantees, but you don’t know unless you ask!”
Whatever your commission rates, rather than thinking of the big third-party platforms as your enemy or as your long-term solution to online ordering, think of them as a way to get prospective customers into your online sales pipeline. Then once you do, do everything you can to point them toward your preferred method of online ordering.
5. Spread the Word
“Whether they know it or not, your customers are paying more when they use third-party delivery services like DoorDash and Uber Eats,” says Rachel. “Make sure they know it, and offer them incentives to use your preferred delivery service — the one that gives you better margins.”
Use every third-party transaction (DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub) as a way to funnel customers into your preferred delivery service. Here are a few good ways to do this:
- Post-purchase promotions: Include QR codes on receipts and flyers with every online delivery, offering a discount to customers who use your preferred online ordering channel for future orders.
- Digital engagement: Use your social media channels and loyalty program outreach to tell customers they could be getting their deliveries for less.
- Face-to-face engagement: Train front of house staff to promote your preferred online delivery services during in-person and phone conversations with customers.
- On-premises signage: Place QR codes and discount offers on printed materials at tables, bars, and host stands.
Using Tech To Promote and Profit From Online Ordering
When it comes to online delivery, there are no two ways about it. You need the best technology and you need to know how to market it to your customers. But you do have options. There are a lot of different ways to combine these solutions.
And as we mentioned, the market for online ordering and delivery is getting more competitive all the time. This is especially true as restaurants look for ways to offset the rising cost of third-party delivery.
Ultimately, the right combination of tools and tech will depend on your unique combination of needs, goals, and budget. Reach out to Rachel or another of our expert in-house consultants for your free, personalized consultation. We’ll work together to figure out exactly how to promote online ordering for your restaurant.
