Ask any restaurant owner what they think of aggregator commissions and you'll get the same wince. But most owners have never sat down and done the full-year arithmetic — because monthly deductions hide the real number.
The arithmetic nobody does
Take a modest restaurant doing 600 online orders a month at an average order value of ₹450. That's ₹2,70,000 in monthly online revenue. At a 25% effective commission — base commission plus payment collection plus the "visibility" charges that creep in — the aggregator keeps ₹67,500 every month. Over a year: ₹8,10,000. For many restaurants that's more than the rent.
And that's before the discounts you're pushed to fund, the ads you buy to appear above competitors on your own brand searches, and the packaging standards you absorb.
What you don't get for that money
The commission would almost be defensible if you were buying customers. You're not — you're renting them. The aggregator keeps the customer's phone number, order history and preferences. Your "regular" on an aggregator app is one coupon away from ordering from the restaurant listed above you — often literally your competitor, advertised on your own listing page.
The direct-channel maths
A direct ordering channel — your own ordering website and QR dine-in menus — costs a flat platform fee plus roughly 2% payment gateway charges. Run the same 600 orders through it and the yearly cost is a small fraction of the commission bill. The difference, for the restaurant above, is upwards of ₹7 lakh a year back in the business. (Run your own numbers with our free commission calculator.)
The playbook that actually works
Nobody deletes their aggregator listing on day one — discovery still matters. The winning pattern we see with our restaurant clients:
- Keep aggregators for discovery. New customers finding you there is genuinely valuable.
- Move regulars to direct. A QR card in every dine-in bill and delivery bag: "Order direct next time — 10% off your first order." A 10% discount costs less than half of a 25% commission.
- Own your Google presence. When someone searches your restaurant's name, the first result should be your ordering page — not an aggregator listing surrounded by competitors.
- Use the data you now own. Every direct order gives you a name, a number and favourites. A monthly WhatsApp offer to lapsed customers routinely pays for the whole system.
The bottom line
Aggregators are a marketing channel with a 20–30% price tag. Used deliberately — for discovery, not for your regulars — they're fine. Used as your only online channel, they quietly become your most expensive supplier. See how our commission-free ordering system works, or talk to us about your setup.
