Do you still need a restaurant website if you use Deliveroo, Just Eat and Google?

What the delivery apps do well, and what they cost

Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats are genuinely useful. They put your menu in front of hungry people nearby, handle the drivers, and can fill a midweek evening you would otherwise lose. The trade-off is commission. Industry guides put Deliveroo and Just Eat in roughly the 14% range when you use your own drivers and around 25–35% when the platform delivers, and Uber Eats moved to tiered marketplace fees in March 2026 that run from about 20% on its entry plan up to a 30% cap. The exact rate depends on your contract and service level, but the pattern is the same: a meaningful slice of every order goes to the platform, not the kitchen.

On a £20 order, once you take off commission, packaging and food cost, the margin that reaches your business can be very thin. That maths is fine for orders you would never have won otherwise. It is painful when a regular who knows your name and could have ordered directly goes through the app out of habit and costs you a commission you did not need to pay.

Why your own website is the channel that stays commission-free

The customers who matter most are the locals who order or book again and again. A delivery marketplace is good at finding new faces; your website is where you keep them on your terms. Even the platforms acknowledge the difference. Uber Eats, for example, offers a Webshop that lets a restaurant take direct, commission-free orders from its own ordering page, free with an Uber Eats account, with delivery handled as a separate paid add-on. The point is simple: a customer who orders directly from a page you own is not an order anyone takes a percentage of.

So your website is not competing with the apps; it is where you move the relationship once you have it. A regular who searches your restaurant's name, lands on your own site, and orders or books there is revenue you keep in full. Over a year of repeat visits, that is the difference between renting your customer list and owning it.

What a restaurant website actually needs to do

• Show your full menu with current prices, clearly, so diners decide before they arrive or order.
• Make booking a table one tap away, with an embedded reservation tool or a tappable phone number.
• Offer direct online ordering for collection or delivery where it makes sense, so loyal customers can skip the app.
• State opening hours, your address, parking or nearest stop, and any kitchen-closing time, impossible to miss on a phone.
• Show real photos of your food and room, not stock images, so a first-time diner knows what to expect.
• Flag dietary, allergen and service details (vegan options, halal, set menus, private hire) in the words people search.

Where do bookings fit, and what do they cost?

Table bookings are where the cost models diverge sharply. OpenTable charges a monthly subscription plus a fee for every diner seated through its network, so a busy restaurant pays per cover on top of the subscription. Reservation systems like ResDiary and SevenRooms instead charge a flat monthly fee with no per-cover or per-booking commission, and SevenRooms specifically markets taking reservations directly from your own website without cover fees. None of that replaces your website; your site is what sends motivated diners into whichever booking tool you choose, and a flat-fee tool means a fully booked Saturday does not quietly increase your bill.

Do your website and Google Business Profile agree?

Most local diners find a restaurant through Google Search or Maps first, and Google is a genuine discovery channel: UKHospitality found that 72% of diners who reserved a table through Google in Q3 2023 were first-time visitors. A Google Business Profile is free and lets you add a menu link, reservation links and food-order links, up to ten links per category, so people can act straight from the profile. The common mistake is a profile, a website and an app listing that quietly disagree on prices, opening hours or whether you still do that Sunday roast. When a diner spots two versions of the truth, they hesitate, and hesitation near the moment of booking is a lost table. Decide the facts once and make every channel match.

When is your own website worth building?

If almost every order runs through an app that charges commission and lists you beside every competitor, you are paying to reach customers you may already own, and you are exposed to that platform's fees and rankings. A simple website you control changes that: it captures people searching your name, gives regulars a commission-free way to order and book, and makes your prices and brand yours rather than a row in someone else's list. You do not need a big site. You need a clear one that loads fast on a phone, shows your menu and prices, and makes booking or ordering one tap away.

A practical checklist before you decide

• Work out roughly how many of last month's delivery orders were new customers versus regulars who could have ordered directly.
• Add up what those orders cost you in commission, and ask how many of those customers ever came back to you off-platform.
• Open your current online presence on a phone: can a stranger see your menu, prices and how to book in under a minute?
• Give regulars an obvious, commission-free way to order collection or book a table directly.
• Confirm your website, Google Business Profile and any app listing agree on menu, prices, hours and contact details.
• Choose a booking tool whose cost you understand: flat monthly fee versus a charge per seated diner.

The takeaway

Delivery apps, Google and your own website do different jobs. The apps are good at finding new customers and filling quiet shifts; Google helps people discover you nearby; your website is where you keep diners, on your terms and without a commission on every order. If most of your business currently runs through platforms that take a cut and list you beside your rivals, building a clear website you own is one of the highest-return moves a restaurant can make.