How to Get More Direct Orders for Your Restaurant

Put the order button at the top of every page

On a phone, the first screen of your site should show one clear order button that opens the menu, not a PDF or a page of links. Repeat it on every page. DoorDash reports up to a 30% increase in web sales for its own ordering product after adding a prominent "Order Now" button and pop-ups, based on its internal data from January 2022 to December 2023. It's a vendor's figure about its own product, so read it as a direction, not a promise.

Check it: open your site on your phone and count the taps from the homepage to a dish in the cart.

Add your own ordering link to your Google profile

In your Business Profile, open Food ordering, choose Add a link, and add the link to your own ordering page. Then select it, choose Set as preferred, and turn on Preferred for pickup and Preferred for delivery, where your provider offers them. Google notes that in some regions ordering options appear under an Order online button, while in others, Place an order links show separately on the profile.

Point Google's menu link at your site

Under Edit profile, go to Business information, then Contact, then Menu link, and enter the address of the menu on your site. Food and drink businesses can also use Google's menu editor to list items, descriptions and prices in sections. Changes can take 24 to 48 hours to show on Maps and Search.

Google may also transcribe menu data from your website, which is one more reason to keep the menu on your site current. Our guide to showing up on Google Maps covers the rest of the profile.

Put the link everywhere you already talk to guests

Your ordering link belongs in your Instagram, Facebook and TikTok bios, on printed receipts, in the footer of every email you send and on the sign by the register. Use the same link everywhere so guests learn it, with a slightly different version per place if you want to see which one brings orders.

Put a card or QR code in every bag

A guest who found you on an app and liked the food already knows your cooking, which makes them a good person to win directly. A small card in the bag with a QR code to your ordering page reaches them at the right moment, with the food in front of them. DoorDash suggests the same for its own direct ordering product: QR codes on takeout bags, table tents and window decals.

Keep the card simple: your name, what's in it for them, and one QR code.

Give guests a reason to order direct

Give guests something they can only get by ordering from you. Bruno's Pizza, a made-up restaurant from our demos, sends a text that reads: "Tuesday is 2 for 1 slices. Order ahead and skip the line." A weekly deal, a free side over a set order size or a reward on the third order all give guests a reason to choose your site.

Check your app agreements before you price anything differently. On Uber Eats, for example, the 7% pickup rate requires proof that your app pickup prices match your in-store prices, and without it pickup is 10%. An offer that lives only on your site, such as a weekly deal or a reward, leaves your menu prices alone.

Collect contact details, then stay in touch

Ask for an email and a mobile number at checkout, and ask permission before you send marketing texts. Then send a short welcome after the first order, a note to guests you haven't seen in a month, and a heads-up before the weekend. DoorDash reports that automated email lifted order frequency by an average of 15% among new and returning guests, from its internal data for March 2024 to March 2025. Again, that's DoorDash's figure for its own product.

On Webbit's Growth plan, SMS and email campaigns are written for you and sent to the customers who already love you. See what Webbit does.

Reward repeat orders

Loyalty is one of the reasons guests give for ordering direct: in the NCR Voyix survey, 36% named earning loyalty points. A simple program is enough, such as points per dollar or a free item after a set number of orders, tracked by your ordering system rather than a paper punch card that stays at home.

Make it fast on a phone

Google uses the mobile version of your site for indexing and ranking, and a slow page makes a hungry guest wait. Google's Core Web Vitals give the targets: the main content loads within 2.5 seconds, the page responds to a tap in under 200 milliseconds, and the layout stays put while it loads, with a shift score under 0.1. Our restaurant website checklist covers the rest.

How to tell it's working

Count two numbers every week: orders on your own site and orders through the apps. The share that comes direct is the number to move. Then watch repeat orders: how many of this month's direct guests have ordered before. If you use a different link for the bag card, the Google profile and your bios, you can see which one brings the orders.