DoorDash vs Your Own Restaurant Website: Fees, Customers & Orders

Short answer: DoorDash and other marketplaces can help a restaurant reach new diners. Your own ordering website is better suited to customers who already know you because it gives you a direct relationship and can avoid marketplace commission economics. Many restaurants should use both: marketplaces for discovery, direct ordering for repeat demand.

Kitch takes a 0% take-rate on paid direct orders. Standard payment-processing fees still apply. See commission-free direct ordering for restaurants.

DoorDash vs your own website

	Marketplace like DoorDash	Your own restaurant website
Discovery	Strong: customers already browse the marketplace	You generate the visit through Google, social, QR, regulars and your own marketing
Customer relationship	The marketplace sits between you and the diner	The customer orders directly from your restaurant
Economics	Marketplace fees and commercial terms apply	Payment processing still applies; Kitch's paid direct-order take-rate is 0%
Brand control	Marketplace format and rules	Your menu, brand and ordering experience
Best job	Reaching customers who are shopping the marketplace	Converting customers who already intend to order from you

The important question is not "Which platform wins?" It is which channel is doing which job.

What DoorDash and delivery marketplaces are good at

• Discovery. A diner opens the marketplace without a restaurant picked yet.
• Convenience. The customer already knows the checkout and account flow.
• Delivery infrastructure. Depending on the product and market, marketplaces can provide logistics a restaurant may not want to operate itself.

That reach can justify marketplace economics when the order is genuinely incremental.

What your own restaurant website is good at

• Direct ordering. A customer who already searched for your restaurant can order without being sent back into a marketplace.
• Customer relationship. Your restaurant owns the first-party experience instead of making every repeat order another marketplace transaction.
• Control. Your menu, prices, hours, promos and calls to action live on a restaurant page you control.
• Margin visibility. You can compare direct-order payment processing with marketplace commission structures instead of treating every channel as the same cost.

Use the restaurant delivery commission calculator if you want to put your own order value and fee assumptions into the math.

The real cost difference

Marketplace pricing varies by provider, market and plan, so use your own agreement rather than a generic internet percentage. The useful calculation is simple:

marketplace cost per order = order value × your marketplace fee rate

For example, if a hypothetical $40 order carried a 25% marketplace fee, that would be $10 before considering any other terms. A direct order still has payment-processing costs, but Kitch does not add a percentage take-rate to paid direct orders.

The difference matters most on customers who were already going to order from you. Paying acquisition-channel economics for a repeat customer is a different decision from paying to acquire a brand-new customer.

A practical hybrid strategy

1. Keep marketplaces where they create useful discovery. Do not turn off a channel just because direct orders have better economics.
2. Make your own ordering page easy to find. Put it on Google, your website, receipts, packaging and your restaurant link in bio.
3. Use one permanent QR destination. A restaurant QR menu can point customers back to the live first-party restaurant page.
4. Measure channel economics. Compare contribution after fees, not just gross sales.
5. Build repeat behaviour on the direct channel. The goal is not to eliminate marketplaces. It is to avoid depending on them for customers who already know your restaurant.

FAQ

Is it cheaper when a customer orders from the restaurant's own website?

It often can be, because a direct order may avoid marketplace commission structures. Payment-processing fees still apply. With Kitch, paid direct orders have a 0% Kitch take-rate.

Should a restaurant use DoorDash or its own website?

They can serve different jobs. A marketplace can be valuable for discovery. Your own website is usually the stronger destination for customers who already know the restaurant and want to order directly.

How do I get more customers to order directly?

Make the direct destination obvious. Link it from your Google profile and social accounts, put a QR code on permitted customer touchpoints, and make the direct ordering experience easy to use on mobile.

Do I still need a website if I use DoorDash?

A first-party website gives your restaurant a place it controls for menu, hours, brand, search visibility and direct ordering. A marketplace can remain part of your acquisition mix without becoming your only customer destination.

Want the direct channel without adding another percentage fee to Kitch? See Kitch direct ordering.