Every online ordering product claims lower fees than the marketplaces. The rate is the easy part to compare. These are the things that decide whether the system actually works during a Friday dinner rush.
How the money reaches you
Check whether payments settle into your own payment account or into the vendor's, to be paid out later. Direct settlement — through your own Stripe account, for example — means the money is yours immediately and there is no platform sitting between you and your revenue.
How orders reach the kitchen
An order that lands only on a tablet screen will be missed. Automatic printing to a standard thermal printer is what makes online ordering operationally safe, because the ticket appears in the same place as every other ticket.
- Does it print automatically, without someone pressing accept?
- Does it work with the 80mm printer you already own?
- What happens to an order if the internet drops for a minute?
How much menu control you get
Menus change constantly. If marking an item sold out means emailing support, the system will be out of date within a week. Look for instant availability toggles, proper option groups, and variant pricing you control yourself.
Who owns the customer
This is the question that separates a tool from a marketplace. If you cannot export your own order history and customer list, you are renting your customer relationships rather than owning them.