Keep the delivery apps for new customers, and give your regulars a way to order from you directly
For most restaurants and home kitchens in Pakistan, "being online" means a listing on a delivery app and an Instagram page. Both are useful, and neither belongs to you: the app sets the commission and decides who sees your menu, and the social feed is not something Google can read as a menu. A small website with its own ordering gives you the one thing those channels never will, which is a direct line to the customers who already like your food. This guide covers what that site needs, how online ordering works without a delivery app in the middle, how to connect it to Google, and how to move regulars across fairly.
Delivery platforms in Pakistan do not publish a public rate card for restaurants. The commission is set in your contract and depends on your city, your volume and whether you pay for extra visibility. Restaurant owners and the companies that sell ordering software commonly report commissions in the region of 25 to 35 percent of each order, sometimes with payment-processing charges and platform-funded discounts on top. Treat that as a range to check against your own agreement, not a quoted price.
The pressure is not new. In September 2020 the All Pakistan Restaurant Association temporarily suspended service with foodpanda over proposed commission increases, and associations in Lahore and Islamabad joined in, as reported by Dawn's Images. That dispute was about exactly the trade-off this guide is about: the app is valuable, but every rupee of commission comes out of a margin that is already thin.
Do the sum for your own menu. Take your best-selling dish, subtract food cost, packaging and the app's commission, and see what is left. Then do the same sum for an order that came to you directly. The difference, multiplied by the orders your regulars place each month, is roughly what a direct channel is worth to you.
You keep the customer. On an app, the customer belongs to the platform. On your own site, each order comes with a name, a phone number and an address, so you can tell people about a new dish, a Ramadan menu or a reopening, provided they have agreed to hear from you. A simple CRM turns that list into something you can actually use.
Your menu, your way. You decide the order of dishes, the photos, the deals and the prices, and you can change them in a minute. Many restaurants keep direct prices slightly lower than app prices, which is the most honest reason a customer has to order direct.
Google can read it. When someone searches for a dish and an area, Google can show your site, your menu and your hours. An Instagram grid or a PDF does not give it much to work with.
Reservations and catering, not only delivery. A table booking form, a party or catering enquiry and an events page all bring in business that delivery apps do not handle at all.
A restaurant site does not need many pages. It needs the right information on them, readable on a phone in a few seconds.
If you are not sure what to ask an AI builder for, our guide to writing a website prompt shows how to describe a business so the first draft is close to right, and the launch checklist covers everything to check before you share the link.
When the order comes to your own site, three jobs the app used to do become yours: taking payment, getting the food to the customer, and dealing with the occasional problem. Start with the version you can run tomorrow.
Pickup first. Takeaway orders placed online and collected at the counter need no riders at all. They are the easiest way to test whether your regulars will order direct.
Delivery with your own rider, in a small radius. Many restaurants already employ a rider or two. Draw a delivery area you can reach while the food is still hot, set a minimum order and a delivery charge, and widen the area only once it runs smoothly. Food is not parcel freight, so the courier companies used by online shops are rarely the answer for hot meals.
Cash first, online payment later. Cash on delivery and cash at pickup are normal here and cost nothing to set up. Once direct orders are steady, adding online payment reduces cancellations, but every payment option carries a fee. Our 2026 cost guide explains what payment providers typically charge, so you can compare it with the app's commission rather than with zero.
Confirm every order. A short automatic confirmation with the order, the total and an estimated time, followed by a call or message for anything unusual, prevents most disputes. Decide in advance what you will do about a wrong or late order, and say it on the site.
For a restaurant, the Google Business Profile is often seen more than the website itself, and it can send people straight to your menu and your ordering page. According to Google's Business Profile Help:
Point the menu link at your menu page, and the ordering link at your ordering page, not your homepage. Then keep the hours on the profile and the site identical, because a customer who finds you closed when Google said open rarely tries again.
The people most likely to order direct are the ones who already order from you through the app. Give them a reason and make it easy:
Before you do any of this, read your delivery-app agreement. Platforms set their own rules on pricing and on marketing to customers who ordered through them, and it is better to know them than to discover them.
A simple restaurant site with a menu, contact details and a booking form sits at the lower end of what any small business website costs; adding online ordering puts it closer to a small online store. Our website cost guide for Pakistan breaks those ranges down, including the domain, and our comparison of hiring a developer versus using a builder helps you decide who should build it. The useful comparison is not "website versus nothing" but "website versus the commission on the orders it moves off the app".
"A restaurant with online ordering and table reservations" is one of the businesses WebNewBiz is built for. You describe the restaurant once, and the AI builds the site from our restaurant and café templates, with your menu, ordering through the built-in online store, a booking form, and a CRM that keeps every direct customer in one place. Plans are on the pricing page.
Does a restaurant in Pakistan need its own website if it is already on foodpanda?
It does not replace the app, but it is worth having. The app brings you new customers; your own website lets regular customers order without the platform taking a commission, gives you their names and numbers, and gives Google a menu, hours and an ordering link it can show on your Business Profile. Most restaurants that do this keep both.
How much commission do delivery apps charge restaurants in Pakistan?
The platforms do not publish a public rate card, and the figure depends on your contract, city and any paid visibility. Restaurant owners and ordering-software providers commonly report commissions in the region of 25 to 35 percent of the order, and in 2020 restaurant associations in Karachi and other cities suspended service with foodpanda over proposed commission increases. Check the rate in your own agreement and work out what it means per order.
Should I upload my menu as a PDF or a photo?
Use real text on the page instead. A menu typed as text with dish names, short descriptions and prices loads quickly on a phone, can be read by Google, and can be updated in a minute when a price changes. Keep a PDF only as an extra for people who want to print it.
Can I add an Order online button to my Google Business Profile?
Yes, for restaurants. Google's Business Profile Help says restaurants can add a menu link and food ordering links, set a preferred provider for pickup and delivery, and remove third-party providers they do not want listed. Some features only appear once the profile is verified, and if you turn off accepting orders on your profile, the ordering links are hidden.
Do I need to accept card payments on my restaurant website?
Not to start. Cash on delivery and cash on pickup are normal in Pakistan, and many restaurants begin with those. Online payment is worth adding once you have steady direct orders, because prepaid orders reduce cancellations, but every payment option carries a fee, so compare it with what the delivery app charges.
Write down your menu, your delivery area and your hours, then start for $1 and describe the restaurant. If you also sell packaged food or sauces for delivery across the country, our guide to starting an online store in Pakistan covers the parcel side. More guides are on the blog.