What it costs
What a takeaway website should cost
Every order through a delivery app costs you commission. A site that takes orders direct keeps it. Here is what it costs.
From £297, live in 7 days, on your own domain.
Takeaway website cost
The short answer on cost
A takeaway website cost starts from £297 for a spec-built site on your own domain, live within seven days, with the first three months of care included, then £49 a month you can stop whenever. That sits below the agency quotes and above the throwaway builders, but for a takeaway the real comparison is not against other websites, it is against the delivery apps. Every order that comes through Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats hands over a slice of the price in commission, and the app, not you, owns the customer. Your own site changes that: it lets people order from you directly, so the order, the margin and the customer’s details stay yours. Your regulars, the people who order from you week after week, would happily order direct if you made it easy, and every time they do you keep the commission an app would have taken. Set against a year of commission on your loyal orders, a few hundred pounds is trivial.
What the money buys: your orders, kept in full
The value here is keeping what the apps take, not decoration. That price buys a fast, clear site that shows your menu and lets a customer order from you directly, simply and on their phone, so an order that would have gone through a commission-charging app comes straight to you instead, with the full price and the customer’s details yours to keep. That matters because the apps sit between you and your customers, taking a cut of every order and owning the relationship, so moving even your regulars to direct ordering keeps the margin on orders you were always going to get. A direct-ordering site turns your loyal customers into orders you keep in full and a customer list that is actually yours. What you are paying for is to stop renting your own regulars back from an app.
Why cheaper and dearer both mislead
The thousand-pound-plus agency quotes bundle overheads a takeaway does not need. The near-free DIY builders go the other way, producing thin, clunky sites that make ordering a chore and send customers back to the app. Both miss the point. A takeaway needs a fast, clear site that makes ordering direct genuinely easy, easier than reaching for the app, which is a specific thing to get right, so agency prices waste money and bargain builders undercut the ease that gets a customer to order from you.
Paid off by the commission you stop paying
A takeaway runs on thin margins and the apps take a real slice, so the maths is quick. The commission saved on regulars ordering direct adds up fast, so a modest share of your orders moving off the apps soon covers the build, and every direct order after that keeps money the app would have taken. And because a customer who orders direct once, and finds it easy, keeps doing it, the saving compounds. Set against a year of app commission on the orders you were always going to get, the modest cost is an easy decision for a takeaway that would rather keep its orders, its margins and its customers than rent them from an app.
How it works
From message to live in four steps.
- 01
Message me
Tell me your trade and your town on WhatsApp. No forms to wade through, no call to book.
- 02
£99 to start
A £99 deposit gets your build going and comes off your quote. It covers some of the build time.
- 03
I build it, you see it
I build the whole site, framed around your work, and send it to you finished to look at.
- 04
Pay the rest, go live
Happy with it? You pay the balance, it goes live on your own domain, and it is yours to keep.
What you get
What a takeaway site from me includes.
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Built on spec
I build it first and send it finished. You see the real thing before you decide, not a mock-up.
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Live in 7 days
From the go-ahead, your site is live within a week. No months of back and forth.
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On your own domain
It goes live in your name. You own the site and everything on it, with no lock-in.
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Genuinely fast
Static pages, no WordPress. Fast pages rank better and turn more visitors into calls.
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Found on Google
Built to be found in local search, with the plumbing done properly from day one.
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Looked after
Someone looks after it and changes it when you need. Two small edits a month, your listing kept current.
What it costs
A straight price.
From £297 to build it, first three months of Care included, then £49 a month.
You own the site outright and can stop the monthly plan whenever you like. Hosting is part of Care and Grow, so one of those keeps it online after the first three months, or you host it yourself. See the full pricing.
Common questions
Questions I get asked.
How much does a takeaway website cost?
From £297 as a one-off, live on your own domain within seven days, then £49 a month for hosting and small edits you can stop any time, with the first three months included. For a takeaway losing a slice of every order to a delivery app, that is a small price for a site that lets regulars order direct and keeps the commission you'd otherwise hand over.
What am I really paying for with a takeaway website?
A way to take orders direct and stop paying commission on every one. Right now the delivery apps sit between you and your customers and take a cut of each order, and they own the customer, not you. The site's job is to let people order from you directly, so the order, the margin and the customer's details stay yours. You are paying to keep what the apps take.
Why does taking orders direct drive the value?
Because a delivery app takes a slice of every order and keeps the customer relationship, so each order that comes through your own site instead keeps that commission and that customer. A direct-ordering site turns your loyal regulars, the ones who'd happily order from you straight, into orders you keep in full, which is where a takeaway's thin margins are won or lost.
Won't the delivery apps always be cheaper than my own site?
No. A delivery app charges commission on every order forever, while your own site is a fixed low cost, so once your regulars order direct the site pays for itself and then saves you money on every order after. The apps can bring new customers, but paying commission on your loyal regulars, who'd order direct if they could, is money left on the table.
Is a cheap DIY takeaway website good enough?
Usually not. A customer ordering food wants a site that shows the menu clearly and takes the order simply, and a thin, clunky one sends them back to the app. You need a fast, clear site that makes ordering direct easy, and a cheap DIY job undercuts both the ease and the trust that get a customer to order from you rather than the app.
Are there ongoing costs beyond the build?
The domain is about ten to fifteen pounds a year and stays yours. The £49 monthly plan covers hosting, backups and two small edits, so you can keep the menu and prices current without a separate bill. A static site has almost nothing to break, so there are no surprise maintenance invoices, and none of the per-order commission an app charges.
How quickly does a takeaway website pay for itself?
Usually fast, because the commission saved on regulars ordering direct adds up quickly, so a modest share of your orders moving off the apps soon covers the cost, and every direct order after that keeps money the app would have taken. The more your regulars order direct, the more the site saves.
Do I own the takeaway website or rent it?
You own it outright. The domain is in your name and the site is yours to keep even if you stop the monthly plan. I do not lock people in, because the site that keeps your orders and your customers should belong to you, not be rented back, and certainly not take a cut of every order the way an app does.
Tell me your town and I'll build you a takeaway site on spec, so you can see it before you pay. Or read What a website costs, see the full pricing, or get in touch.