As guest expectations rise and marketplace commission fees remain high, restaurant groups are continuously improving their approach to digital ordering. A hybrid strategy that balances the visibility and volume of third-party marketplaces with a direct ordering experience that rivals DoorDash and Uber Eats provides more control—and better margins.

The Real Cost of Marketplace Dependence
Marketplaces play an essential role in customer reach and brand discovery. Commission fees range from 15% to 30% per order, before promotions and sponsored placements are factored in. For a quick service restaurant franchise with hundreds of locations, that adds up fast, and the results are:

• Lower profitability on every third-party order
• Limited access to guest data
• Less control over the guest experience
• Ongoing price adjustments to offset fees and keep up with changing algorithms

When a 25-location brand does $4,000 in third-party sales per location each week, a 25% commission amounts to over $1.3 million in annual fees paid to marketplaces. Shifting a small percentage of repeat orders from marketplaces to direct channels is instant margin recovery. 

With a hybrid digital ordering strategy, restaurants can:

• Use third-party marketplaces to expand customer reach and drive discovery
• Convert third-party guests into commission-free repeat customers
• Protect margins while still growing digital sales

An Ordering Experience that Rivals Marketplaces
To increase direct orders, the ordering experience through your restaurant’s website, mobile app, and/or kiosk must be just as convenient as marketplaces—if not better. At a minimum, you need to deliver:

• Frictionless flow and fast load times
• Saved favorites for quick and easy reordering
• Digital payment options with stored profiles and credentials
• Consistent, familiar ordering experience across every channel

If your direct ordering experience only accepts credit card payments, or lacks meal customization options, or is simply an outdated customer experience, customers will default to marketplaces, impacting profitability on every order. Tacit’s enterprise ordering solution allows restaurant groups to keep third-party orders at the top of the funnel and shift loyal, repeat customers to direct ordering channels. 

The result is better margins, more control of customer data, and stronger long-term guest relationships.

Why Leading Brands Choose Tacit
Restaurants with multiple locations, including Pita Pit, Edo Japan, Thai Express, and Jugo Juice, rely on Tacit to power direct ordering—without sacrificing flexibility or performance. 

“Working with Tacit to develop a secure tech stack that can handle ongoing modifications and support new solutions has been very beneficial,” says Chris Cann, Brand Leader at Foodtastic, the franchisor of Pita Pit Canada. “A partnership with Tacit gave us the opportunity to support our franchisees better—and the technological groundwork Tacit put into place has positioned the brand for continued growth and success.” 

Here’s what sets Tacit’s enterprise ordering solution apart:

• Seamless Integrations: Tacit integrates with leading Point of Sale (POS) systems, including Oracle, Silverware, Toast, GiveX, Squirrel Systems, Shift4, and many more, as well as third-party delivery marketplaces, payment providers, and loyalty platforms. Digital orders flow directly to your POS, minimizing errors, manual entry, and reconciliation headaches.

   

• Omnichannel Ordering: Tacit provides a consistent, high-end experience no matter how guests place their order: website, QR code, mobile app, kiosks with support for tableside ordering, and more. Customer data is captured and synchronized across all your digital ordering channels, including purchase history, preferences, and visit frequency, to unlock actionable insights and create opportunities to increase customer engagement and profitability.

   

• White-Label System: Tacit’s white-label system and customizable User Interface (UI) ensure your brand is front and center. A consistent look, feel, and ordering flow builds trust, reduces checkout drop-off, and strengthens brand loyalty across locations.

   

• Freedom to Choose Partners: Unlike many platforms that limit extensibility to specific first-party or third-party modules, Tacit allows enterprise restaurants to pick partners that work best for them—a preferred payment partner or gift and loyalty solution.

   

• Future-Ready: Tacit’s agnostic system is designed to scale and adapt quickly to future business needs, additional features, and emerging innovations without starting from scratch or requiring significant changes to the core infrastructure.

   

• Enterprise-Level Menu Management: Tacit allows restaurants with multiple online ordering menus, brands, and regional variations to update pricing, item availability, and promotions instantly—and do it seamlessly across their websites, apps, and third-party delivery services—for a consistent and accurate online menu.

The Bottom Line
For restaurant groups, a hybrid digital ordering strategy lets you benefit from marketplace reach while also protecting profitability, driving repeat business through direct orders, and lowering long-term technology costs.

If you’re ready to see how restaurants are shifting repeat orders away from marketplaces and finding balance with Tacit, visit Booth #5807 at the 81st Restaurants Canada Show, March 8-10, 2026, for a live demo.

Not attending the Restaurants Canada Show in Mississauga? Contact Tacit to set up a virtual demo.