1. Start With The Real Question
Most restaurants ask which ordering platform is best. The better question is what job the platform needs to do.
If you need new diners, Grubhub and Uber Eats can put your restaurant in front of people who are already browsing for food. If you need a cleaner ordering flow from your own website, Toast may be the stronger fit, especially if your restaurant already uses Toast in daily operations.
The wrong move is treating every order the same. A first time customer who finds you in an app is different from a regular who typed your restaurant name into Google and clicked your website.
- Use marketplace apps for discovery.
- Use your website for loyal guests and direct demand.
- Choose the platform that fits the type of order you are trying to capture.
2. Grubhub: Good For Marketplace Reach
Grubhub is useful when your restaurant wants more exposure through a familiar ordering marketplace. People open Grubhub because they are already hungry, already comparing options, and often ready to order.
The upside is visibility. Grubhub offers marketplace listings, delivery options, pickup, account support, marketing tools, and a branded direct ordering option. Its public restaurant pricing page lists marketing commission tiers from 5% to 20%, with delivery fees starting at 10% when restaurants use Grubhub Delivery. There may also be payment processing fees or local market differences.
The tradeoff is control. Marketplace orders can bring new customers, but they also put your restaurant beside competitors, platform fees, app rankings, customer delivery expectations, and a customer relationship that is partly owned by the platform.
- Pros: marketplace exposure, delivery options, pickup, marketing tools, and direct ordering options.
- Cons: commissions, less control over the customer journey, and competition inside the app.
- Best fit: restaurants that want discovery and can protect margin on app orders.
3. Uber Eats: Strong App Demand And Flexible Options
Uber Eats has a huge consumer footprint, which makes it hard to ignore for restaurants that depend on delivery demand. Like Grubhub, it can help you reach customers who may not have searched for your restaurant directly.
Uber Eats publicly lists several Marketplace plans. As of its current pricing page, the Lite plan shows a 20% Marketplace Fee, Plus shows 25%, and Premium shows 30%. Pickup is listed at 7% with validated store pricing. Self delivery is listed at 15%. Uber also offers Uber Direct for delivery from your own channels and Webshop for online ordering from a site you control, with Webshop listed at a 2.5% processing fee plus $0.29 per order.
The biggest advantage is reach. The biggest downside is that higher visibility can come with higher fees and more dependence on the platform. If a customer already knows your restaurant, sending them straight into the marketplace may be convenient, but it may not be the most profitable path.
- Pros: large app audience, delivery network, pickup, direct delivery, and website ordering options.
- Cons: marketplace fees can be high, and platform discovery can compete with your direct ordering goals.
- Best fit: restaurants that want app visibility and delivery flexibility.
4. Toast: Strong For Owned Ordering And Operations
Toast is different because it is not just a delivery marketplace. It is built around restaurant operations, point of sale connection, menus, kitchen workflow, customer data, loyalty, and online ordering.
For a restaurant website, that matters. Toast Online Ordering can connect orders to the systems your team already uses. Toast promotes commission free ordering, flat delivery fees through Toast Delivery Services, order tracking, loyalty options, Google ordering support, search engine optimized menus, and deeper setup for custom domains through Toast Online Ordering Pro.
The tradeoff is that Toast is less about putting you in front of random app browsers and more about capturing demand you already created. It can be excellent for direct orders, but it will not replace the discovery power of a popular food app by itself.
- Pros: owned ordering, point of sale connection, menu control, customer data, and stronger direct order flow.
- Cons: less marketplace discovery and a deeper tie to the Toast ecosystem.
- Best fit: restaurants that want their website to become the main ordering path.
5. What Your Restaurant Website Should Do
Your website should not act like a random list of order buttons. It should guide people toward the best ordering choice for the business and the guest.
A loyal customer who visits your site should see a clear order button that leads to the option with the best margin and the cleanest experience. A new customer who finds you through Google should understand your menu, hours, location, photos, reviews, and ordering options before they bounce back to an app.
This is where SEO and website strategy matter. Your restaurant website should rank for branded searches, local menu searches, cuisine searches, and location searches. Then the ordering path should keep that demand close to your business instead of handing it away too quickly.
- Make the main order button obvious.
- Send direct demand to the best owned ordering option.
- Use app links carefully when marketplace convenience is the better guest experience.
6. The Practical Recommendation
For many restaurants, the answer is not one platform for everything. The better setup is a simple split.
Use Grubhub or Uber Eats when you want marketplace discovery and delivery reach. Use Toast when you want your restaurant website to support direct ordering, better guest data, smoother operations, and a stronger long term customer relationship.
If your restaurant already uses Toast, it is often the first place to look for website ordering. If your restaurant depends heavily on app discovery, Grubhub and Uber Eats may still deserve a place in the mix. Just make sure your website is not quietly pushing loyal customers into the most expensive channel by default.
- Best for discovery: Grubhub or Uber Eats.
- Best for direct website ordering: Toast.
- Best overall setup: use each platform for the role it handles best.
