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Restaurant Break-Even & ROI Calculator: Is Direct Ordering Worth It?

Find out exactly when direct ordering pays for itself. See your break-even point in orders, 12-month savings projection, and the customer list you will build — the asset that makes direct ordering compound over time.

For a restaurant with a $35 average order value at a 25% marketplace commission rate, direct ordering breaks even at just 29 orders per month — a $249 flat fee versus $253 in commissions. At 500 orders/month, the annual savings reach $49,512. But the bigger return is the customer list: 500 orders/month builds a 2,000-3,000 person marketing list in year one, generating $3,000-5,000/month in repeat revenue that compounds every month.

Break-even & ROI calculator

Find out when direct ordering pays for itself — and what it builds over 12 months

Break-even point

29

orders/month

You do 500 — that's 17x over break-even

Year 1 commission savings

$49,512

saved vs marketplace fees

$4,126/mo back in your pocket

Customer list after 12 months

3,600

people you can market to

Worth ~$42,120/yr in repeat revenue

12-month projection

Cumulative savings and customer list growth month by month

Mo 1
300 contacts
Mo 2
600 contacts
Mo 3
900 contacts
Mo 4
$16,504
1,200 contacts
Mo 5
$20,630
1,500 contacts
Mo 6
$24,756
1,800 contacts
Mo 7
$28,882
2,100 contacts
Mo 8
$33,008
2,400 contacts
Mo 9
$37,134
2,700 contacts
Mo 10
$41,260
3,000 contacts
Mo 11
$45,386
3,300 contacts
Mo 12
$49,512
3,600 contacts
Cumulative savings
Right column: marketing contacts collected

Why direct ordering compounds

Marketplace: every order costs the same

Order #1 and order #1,000 both cost you 25%. You never build equity. The platform owns the customer.

Direct: every order gets cheaper

Your flat fee stays at $249. At 500 orders, that's $0.50/order — and drops as you grow.

You build a customer list

Every order captures name, email, and phone. After 12 months you have 3,600 contacts generating repeat revenue through SMS and email.

Total year 1 value

$91,632

$49,512 commission savings + $42,120 retention revenue

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Break-even and ROI FAQ

How many orders do I need for direct ordering to be worth it?

At a 25% commission rate and $35 average order, a $249/month flat-fee system breaks even at just 29 orders per month. At 15% commission, the break-even is about 48 orders. Most restaurants do 200-2,000+ orders monthly, making direct ordering profitable from day one.

What is the ROI of direct ordering for restaurants?

The direct savings are significant — a restaurant doing 500 orders/month at $35 average saves $49,512/year in commissions. But the compounding ROI comes from owning customer data: building a marketing list, running retention campaigns, and increasing repeat order rates from 14% to 40-50%. Over 12 months, the total revenue impact is typically 3-5x the commission savings alone.

How fast can I build a customer list with direct ordering?

Every direct order captures a customer's name, email, and phone number. At 500 orders/month with roughly 60% unique customers, you build a 3,600-person marketing list in year one. This list generates $3,000-5,000/month in repeat revenue through automated SMS and email campaigns.

Should I keep my DoorDash and UberEats listings?

Yes — use marketplaces for discovery and new customer acquisition while routing repeat customers to your direct ordering channel. Include bag inserts with every marketplace delivery order, update your Google Business Profile to point to your direct ordering site, and run targeted SMS campaigns. This typically moves 40-60% of orders to direct within 90 days.

Related resources

Commission calculatorDoorDash fee calculatorRestaurant revenue growthHow to increase direct orders

Next steps

Book a demo and we will map a direct ordering growth plan for your restaurant.

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