The way to take online orders is to turn your menu into a store: each dish is an item, customers add to a cart and pay by card, and the order reaches your kitchen. Instinctor does this on your own site, so you take online orders without handing a third-party app a cut of each one.
STEP BY STEP
Six steps to online orders
1. Build your menu
Add each dish with a photo, description and price, so it is ready to order, not just to read.
2. Turn on ordering
Switch on the cart so customers add dishes and check out, right from the menu.
3. Take payment
Connect a card processor so orders are paid up front, with the money going to your bank.
4. Set pickup or delivery
Offer pickup times or a delivery zone, so customers choose how they get their food.
5. Get the order
Each order lands with the items and details, ready for the kitchen, with a confirmation to the customer.
6. Keep the customer
The diner is yours, on your list, so you can bring them back without paying an app to reach them.
YOURS VS AN APP
Why your own ordering wins
A delivery app takes a heavy cut of every order and keeps the customer as theirs. Taking orders on your own site keeps the margin and the relationship, which adds up fast over a year.
Keep the margin
No app cut on every order means the profit stays with the restaurant instead of a middleman.
Keep the customer
Diners order on your site and join your list, so repeat orders do not cost you a commission each time.
Control the menu
Change prices, mark specials sold out and run offers yourself, in seconds, without an app in the way.
WHAT ONLINE RESTAURANT ORDERS TAKE
Your menu, your orders, your margin
Taking online orders means customers order takeout or delivery straight from your site, so you keep the margin the big delivery apps take, often a punishing cut, and you own the customer. It needs a fast, current menu, clear options and modifiers, a smooth checkout that takes payment, and orders that reach your kitchen reliably. Pickup times and delivery zones should be clear. Owning ordering rather than renting it from an app means the profit and the customer data stay with you, so you can bring diners back directly instead of paying a platform to reach your own customers.
WHERE RESTAURANT ORDERING FAILS
The mistakes that cost you margin
The first is depending entirely on delivery apps that skim heavily and hide your customers. The second is a clumsy menu or checkout that loses the hungry orderer. The third is orders that do not reach the kitchen cleanly. Own your ordering with a fast menu and reliable order flow, and keep the margin and the customer.
THE RIGHT WAY
Take online orders yourself
Let customers order from your own fast menu with a smooth checkout, orders reaching your kitchen reliably, so you keep the margin and the relationship. Instinctor has menu and ordering built in, in one site you own.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Questions about taking online orders
Turn your menu into an orderable store: each dish is an item, customers add to a cart and pay by card, and the order reaches your kitchen, all on your own site.
Not if you take orders on your own site. You pay only the card processor its standard rate, so the heavy per-order cut a delivery app charges stays with you instead.
Yes. Set pickup times or a delivery zone, and customers choose at checkout, so ordering fits how your restaurant actually serves food.
Each order lands in your dashboard with the items and details, and the customer gets a confirmation, so your team can prepare it and nothing gets missed.
Yes. Diners order on your site and join your list, so you can bring them back with an offer without paying an app a commission each time.
Only the payment processor standard card rate. Instinctor does not take a per-order cut of your restaurant sales.