There are four realistic ways for a Pakistani restaurant to take delivery orders. Each is the right answer for somebody, and the deciding factors are almost always the same two: how much you sell, and whether you have anyone to deliver.
The four options
| Option | Cost | Who delivers | Brings you customers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commission aggregator | 25–35% per order + 2–3% on cards | Platform fleet | Yes — this is the main thing you buy |
| Flat-fee platform | Fixed monthly fee, 0% per order | Your riders | Some, but far less |
| Your own ordering page | Build cost, then hosting + payment fees | Your riders | No — all your own marketing |
| Phone and WhatsApp | Free | Your riders | No |
Commission aggregators
foodpanda is the large one in Pakistan. You pay 25–35% and in return you get a rider fleet, a payments system and — the part that actually matters — access to millions of people who already have the app and open it when they are hungry.
Worth it when you have no riders, when you are new and unknown, or when the incremental orders genuinely are incremental. Poor value when a large share of the orders are from your own regulars, who would have found you anyway.
Flat-fee platforms
You pay a fixed monthly amount for the ordering software and nothing per order. Your delivery fee stays yours. The trade is that you deliver, and the platform brings you far fewer new customers than an aggregator does.
Worth it above roughly Rs 18,000–20,000 of monthly delivery sales, if you have at least one rider. Below that the fixed fee is more than the commission would have been.
Your own ordering page
The cheapest per order and the most expensive to get working. You own the customer relationship completely and pay nobody a percentage, but you are also responsible for every visitor: the marketing, the SEO, the reason anyone types your name at all.
It suits an established brand with a following. It is a slow and frustrating channel for a new shop, because a beautiful ordering page with no traffic takes no orders.
Phone and WhatsApp
Not to be dismissed — a great deal of food in Pakistan is still ordered this way, and it costs nothing. What it costs instead is staff time and mistakes: orders taken wrong in a noisy kitchen, addresses misheard, no record of what was promised, and no way to know what you sold last Tuesday.
The usual reason to move off it is not cost but accuracy and record-keeping.
Most restaurants should run two
The strategy that fits most single outlets is not choosing one. It is keeping the aggregator for reach — the customers who do not know you yet — while moving the ones who already do onto a channel that does not charge a third of the order.
A printed card in the bag, a sticker on the counter, a line on the receipt. The regulars move within a few weeks, and those are precisely the orders where a 30% commission buys you nothing at all.
Where Snabb fits
Snabb is not an ordering platform at all — it is a directory. Your menu, your prices, your hours and your phone number, in front of people looking for somewhere to eat. They ring you, and the order is between you and them: nothing per order, nothing on cards, no settlement to wait for. You pay a flat monthly fee to be listed properly.
It is the right answer if you have a rider and enough volume to clear the break-even. It is the wrong answer if you have neither, and we would rather say so here than take a subscription from a shop it cannot pay for itself.
Common questions
What are the alternatives to foodpanda in Pakistan?
Other commission aggregators, flat-fee platforms such as Snabb that charge a monthly subscription instead of a per-order percentage, building your own ordering page, or taking orders by phone and WhatsApp. Which is cheapest depends on your monthly volume and whether you have riders.
Can I use foodpanda and another platform at the same time?
Usually yes, and most restaurants do — the aggregator for new customers and a low-cost channel for regulars. Snabb requires no exclusivity. Check your existing agreement for any exclusivity clause.
Is it worth building my own food ordering website?
Only if you already have a following. You pay no commission, but you become responsible for all the marketing, and an ordering page with no traffic takes no orders.
How do I move my customers off an aggregator?
Slowly and physically: a card in the bag, a sticker at the counter, a line on the receipt. Regulars move first because they were going to order from you anyway — and those are the orders where the commission buys you the least.