Service
Online ordering systems
Orders taken on your own site, with pickup times and a board for the kitchen, instead of a commission on each sale. Starting at $15,300 with a written plan first. You own the code and the accounts.
Updated September 24, 2026
In short
An online ordering system takes orders on your own site, each with a pickup time, and puts them on one board in the kitchen. We build them for small food businesses in Los Angeles, as an app from $15,300 or as part of a site we build, and the orders come to you without a marketplace commission.
An online ordering system: An online ordering system is the part of a business's own website where customers choose what they want and when to collect it, together with the screens staff use to receive and prepare each order. Unlike a delivery marketplace, it sits on the business's own domain, so the customer's details and the order history stay with the business and no commission comes off each sale. A good one knows the menu's rules, such as items that sell out or need a day's notice, so it can turn away an order the kitchen could not fill.
What you get
The list below is what an ordering system covers, whether it sits on a site or runs as its own app. The written plan sets the menu rules and the pickup slots for your business, with the price.
- A menu on your own site that knows each item's options and limits
- Pickup times offered only in the slots you allow, each closing when it is full
- A board for the kitchen with the day's orders in pickup order
- An email to the customer for each order, sent from your own address
- Online payment through a checkout on your own account, where the plan includes it
- Every order and every customer kept in a database you own
How it goes
We start with how orders arrive today and where they go wrong between the phone and the kitchen. The written plan turns that into the rules and the screens your orders need, with the price and the deposit.
Once the deposit clears, we build the ordering page and the kitchen board first and test them with pretend orders on a private link. Before launch your staff place a few orders of their own, and the system goes live on accounts in your name.
Where it fits
Ordering can live on a site we build, or run as its own system with a back office behind it. On a site, it is priced in the written plan with the rest of the pages, because menus and pickup rules vary so much from one business to the next.
As its own system, with a kitchen board and a login for each person, it is priced as an app from $15,300. The band that adds online payments and customer accounts starts at $34,000.
- Starting at
- $15,300
Three ways to take orders online
In short
The delivery apps bring new customers and take a commission on each order. Your own ordering system costs a build price instead, and the customers who order through it stay yours.
Your own ordering and the delivery apps can run side by side. The table shows what each route costs and what it leaves you with.
| A DIY tool | A template | Custom | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | A delivery app's ordering page, or your point-of-sale's add-on | An ordering plugin on a template site | Ordering built into your own site and back office |
| Cost over time | A commission on each order, set by the plan you pick | A plugin subscription, plus card fees | A build price from $15,300, then card fees on your own account |
| Customer details | The app decides how much of them you see | Yours, inside the plugin | Yours, in a database you own |
| The kitchen side | The app's own tablet, one for each app | An email or a printed ticket | A board built around your kitchen |
| Best fit | Reaching people who browse the apps | A short menu with few options | Regulars who order direct, and a kitchen that plans ahead |
Swipe sideways to see every column
A worked example (hypothetical)
Picture a family-run taqueria that takes lunch pickup orders by phone. The phone rings through the busiest hour and orders go down on a pad, so now and then one is made twice.
An ordering app at $15,300 would move those orders onto its own site. Customers pick a pickup time and pay at the counter, and the kitchen sees each order on a board in pickup order.
Taking card payment online and keeping customer accounts would move the build into the band that starts at $34,000. The written plan would price each step on its own line, so the owner could start with the board and add payments later.
From the work
The case study below is a build we can open on a call and walk through screen by screen, with sample data in place of real orders.
Common questions
Should I use my own ordering system or the delivery apps?
Often both. The delivery apps help new customers find you and take a commission on each order, set by the plan you choose. Your own system costs a build price and card fees, and suits the regulars who would order direct anyway.
What does an online ordering system cost?
As its own app, ours start at $15,300, and the band with online payments and customer accounts starts at $34,000. Ordering added to a site we build is priced in the written plan with the rest of the site.
Can customers pre-order for a pickup time?
Yes. Customers choose from the pickup slots you allow, and each slot closes when it is full. You decide how far ahead ordering closes, so the kitchen gets the notice it needs.
Does it work for a restaurant or a bakery?
Yes. Food businesses fit it well, because their orders carry details a generic shopping cart handles badly, such as a pickup window or a deposit on a large order.
Who owns the customer list?
You do. Every order and every customer sits in a database on your own account, so you can reach your regulars without paying a platform to do it.
Can orders show on a screen in the kitchen?
Yes, that is the usual setup: the kitchen board runs in a browser on any tablet or display. Printing tickets depends on the printer, and the written plan says whether yours will work.
Start with a written plan
Tell us about the business and what you need. We reply with questions, then a written plan that lists the work and its price, and nothing starts until you have read it.