Keep discovery. Add a direct way back.

Start with the problem you are trying to solve.

A restaurant looking for more ways to be discovered is asking a different question from a restaurant whose regulars cannot find a direct ordering link. You may have both problems. Write them down separately before comparing software. That makes room for a channel mix: keep evaluating the marketplace activity that works for your business while testing a restaurant-branded journey for people who already know you. Neither a new website nor an additional app guarantees that customers will use it.

Give each ordering route a useful job.

Compare the work a channel performs, rather than treating every fee or feature as interchangeable.

Make “customer ownership” a set of concrete questions.

Ask which details you can view, what history is attached to the restaurant, whether you can add existing contacts and whether a restaurant-level export exists. Ask separately about permission to send offers. GastroGrowth lets the restaurant work with its Business-local customer records and order history, subject to sharing and access rules. It does not currently offer a restaurant database export or complete self-service bulk CSV migration. A fair comparison should make those limits visible rather than awarding a vague ownership checkmark.

Test what an extra channel changes during service.

An additional sales route is useful only if your team understands how to operate it alongside the current setup.

1. 01

   Locate every incoming queue

   List the devices and systems the team already watches. GastroGrowth does not currently promise a native Just Eat order integration. If marketplace orders remain in another tool, decide who monitors each queue and how the kitchen avoids losing track of the work.

2. 02

   Try a complete direct order

   Place a realistic order through the GastroGrowth customer website, including the verified email step. Check the items, options and fulfilment method in Manager, then follow preparation and handoff. Seeing both sides is more useful than comparing two marketing screenshots.

3. 03

   Practise an exception

   Choose a situation your restaurant recognises: a sold-out item, a customer arriving early or a delay before collection. Agree who responds and which supported action the team uses. A clear recovery procedure belongs in the operating plan, even when the happy-path demo looks straightforward.

Decide who does the last part of the journey.

Pickup and delivery can create different workloads. Be explicit about the arrangement for each channel.

Compare costs using your own service assumptions.

There is no universal saving in this page. Ask for the current commercial terms and compare a similar set of orders over the same period.

When adding GastroGrowth is worth exploring.

These are decision criteria, not promises about your restaurant’s future results.

Set a review question before the first service.

Decide what would make the additional channel useful: customers completing a pickup order without help, the kitchen receiving clear choices, or staff finding a returning customer’s history. Keep a short record of problems and the changes made. Review costs over the same period and separate test orders from trading activity. Avoid calling every direct order a recovered marketplace commission, because you do not know that the order would otherwise have used that channel. A useful pilot gives the restaurant clearer evidence for the next decision.