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What most companies are doing (and why it's wrong)

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Today, the majority of restaurant chains in the UAE, US, EU, South America and globally rely heavily on third-party delivery apps such as Talabat, Deliveroo, Uber Eats, or Careem.

While this expands market reach, it comes at a crushing cost: commissions of 25–35% per order.

Restaurants lose a third of their order value immediately, even though the operational burden (staffing, cooking, inventory) remains fully theirs. Worse, these apps own the customer relationship, not the restaurant.

This dependency traps businesses in a low-margin, high-risk model where they have almost no control over delivery experience, branding, or pricing.

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What it means for their business

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A restaurant chain could see delivery become 50% or more of total revenue, but net profits per delivery shrink to near-zero or negative.

Growth becomes a curse: more orders, but less profit. Operational expansion becomes unsustainable because even busy outlets bleed money.

Margins get squeezed further if app commissions rise (which they historically do) or if delivery promo costs are forced on the restaurant.