The delivery-app tax and how to stop paying all of it

Talabat, Jahez, HungerStation. Each one takes a cut of every order before you see a riyal of it, typically somewhere in the 15 to 30 percent range depending on the platform and your placement tier. On a plate that sells for SAR 45, that is SAR 7 to SAR 13 gone before ingredients, staff, or rent even enter the conversation.

The math gets worse on repeat orders. A regular who eats from you every week, who would happily message you direct if you gave them an easy way to do it, is paying the exact same commission as a stranger who found you through the app's search results for the first time. Restaurants across Riyadh spent this year fixing that, and the fix is not complicated.

How delivery app commissions actually work

The commission is a percentage per order, not a flat fee, and it moves with the platform, the city, and whether you paid for better placement inside the app. Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam all run on the same structure. Better visibility in search costs more, so ambitious restaurants get pushed toward the higher end of the range just to stay in front of customers who are already scrolling.

On a thin-margin dish, that commission can absorb most of what you would have made. On a repeat order from someone who already knows your food, it is close to pure waste. You are paying a customer-acquisition fee for a customer you acquired months ago.

Why delivery app commissions hit repeat customers hardest

New-customer discovery genuinely earns the commission. Someone in Malaz searching for shawarma at 9pm who has never heard of you is worth the 20 percent it costs to reach them. Someone who has ordered from you six times this month is not a discovery problem anymore. They are a retention win you are currently paying to lose money on, every single time they open the app out of habit instead of messaging you directly.

Move regulars onto a WhatsApp ordering channel

Most of your regulars already have WhatsApp open more than they have any delivery app open. A WhatsApp Business catalog with your menu, photos, and prices lets them browse and order in the same chat thread they already use to talk to you. No commission, no app fee, and you keep their number for next time.

• Set up a WhatsApp Business account under your restaurant name, with your logo and hours filled in
• Build a catalog with clear photos, Arabic and English item names, and SAR prices
• Save quick-reply templates for order confirmation, prep time, and delivery status
• Put a click-to-chat WhatsApp link in your Instagram bio, Google Business profile, and on printed receipts
• Assign one phone or tablet to WhatsApp orders during peak hours so nothing gets missed

Give repeat customers a direct-order page

A direct-order page does the same job as the app's checkout without the app's cut. It does not need to be elaborate. One page with your menu, an order form, and a WhatsApp number to confirm is enough to start. Link it from your Google Business profile and Instagram bio, and print a QR code on every bag that goes out through a delivery app.

The goal is not to replace the delivery apps. It is to stop paying commission on customers who no longer need the app to find you.

Use loyalty to pull orders off the apps

A concrete incentive moves habits faster than asking customers to be loyal out of goodwill. Every tenth order free, a fixed SAR discount on direct orders, a small gift on a birthday, tracked through WhatsApp or even a plain spreadsheet, gives a regular an actual reason to skip the app next time. Ramadan is a good moment to launch it. Order volume rises, routines are already shifting for the month, and a direct-order discount announced ahead of iftar rush gets noticed.

Keep the delivery apps for what they are good at: putting your food in front of people who do not know you exist yet. Stop paying 15 to 30 percent on the people who already do. Multiplied across every regular you have in Riyadh, Jeddah, or Dammam, that difference is the margin you have been giving away for free.