Build Your Own Ordering App (and Own the Customer)

Third-party platforms can take 30%+ in commission from every order. That number should change how you think about growth.

For UK food founders, especially solopreneurs and family-run operators, delivery marketplaces often feel like the only realistic route to demand. They bring traffic. They simplify logistics. They also quietly shift the most valuable asset in your business—the customer relationship—into someone else’s hands.

Michael Olaleye, founder of Tasty African Food, put words to a problem lots of UK operators feel but don’t name: if the platform owns the customer experience, you’re renting your growth. His team built their own ordering app to get that ownership back. This post reframes their story as a practical case study for anyone building a small business brand in the UK—whether you’re a restaurant, a bakery, a meal-prep startup, or a solo founder selling products online.

The hidden cost of “easy growth” on marketplaces

The key point: marketplaces drive sales, but they also cap your margins and your brand’s ability to compound.

When you’re starting out, Uber Eats/Deliveroo-style platforms can genuinely help. You can test demand fast, show up where customers already browse, and avoid building your own ordering stack on day one.

But the model has structural downsides that don’t go away as you scale:

• Commission pressure: When 25–35% is coming off the top, your menu pricing, portion size, and quality decisions get squeezed. You either raise prices (and look expensive), reduce costs (and risk quality), or accept lower profit.
• Brand dilution: On a marketplace, you’re one tile in a grid. Your food and reviews matter, but your story and differentiation get flattened.
• Experience risk you can’t control: Late rider? Wrong address? App marked you “closed”? The customer blames you even when you didn’t cause it.
• Data lock-in: You often don’t get the customer’s email, ordering patterns, or true repeat-rate by dish. That blocks retention marketing.

Here’s the stance I take: traffic isn’t growth if you can’t reliably retain it. It’s just expensive revenue.

What Tasty African Food did differently (and why it worked)

The key point: they treated their ordering channel as part of the product, not just a checkout button.

Tasty African Food started nearly two decades ago focused on authentic West African meals for local communities, then grew into a UK chain (27 restaurants), catering, retail-ready meals, and a direct ordering app. Their story matters because they didn’t build an app as a “tech flex”. They built it to solve operational and marketing problems.

The tipping point: when the platform becomes the brand

Michael’s team heard recurring complaints customers assumed were the restaurant’s fault:

• deliveries arriving late
• menu items missing in-app
• reordering blocked due to incorrect “closed” status

That’s not just annoying. It’s brand damage you can’t repair, because you can’t see who the customer is, can’t contact them properly, and can’t fix the system-level issue.

If you can’t control the experience, you can’t protect trust.

For businesses built on loyalty—community food brands, niche cuisines, diet-specific offerings—trust is the whole engine.

The real win: first-party customer relationships

The most valuable shift wasn’t “saving commission”. It was moving from anonymous orders to first-party customer data.

Once customers order directly, you can:

• identify repeat customers and high-value cohorts
• see which dishes drive retention (not just one-off trials)
• run loyalty rewards without platform constraints
• send targeted offers based on real behaviour

Tasty African Food introduced features like click-and-collect, pre-ordering, and loyalty rewards on their own terms. That’s what independence looks like: choosing what to build based on customer needs, not a platform’s product roadmap.

A practical roadmap for UK solopreneurs: when to build your own app (or not)

The key point: you don’t need an app to own your customer journey—you need a direct channel. Sometimes that’s an app; often it’s a better website flow.

In the “UK Solopreneur Business Growth” series, we talk a lot about marketing that compounds: content, email, community, and automation. Owning your ordering channel is the same principle applied to commerce.

Step 1: decide what “ownership” means for your business

Before you price an app, define the outcomes. For most small UK operators, ownership usually means:

1. Customer database you can contact (email/SMS opt-ins)
2. A reliable ordering experience you can fix quickly
3. Brand presentation (full menu, story, upsells, bundles)
4. Retention mechanics (loyalty, subscriptions, reminders)

If you can’t name the outcomes, you’ll build features you don’t need.

Step 2: calculate your break-even point (simple version)

Use this back-of-a-napkin test:

• Estimate your average monthly delivery revenue through platforms.
• Multiply by your effective commission rate (include service fees you pay).
• That’s the monthly “platform tax”.

Example:

• £20,000/month via marketplaces
• 30% effective commission
• £6,000/month cost

If a direct channel (website ordering or app) costs you £1,000–£3,000/month all-in (software + payment fees + small marketing spend), your business case might be obvious.

Even if your direct channel doesn’t replace all platform orders, shifting your best repeat customers to direct can be enough to materially improve profit.

Step 3: start with the smallest direct channel that works

An app is powerful, but it’s not the only route. Many solopreneurs do better by launching in this order:

1. Direct ordering webpage (mobile-first, fast, clear)
2. Email/SMS capture + loyalty (even a simple stamp-style reward)
3. Click-and-collect to reduce delivery complexity
4. App once repeat ordering is high and you want one-tap reorders

My take: build an app when reordering is frequent and your menu is stable. If your offer changes weekly, a great website can outperform a mediocre app.

What to build into a direct ordering experience (so customers actually use it)

The key point: customers won’t switch to direct ordering out of loyalty alone—you have to make it better.

People default to what’s already installed and familiar. If you want them off the marketplace, your direct channel needs clear advantages.

The “switching bundle”: reasons to order direct

Give customers 2–3 concrete reasons that stack together:

• Price or value: direct-only bundles, free sides, family meals
• Speed: prioritised prep for direct orders, accurate time slots
• Trust: clearer allergen info, better substitutions, reliable comms
• Rewards: points, freebies, birthday treats, referral credit

Make the offer simple. “Cheaper” is not always the best hook if it forces you into discounting. Often “more reliable” or “better value” wins.

Must-have features for small operators

You don’t need a Silicon Roundabout build. You need the basics done properly:

• Full menu control (including sold-out toggles)
• Accurate opening hours and holiday scheduling
• Pre-orders for peak periods (Friday nights, match days)
• Click-and-collect with clear pickup instructions
• Customer support loop (refunds/credits you can issue quickly)
• Simple reordering (favourites, past orders)

If you can’t do customer support well, don’t scale direct ordering yet. A direct channel increases responsibility as well as margin.

Marketing your direct channel: how to move customers off platforms

The key point: migration is a campaign, not a button. Plan for 6–12 weeks of consistent nudges.

This is where startup marketing in the UK gets real. You’re changing behaviour. That takes repetition.

Offline prompts that work (and don’t feel pushy)

• Put a QR code on every bag/receipt: “Order direct next time for loyalty points.”
• Add a direct-order card inside the bag with one offer: “Free side on your next direct order.”
• Train staff to mention click-and-collect when it’s busy: “Next time, pre-order and skip the queue.”

Online prompts that compound

• Post one pinned Instagram/TikTok: “How to order direct + what you get.”
• Build a simple email welcome flow: thanks, top sellers, how loyalty works.
• Run retargeting ads to site visitors (small budgets work if your local radius is tight).

If you’re a solopreneur, don’t overcomplicate it. Consistency beats complexity.

A smart hybrid strategy (what I recommend)

Keep marketplaces for discovery, but design the funnel:

• Platforms = acquisition (new customers)
• Direct channel = retention (repeat customers)

Your goal isn’t to “quit Deliveroo”. Your goal is to stop paying repeat-customer tax.

The bigger lesson: brand independence is a growth strategy

The key point: owning your channel isn’t a tech project—it’s a brand equity project.

Tasty African Food’s story lands because it’s not anti-platform. It’s pro-ownership. They used platforms, saw the limits, then built a direct channel so the customer experience matched their brand.

For UK solopreneurs and small teams, this is the same decision you face with any third-party dependency: Etsy vs Shopify, Amazon vs DTC, Instagram-only vs email list. The pattern is consistent.

• Platforms are useful.
• Platforms are not loyal.
• Your business compounds when you control retention.

If you’re planning 2026 growth, ask yourself one question: what would break if a platform changed fees, rankings, or rules next month? The answer tells you what to build next.