"How do I get my guests to order from my own site?"

The question

You say "keep the apps for strangers, move your regulars", and a good owner asks the next thing: how? A regular's thumb goes to the delivery app out of habit. The restaurant's own site is further away than that.

This lesson is the answer, in the order it works for a restaurant that begins tomorrow.

What it costs

• Three of the answers need nothing built. They are settings on listings the restaurant already has. They need a page of its own for the link to open, and an afternoon by hand.
• One is in the $1,500 foundation.
• The rest is quoted in writing.
• An app in the app stores has the stores' own fees. Apple charges 99 US dollars a year for its developer program, and Google charges 25 US dollars once. The restaurant pays them, not us.

The answers

Today, with nothing to build

1. Their Google listing. Add their own ordering link and mark it as the one they prefer. Google lets every restaurant do that. The delivery apps stay on the listing too. The owner may ask for one to be taken off, and Google gives the app five business days.
2. A code on their own bags, tables and door. A phone's camera opens it on their own ordering page.
3. Apple Maps. A button on their place card that opens their own page. Apple checks it first, within three business days.

Built for them, in the $1,500 foundation

1. Their site on the guest's phone, like an app. Straight from the site, with no app store. On an iPhone: Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android: the three dots, then Install. Then the guest chooses whether to hear about their own order. Their phone asks, they answer, and they switch it off whenever they like.

Built for them, quoted

1. Their own list. Every order on their own site adds to it, with each person's yes or no. A guest with no account gets a checkbox at checkout, and it begins empty.
2. Rewards, tonight's special, and posts. Rewards that count only on their own orders. Tonight's special to every guest who said yes. Posts written for them, ready to copy and paste, each carrying their link.

A further add-on, quoted on its own

1. Their own app in Apple's App Store and on Google Play. Under the restaurant's name, on developer accounts the restaurant holds. Both stores review an app before it is listed, and every update after that. We give our date for handing it in. The day it appears is theirs. It is for a restaurant registered as an LLC or a corporation.

Runs today, or built for you

• Runs today, as Google's and Apple's own features: the preferred link and the Maps button. Each is set by hand, one location at a time.
• Runs today, at our co-founder's store: a maker for the codes.
• Runs today, for a client: a cleaning company's customers add its app from its own site. That app is for messages and appointments, not for orders.
• Built for you: a restaurant's ordering that opens as an app. The list as something that sends. Rewards. A notice to every guest. Posts written from a menu. The app in the stores. Nothing of ours is in an app store today.

Where each was read

Each on the maker's own page, on October 9, 2026. These rules and fees change without notice.

• The preferred ordering link, and asking for an app's link to be taken off: Google Business Profile Help, support.google.com/business/answer/10842217 and support.google.com/business/answer/6218037.
• A camera opens a code: Apple, support.apple.com/en-us/102680.
• A button on Apple Maps, checked within three business days: Apple, support.apple.com/guide/business/about-actions-abcba5e65376/web.
• Adding a site to the phone: Apple's iPhone User Guide, support.apple.com/guide/iphone/open-as-web-app-iphea86e5236/ios, and Chrome Help, support.google.com/chrome/answer/9658361.
• 99 US dollars a year: Apple, developer.apple.com/programs/enroll/. 25 US dollars once: Google, support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/6112435.
• Both stores review every app and every update: Apple, developer.apple.com/distribute/app-review/, and Google, support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/9859751.