How to Choose an Online Ordering System for Your Takeaway (UK Checklist, 2026)

Every provider’s website says the same five things, so the brochure will not help. What helps is a list of questions that cost money if you get them wrong: who owns the customer, what each order costs, where the order lands, and what the contract says about leaving. Here is the 12-point checklist we would hand a friend opening a UK takeaway in 2026, with the three models in a table. Aexir is one of the providers you would compare, so our own answers are included, with figures checked on 26 October 2026.

An online ordering system is the software that lets customers order from your menu on a website or app, pay by card and choose delivery or collection, with the order arriving at your till or printer. It comes as a marketplace listing (space on someone else’s app), a builder (you assemble the site and an ordering plug-in yourself) or a white-label platform (a provider builds and runs a website and app under your name for a monthly fee).

What are the 12 things to check before you choose?

1. Own-brand apps or a marketplace listing? A marketplace puts your menu next to every rival in the postcode and the customer belongs to the app. An own-brand website and app put your name on the home screen. Most takeaways run both for a while, but the two are priced completely differently, so decide which you are buying.
2. Who owns the customer data? Ask directly: can I export names, numbers, order history and addresses, and can I message those customers myself? On a marketplace the answer is usually no. On a white-label system it should be yes, with a CSV export you run without asking support. If you cannot take the list when you leave, you are renting your own regulars.
3. What does each order cost in payment fees? Every system charges a card fee; the honest ones publish it. Aexir’s is 2.5% + 30p per transaction, 85p on a £22 order. Then compare the marketplace take: Uber Eats publishes a 30% fee on orders it delivers in the UK and 13% where you deliver or the customer collects, excluding VAT (Uber Eats UK merchant pricing page, checked 26 October 2026). Our delivery statement decoder reads a real remittance line by line.
4. What are the delivery options? Can customers choose collection, can you set zones and minimum orders, and who drives? If you have your own drivers, the system needs to assign orders to them. If not, look for partner couriers dispatched per order from the till and charged per delivery, as Aexir does. Avoid any system whose delivery integration only works in another country.
5. Does it come with a till, or connect to yours? An online order that lands in an email is not an order, it is a hope. It should appear on a till screen and a kitchen printer. Ask whether a till is included (Aexir’s POS on the Go runs in any browser on the Web and Pro plans) and whether phone and walk-in orders share the screen.
6. How much control do you have over the menu? You should be able to change a price, hide a sold-out item, add a size or extra, and schedule a section by time and day, from your phone, live in seconds. If edits go through a support ticket or a designer, the menu will be wrong by the second month. Ask to see the edit screen before you sign.
7. Is loyalty built in? Stamps, points and promo codes are how a direct channel beats a marketplace on repeat orders. Check whether loyalty is included, an add-on, or a third-party app with its own fee. On Aexir, stamps and points are on the app plans and promo codes run from the till on every plan; the loyalty ideas guide has schemes for takeaways.
8. Can you send push notifications? A push message to everyone with your app costs nothing per send. It needs an app of your own, so a website-only plan will not have it. Ask whether you send campaigns yourself from the till or have to request them, and whether there is a per-message charge.
9. How long does setup take, and who does it? Days to a few weeks for a website, longer for an app because Apple and Google review it. Ask who types in the menu: you from a template, or the provider from your PDF, photo or current listing. Aexir builds the menu and submits the app under your name; the 30-day setup plan shows a realistic timeline.
10. Which contract terms should you read before signing? Five lines: the minimum term, the notice period, any cancellation or early-exit fee, who owns the domain and the customer data when you leave, and how prices can rise. Get them in the contract rather than a sales email. A provider that will not show the terms before you commit is telling you what leaving is like.
11. What support do you get on a Friday night? Takeaways break at 7pm on Friday, not 10am on Tuesday. Ask for the support hours, the channel (phone, WhatsApp, email), and what happens when card payments or the printer fail during service.
12. Is the pricing published? If the monthly fee, card rate and delivery charge are on the provider’s website with a date, you can compare them; if the page says "contact us", the price is whatever they think you will pay. Aexir’s plans are on the pricing page: Web £30, Starter £30, Plus £40, Pro £50 a month ex VAT, card 2.5% + 30p, additional locations £1 a day. Named providers are compared on the alternatives hub.

Marketplace, builder or white label: which model fits?

The 12 checks line up differently for each model, so compare the model before the brand. The table shows the cost shape and who ends up owning the customer.

How do you run the checklist on a real shortlist?

Take three providers and score each check as yes, no or not published. Put your real average order and weekly order count against the card rate and any per-order fee, and read the five contract lines in point 10 before any demo. Use your own statements for the marketplace column; the Just Eat commission guide explains the fee stack, the best UK ordering providers guide covers the white-label field, and the savings calculator turns weekly orders into a monthly figure.

How does Aexir answer the 12 checks?

Own-brand website and iOS and Android app; customer list and order history yours, with CSV export; card payments 2.5% + 30p through Stripe; partner couriers dispatched per order or your own drivers, collection built in; POS on the Go in any browser on Web and Pro; menu edited from the till with time and day schedules; stamps, points and promo codes; push campaigns on the app plans; setup by the Aexir team; prices published. We are now live in France too. The online ordering system page sets it out plan by plan.