Do Yellowknife Restaurants Need Online Ordering?

The short answer is: it depends on how you take orders right now, and how much revenue you're leaving on the table after your phone lines close for the night.

Third-party delivery apps like SkipTheDishes and DoorDash have changed what customers expect from food businesses. Even people who are picking up in person increasingly want to order ahead, pay digitally, and skip the line. In a city like Yellowknife, where many people work long days and want to pick up dinner without a call and a wait, the case for online ordering is real.

But the case against the big platforms is equally real. Here's the honest breakdown.

The Problem With Third-Party Apps

SkipTheDishes, DoorDash, and Uber Eats charge restaurants 15–30% commission on every order. On a $40 order, that's $6–$12 going to the platform — for every single transaction, forever. For a small restaurant already operating on thin margins, that's the difference between profitable and not.

Beyond the commission, third-party apps own the customer relationship. You don't get the customer's email. You don't know how often they order. You can't reach them directly with a promotion. They're loyal to the app, not to you.

What Your Own Online Ordering System Looks Like

A custom online ordering system built into your own website means:

• Customers order directly from you — no middleman taking a cut
• You collect payment via Stripe (2.9% + 30¢ per transaction — far less than 25% commission)
• Orders appear instantly on a screen at your counter or kitchen — no phone call needed
• Your menu updates in real time — 86 an item in seconds
• You own the customer data and can build a returning-customer base
• It works outside business hours — someone ordering at 9:30pm for a midnight pickup or next-day order is possible

When Online Ordering Makes Sense

It makes the most sense for food businesses where:

• You already get a meaningful volume of phone orders — online ordering replaces those calls, it doesn't create demand from scratch
• You have a defined menu that doesn't change dramatically day to day
• Pickup or pre-ordering is part of how your customers think about your business
• You're losing orders because customers can't get through during busy periods
• You want to capture revenue outside your business hours

It's less useful if you're purely table-service and the experience of ordering in-person is central to what you sell. A fine-dining restaurant doesn't need online ordering for pickup — the product and the dining experience are the same thing.

What It Costs

If you're running 20 orders a day at an average of $40, a third-party platform at 25% commission costs you $200/day — $6,000/month — in fees alone. A custom system that costs $3,500 to build pays for itself in three weeks and runs for years.

The Practical Path Forward

You don't have to choose between third-party apps and a custom system right away. A reasonable path:

1. Start with a basic website — your menu, your story, your hours, a contact form. This costs $1,500–$2,000 and gets you found online.
2. If you're already getting consistent phone orders for pickup, add online ordering to your site. At that point the build cost is justified and you know the demand exists.
3. Keep the third-party apps running in parallel if they're generating new customers you wouldn't otherwise reach — but push regulars to your own system.