Every restaurant brand should invest in a direct channel. If you’re on a third party marketplace then those third party marketplaces own your customers and your customer data. Even though a customer is potentially buying food from your restaurant and having it delivered, that customer data is owned by the third party, not you.

What that means is you’re unable to market to that customer. You won’t be able to communicate with them to try to bring them back with your marketing efforts. All of that information is owned by a third party. But when you own a direct channel, you have a lot of flexibility in how you can communicate with your consumer base.

When a customer interacts directly with you, not only will it be a cheaper transaction to accept than if you used a third party, but you will also have a lot more flexibility in how you can present your brand, your menu, etc. You’re not stuck trying to fit yourself into somebody else's box. In addition, you own the information. You own the customer. You can choose to remarket to that customer however you best see fit.

You can choose to give that customer an offer. You’re also in a position to react to a customer complaint in a much more seamless way than if it's coming through a middleman. Ultimately, there’s a lot of power in owning a direct channel because of these reasons.