Online ordering for restaurants in Berlin

Berlin thrives on independent restaurants. The pizzeria on the corner, the takeaway next to the U-Bahn, the small place that has had the same regulars for years. Many of these guests have known you for a long time. They don’t need a platform to discover you. They just need an easy way to order from you.

That is exactly what your own ordering page is for. Your guests order online and pick up their food, as soon as possible or at a later time. They pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay, straight through your own Stripe account. No phone calls in the rush, no paper slips, no commission.

Delivery platforms still have their place. They bring new guests. Anyone who found you there and comes back can order directly next time. How commission compares with a fixed monthly price is explained in the guide to ordering without commission. You can run your own figures in the commission calculator.

When people in Berlin get hungry, they often go straight to Google: they search for your name, or for something “near me”. Either way, many guests end up on your Google Business Profile. From there, ordering should be just one click away.

• At launch, we add your ordering link to your Google profile.
• Your ordering page can run on your own domain. What you build up on Google stays with you.
• You get a QR code for bags, flyers and tables, so guests from the neighbourhood order online next time.

A guest from the neighbourhood opens your ordering page, picks a dish and confirms with „Zahlungspflichtig bestellen“, the German order button wording the law requires (“order with obligation to pay”). They pay by card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. At this point the card is not charged yet.

In your kitchen, the kitchen panel announces the order with a loud alert. A countdown shows how much time is left to accept it. Your kitchen accepts and sets the pickup time. Only now is the card charged. If the order is rejected or never answered, the guest pays nothing.

The guest receives a consecutively numbered receipt by email and picks up the food at the agreed time. At the end of the day, the daily close for online orders is created. In the admin you see revenue and orders live, even from home. If a dish runs out, you mark it as sold out in one click.

Zia Maria is a pizzeria in Prenzlauer Berg. Guests already knew it. Today they order directly on the pizzeria’s own website, at prenzlauerberg.ziamariaberlin.de, with no commission.

• 76% of Google clicks come from searches for “Zia Maria”.
• +50% Google impressions in August compared with December.
• 3,600+ visits from Google search.
• More than €2,400 saved in commission.

The most important figure is the first one. Most clicks come from people who already know Zia Maria and search for it by name. Those guests now order where no commission is charged. Read more about ordering for pizzerias in the guide for pizzerias.

Not everyone in Berlin orders in German. Tourists, newcomers and neighbours from all over the world would rather read your menu in their own language. And many Berlin restaurants are run by people who speak several languages themselves.

OwnGo’s menu is available in German, English, Turkish, Italian, Spanish and French. The 14 major allergens are shown on every dish. For takeaways and döner shops, the Turkish menu is especially useful; there is more on that in the guide for takeaways and döner shops.

OwnGo is a product of Bitte Solutions, Berlin. We do the setup, free of charge. You send us your menu, and we build the website, menu and kitchen panel. You only confirm your Stripe account so payouts reach your bank account.

The kitchen panel runs in the browser on any tablet or phone. You don’t need any new devices. Day to day, you can reach us while you are open, evenings and weekends included. You talk directly to the people who build OwnGo.

The next step is a short call. Write to us through the contact form and we’ll get back to you in person within one working day.