Restaurants sometimes treat this as a decision to make once — pick WhatsApp ordering or stick with delivery apps. In practice, they solve different problems and most restaurants that do well run both.
What delivery apps are good for
Discovery. A new customer who’s never heard of a restaurant finds it through the app, browsing what’s nearby. That reach is genuinely hard to replace with a direct channel alone.
What WhatsApp ordering is good for
Retention. A customer who already knows and likes a restaurant doesn’t need to be found again — ordering direct means the restaurant keeps the full order value instead of paying a commission on a customer it didn’t need the app to reach.
Where restaurants get this wrong
Treating every order the same and running everything through delivery apps, including repeat customers who’d happily order direct if it were as easy as the app. That’s margin left on the table for no real benefit.
What a reasonable split looks like
Keep delivery apps running for discovery and new customers, and build a direct WhatsApp ordering channel specifically for regulars and anyone who already knows what they want — the highest-value, lowest-acquisition-cost orders a restaurant gets.
Where this fits
An AI chatbot for food delivery is built to handle that direct channel — fast enough that regulars actually prefer it to opening an app.