The Direct Delivery App for South African Restaurants & Stores
A direct delivery app lets your customers order from you — on your own branded app, website or WhatsApp — and get their order delivered by drivers working for your brand, not a marketplace. doorbell is the direct delivery app built in Cape Town for South African restaurants, grocery stores, retailers and ghost kitchens.
You keep the customer, the data and the margin. doorbell runs the technology, driver dispatch and customer care behind it for R1,000 per store per month.
What is direct delivery?
Direct delivery means the customer buys straight from your business and the order is delivered on your behalf, under your name. There is no marketplace sitting between you and the person ordering. The order arrives through a channel you own, the payment goes to you, and the customer’s details and order history stay in your business.
Compare that with a marketplace order. On Uber Eats or Mr D, the customer is the marketplace’s customer. Your menu sits beside your competitors, the platform decides how you are ranked, and a commission is taken on every order — including orders from regulars who were always going to buy from you. A direct delivery app is how you give those regulars a better place to order.
Direct delivery vs marketplace commission
Marketplace commission scales with your success: the more you sell, the more you pay. A direct channel flips that. With doorbell you pay a fixed platform fee per store, and there is no marketplace commission on the orders that come through your own channel. Moving even a slice of repeat orders onto your own app can change the economics of a store.
| Marketplace order | Direct delivery with doorbell |
|---|---|
| Commission on every order | R1,000 per store per month, no marketplace commission on direct orders |
| The platform owns the customer | You own the customer relationship and data |
| Your brand listed next to competitors | Your brand from first tap to doorstep |
| Promotions run through the marketplace | Specials sent straight to customers on WhatsApp and in your app |
This isn’t about deleting the marketplaces overnight. Most businesses keep them for discovery and use direct delivery for repeat customers. Our Uber Eats alternative guide explains the marketplace + direct model in detail.
How the doorbell direct delivery app works
Customers order on your channel
A branded ordering link, your own website ordering, or your own iPhone and Android apps published under your name. Customers browse your menu or catalogue, pay online and check out in your brand.
WhatsApp brings them back
Send specials and product carousels in WhatsApp. Customers tap through to your checkout without downloading anything. See WhatsApp ordering for restaurants.
Orders are dispatched to drivers
Every order lands with your store and is dispatched to a driver. doorbell handles driver dispatch and driver fleet management, so you don’t have to recruit, schedule or manage drivers yourself.
Customers track the driver
Customers get live driver tracking and delivery confirmation, and doorbell’s customer care team contacts them proactively if a delivery is running late.
Want the full picture of what’s included? Read about direct ordering + managed delivery. If you need something more tailored — your own customer, driver, merchant and admin apps — see our custom delivery app option.
Built for businesses that deliver in South Africa
Restaurants
Single stores and multi-branch groups that want their regulars ordering direct instead of paying commission on every repeat order.
Grocery & retail
Supermarkets, discounters and retailers that need a branded shopping app with reliable last-mile delivery behind it.
Ghost kitchens
Delivery-only brands that need owned ordering and dispatch across several brands from one kitchen. See ghost kitchen delivery in Cape Town.
Franchise groups
Franchise direct ordering across every store, with one branded channel for the whole network and per-store operations.
Direct delivery apps already live on doorbell
Foodeez
A branded food and grocery app running on doorbell, live on Google Play and the App Store under the Foodeez name, with ordering, dispatch and tracking handled by the platform.
Score Groceries Discounter
Score’s grocery delivery app (Score Scoot) runs on doorbell, live on Google Play and the App Store — a discounter delivering direct to its own customers.
Thinking about it for a restaurant group? We run a 30-day pilot on 1–3 branches so you can measure the channel before rolling it out.
Pricing
doorbell costs R1,000 per store per month. That covers your branded ordering (web, iPhone and Android), WhatsApp ordering, driver dispatch, live tracking and customer care. There’s no marketplace commission on orders placed through your own channel. Full details are on the direct ordering page.
Direct delivery app FAQ
What is a direct delivery app?
A direct delivery app lets a business take orders on its own app, website or WhatsApp and deliver them to its customers without going through a marketplace like Uber Eats or Mr D. The business keeps the customer relationship and pays no marketplace commission on those orders.
How is direct delivery different from Uber Eats or Mr D?
Marketplaces charge commission on each order and own the customer relationship. With direct delivery, customers order from your brand, their data stays with you, and with doorbell you pay a fixed R1,000 per store per month instead of commission on direct orders.
Do I need my own drivers?
No. doorbell provides driver dispatch and driver fleet management as a managed service, including live tracking, delivery confirmation and customer care.
Can customers order on WhatsApp?
Yes. You can send specials and product carousels on WhatsApp, and customers check out on your branded ordering page without downloading an app.
Will my app be in the App Store and Google Play under my brand?
Yes. doorbell publishes branded iPhone and Android apps plus web ordering under your business name, as it does for Foodeez and Score Groceries Discounter.
Where does doorbell operate?
doorbell is based in Claremont, Cape Town, and works with restaurants, grocery stores, retailers and ghost kitchens in South Africa.
How much does the doorbell direct delivery app cost?
R1,000 per store per month for branded ordering, WhatsApp ordering, dispatch, tracking and customer care, with no marketplace commission on direct orders.
Launch your own direct delivery app.
Or contact us: info@doorbell.delivery · +27 76 646 5713 · 36 Hampstead Road, Claremont, Cape Town