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How one neighborhood pizza chain ditched third-party apps, built its own online ordering system, and unlocked £11M in revenue – with nearly every store turning a profit.
Introduction: The £11M Pizza Power Move
Imagine handing over 30% of every sale to a middleman and never knowing who your customers are. That was the reality for Yard Sale Pizza in their early days on delivery apps. Third-party platforms like Uber Eats and Deliveroo charged steep 25–30% commissions upmenu.com, hid customer data, and often delivered a subpar experience that hurt Yard Sale’s brand.If an order arrived cold or late (as gig drivers with no stake in the brand sometimes did), guess who got the bad review? Not the app – the restaurant did restoconnection.com. Yard Sale’s founders, Jonnie Tate and Sam Briggs, felt frustrated and powerless seeing their hard-earned reputation in others’ hands.
“We know lots of restaurateurs who use Deliveroo or Uber Eats and feel powerless… in the end, the onus is on the restaurants: they get the poor ratings, and it’s their reputation at stake.”restoconnection.com
Instead of accepting this fate, Yard Sale Pizza did something radical: they fired the apps. This scrappy London pizzeria chain decided to take growth into their own hands. They built their own online ordering system and in-house delivery fleet, cutting out third-party platforms entirely.
It was a bold move many assume only billion-dollar giants can pull off – but Yard Sale proved otherwise. The payoff? An £11M/year powerhouse with full control of their customer experience and 11 out of 12 locations profitable (up from fewer than half). By cutting out delivery commissions and owning every touchpoint, they turned one backyard pizza oven into one of the UK’s most admired independent chains. If they can do it, so can you.
The Big Problem: Third-Party Apps Were Eating Their Lunch (and Margins)
At first, Yard Sale Pizza partnered with popular food delivery apps to get orders. It’s what everyone was doing to reach more customers. But that convenience came at a high price. Let’s break down the key pain points Yard Sale faced when relying on third-party marketplaces:
- Sky-High Commissions: Services like Uber Eats and Deliveroo were taking 25–30% per order in feesupmenu.com. For a £20 pizza order, £5–£6 vanished into the apps’ pockets. Those fees obliterated profits on delivery sales, making growth unsustainable.
- No Customer Data: Because orders came through the apps, Yard Sale didn’t know who its customers were. The platforms shield customer info, so Yard Sale couldn’t collect emails, remember order preferences, or directly market to their own patrons. The platform owned the customer relationshipup menu.com, not Yard Sale. This meant zero ability to re-engage loyal customers with promos or to understand ordering trends.
- Loss of Control Over Service: Yard Sale had painstakingly built a great product – but once it left their kitchen in a stranger’s hands, anything could happen. Inconsistent delivery quality (late orders, cold pizzas, indifferent drivers) was common. “They don’t offer the same level of service as we do… we’re clearly losing out in terms of quality” one restaurateur noted of third-party couriersrestoconnection.com. Yet if a driver messed up, Yard Sale’s ratings suffered. One bad delivery could lead to a 1★ review blaming the restaurant for issues out of their control.
- Brand Erosion: On the apps, Yard Sale was just another logo in a scroll of restaurants. They couldn’t fully showcase their quirky neighborhood brand personality. Worse, delivery drivers often didn’t represent the brand – no Yard Sale uniforms or branded pizza boxes on those trips.
That meant no free marketing en route, and little sense of connection for the customer. As the founders noted, if you outsource delivery, “the delivery people and vehicles carry the platform’s brand… it’s your cooking and reputation on the line”restoconnection.com. Yard Sale was essentially building Deliveroo’s brand, not their own, with every order.
All these factors led Yard Sale’s team to a turning point. Was the boost in orders from apps worth the razor-thin margins and loss of control? For Yard Sale, the answer was no. The cost of “renting” customers from the apps was simply too high – it threatened their profits and their purpose of delivering a quality experience. They realized that to truly grow, they needed to own the entire value chain from dough to door.
Taking Back Control: Yard Sale’s Own Ordering & Delivery System
Faced with shrinking margins and a diluted brand experience, Yard Sale Pizza chose the road less traveled: build their own delivery operation and online ordering platform. It wasn’t easy – it meant investing in technology and people – but the founders believed it was the only way to preserve their vision. “If you want something done well, it’s best to do it yourself,” became their mantra restoconnection.com, and they applied it to delivery just as much as making great pizza.Here’s how Yard Sale solved the problem by bringing delivery in-house:
Branded Online Ordering System: Yard Sale built a slick online ordering website (and later, a mobile app) so customers could order directly from their brand, not a third-party. The interface was user-friendly and on-brand, giving customers the neighborhood pizzeria feel even when ordering from a phone.
- Crucially, this meant 0% commission on orders – an Uber Eats alternative for restaurants that Yard Sale owned outright. Orders that used to cost 30% in fees now cost nothing beyond basic payment processing. Every pound went to Yard Sale, not Big Delivery Inc.
In-House Delivery Fleet: Instead of outsourcing to gig drivers, Yard Sale hired and trained their own delivery team. Couriers became employees—locals on e-bikes and mopeds who were trained to represent the brand.
- They wore Yard Sale Pizza gear, used proper heated bags, and were as friendly as the staff at the counter. This ensured pizzas arrived hot and on-time consistently (their average delivery time is just 24 minutes nowpiper.co.uk– as fast as, if not faster than, the big apps!). By managing their own fleet, Yard Sale could enforce quality standards at the last mile. No more worrying about who’s picking up the food or how it’s handled; their team had it down to a science.
Owning the Customer Experience (Data & Service): With direct ordering, Yard Sale finally gained 100% ownership of customer data. They know exactly who their customers are, what they ordered, when they last ordered – gold for marketing. They launched a loyalty program (“Slice Club”) and could send targeted offers (e.g. “Free side with your next order” texts or emails) to drive repeat business.
- If a customer had an issue or feedback, Yard Sale’s team could address it directly through their in-house customer service, turning unhappy customers into loyal fans. This personalized touch was impossible when the apps stood in the middle. Now, brand loyalty soared because Yard Sale could build relationships, not just fulfill transactions.
- Essentially, they gave themselves the tech brain of a Deliveroo, but tailored to their operations. For example, drivers had an app for directions and dispatchers could see all outgoing orders at a glance. This tech backbone meant Yard Sale’s delivery ran efficiently even as volume grew – proving that even a local chain can leverage an online ordering system with delivery management like the big guys.
- They even turned their delivery team into a marketing asset – on busy nights you might see 10 Yard Sale-branded bikes zipping through London, essentially moving billboards restoconnection.com. This hyper-local presence reinforced their brand in each neighborhood. All these little touches strengthened Yard Sale’s image as a community pizza place that cares – something no third-party courier could replicate.
“Offering our own delivery service is a key part of our brand strategy… If you want something done well, it’s best to do it yourself.”
– Jonnie Tate, Yard Sale Pizza co-founderrestoconnection.com.
(By running delivery themselves, Yard Sale ensured pizzas “reach their destination at the right temperature” and that every interaction reflects their brand valuesrestoconnection.com.)
(Psst...Wondering if your restaurant could pull off a similar move? It’s more doable than you think. In fact, you can try a commission-free ordering system on a small scale to test the waters – we even offer a free demo of our platform to see if it’s the right fit for you.) 😉
The Payoff: £11M in Sales, Happier Customers & 0% Commissions
Making these changes was a lot of work – so, did it pay off? Absolutely yes. Yard Sale’s “fire the apps” strategy didn’t just solve their initial problems; it became a growth engine for the business. Here are the results and ROI after moving to their own system:Revenue Skyrocketed: Yard Sale Pizza’s bold move set the stage for rapid growth. By 2023 they reached £11 million in annual revenue, a milestone that might have been impossible if they remained tethered to third-party apps.
- With every order now flowing through their own system (and no 30% slice taken out), more sales translated into actual dollars in the bank. They could afford to open more locations and invest in quality, creating a virtuous cycle of growth. (In fact, Yard Sale grew to 13 shops by 2025 with £13m turnover piper.co.uk, thanks in part to this model!)
Profits and Store Success: Remember how fewer than half of their locations were profitable when paying huge app commissions? That flipped after the switch. Now 11 out of 12 shops are profitable – that’s 92% of their locations. By reclaiming the 25–30% per order that used to vanish, each store’s economics improved dramatically. Suddenly, expansion made sense because each new shop could stand on its own feet. Yard Sale proved that delivering pizza their way wasn’t a cost center – it was a profit center.
Customer Loyalty and Satisfaction: Owning the customer relationship has yielded big returns in loyalty. Yard Sale’s Net Promoter Score (NPS) hit 73 – world-class satisfaction levels on par with beloved brandspiper.co.uk. Customers rave about the service now, because it’s consistently excellent.
- And since Yard Sale can directly engage customers, they’ve built a community of fans. For example, when they run a special collab pizza or neighborhood event, they get huge turnout via direct marketing – something unimaginable back when they had no customer contacts from app orders. Brand sentiment improved as well: people recognize Yard Sale for its “Dough to Door” delivery experience piper.co.uk, knowing the company truly cares from the kitchen to their doorstep.
- How? By optimizing routes, focusing on tight delivery radiuses around each shop, and having dedicated drivers ready to go. Plus, because they control the process, they could take unique steps like ensuring even their giant 18″ party pizzas are delivered flawlessly (those actually don’t fit in standard app delivery boxes – a little-known handicap of third-party services that Yard Sale turned into a competitive advantagepiper.co.uk!). In short, Yard Sale’s service isn’t just on par with the apps – in many ways, it’s better.
- By removing the 25-30% “tax” on their sales, they essentially gave themselves a huge marketing budget and profit cushion overnight. This helped them not only survive challenges like the pandemic (when many others relying on apps struggled to turn a profit) but expand during them. They opened new stores even in tough times, confident that each delivery would be worth it. The financial resilience they gained can’t be overstated.
To recap the transformation, here’s a quick before-and-after snapshot of Yard Sale Pizza’s business:
Before vs After: The Delivery App Trap vs. Owning the System
Yard Sale proved that owning your delivery and ordering stack isn’t just for billion-dollar unicorns. It's a growth multiplier for local brands with ambition.
|
Metric |
Before (Apps) |
After (Own System) |
|
Commission Fees |
25–30% paid to platform per order |
0% – No third-party commissions |
|
Customer Data |
None (platform owned the data) |
100% owned by Yard Sale |
|
Delivery Staff |
Gig drivers, unknown & untrained |
In-house team, hired & trained |
|
Brand Control |
Low – platform’s branding front-and-center |
Full control – Yard Sale branding on every touchpoint |
|
Avg Delivery Time |
~30–40 min (variable) |
~24 min average |
|
Order Experience |
Generic app interface, no customization |
Branded website/app, tailored UX |
|
Store Profitability |
< 50% of locations profitable |
92% of locations profitable |
|
Marketing |
Can’t directly reach app customers |
Email list, loyalty program, repeat promos |
|
Brand Perception |
One of many on a marketplace |
Local hero brand with unique identity |
The difference is night and day. Yard Sale went from renting customers and growth (on the apps’ terms) to owning their customer experience and profits. It’s the classic story of taking back control – and it worked beyond expectations.
Key Takeaways for Operators: How Owning Your Tech = Owning Your Growth
Yard Sale Pizza’s success offers powerful lessons for other restaurant owners and entrepreneurs. The big theme is ownership: of your technology, your customer relationship, and your brand. Here are the key takeaways and how you can apply them in your business:
Don’t Rent Your Customers – Own the Relationship: When you rely on third-party apps, you’re essentially renting your customers from those platforms. Sure, you get the sale, but you don’t get the relationship (the data, the direct communication, the loyalty).
- Yard Sale proved that investing in your own online ordering system flips the script. You keep the customer’s info, you control the messaging, and you can turn a one-time buyer into a regular through your own marketing. Owning the customer relationship is a long-term asset – it’s like owning your house vs. paying your landlord (the app) forever. It might take more work up front to build that customer base directly, but once you have it, it’s yours to nurture and grow without a toll booth at every interaction.
Commission-Free = Instant Margin Boost: Every percent in commission you save is a percent added to your profit. By going commission-free on delivery, Yard Sale reclaimed 25–30% of revenue that was literally disappearing. Think about that: if your restaurant does $10k in delivery sales a week, a 25% fee means $2.5k/week gone. In a year that’s $130k(!) paid to someone else. - What could you do with an extra $130k? Upgrade your space, pay yourself better, invest in marketing, or open another location. Owning your delivery channel gives you this power. It’s not an exaggeration to call it a growth engine – Yard Sale funneled their savings into expansion and quality improvements. The lesson: treat those commission dollars as fuel for your own business, not the price of doing business. The moment you cut out the middleman, you start running on all cylinders.
Better Service = Better Brand (and More Sales): No one cares about your customers as much as you do. Yard Sale’s story reinforces that controlling the entire customer journey leads to a superior experience. They ensured fast deliveries, hot pizzas, and friendly interactions because it was their team on the line. - The result was happier customers who order more often and spread the word. In your case, owning your delivery or pickup experience means you can fix problems faster, maintain consistency, and delight customers at every turn. Over time, that level of service differentiates your brand. Customers notice the difference between a generic delivery drop-off versus a thoughtful, branded experience. And they reward it with loyalty (and on social media with positive reviews!). So, if you’re passionate about your food, consider being just as passionate about how it reaches people – it pays off.
It’s Easier Than You Think to Get Started: You might be thinking, “This sounds great, but building my own ordering system or fleet is daunting.” The truth: you don’t have to reinvent the wheel or be a tech genius. Start small. For example, you could launch your own ordering website and fulfill deliveries via your staff during certain hours, while still using apps as a supplement. - Many restaurants begin by taking direct orders for pickup (commission-free) to build that habit with customers. There are also hybrid solutions – e.g. using a service for independent drivers on an as-needed basisupmenu.com (so you can offer delivery through your site without a full fleet at first). The key is to take the first step toward owning your system. As Yard Sale showed, even a local business can gradually build out the capabilities. Once you see the benefits (higher margins, repeat customers coming through your site), you can expand. And there are platforms (like ours 😇) that provide ready-made restaurant online ordering tech so you’re not building from scratch. In short, the path to your own “Uber Eats alternative” for your brand is very doable in 2025 – and potentially game-changing.
Think Long-Term: Build Your Growth Engine: The smartest businesses (including Yard Sale) are playing the long game. Yes, third-party apps can give you a quick boost in orders – a short-term sugar hit. But long-term, the cost is crippling and you’ve built no equity; those customers essentially “belong” to the app. By building your own growth engine (your own ordering platform + marketing + operations), you sacrifice some short-term convenience for a far bigger long-term payoff. - It’s like planting an orchard instead of buying fruit at the store. Early on, it requires effort; but later, you’re harvesting profits season after season. Yard Sale’s decade-long growth to £11M was not an accident – it was the result of owning their engine and compounding improvements year over year. Wherever you are in your business journey, start thinking about how you can ditch the dependency on third-party marketplaces and invest in assets you control. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll reap the benefits of independence.
Finally, consider the broader trend: the smartest brands are ditching the delivery apps and taking back control. Yard Sale Pizza isn’t an isolated case. Across the industry, savvy operators are realizing that the “necessary evil” of third-party delivery isn’t so necessary after all.
Whether it’s a boutique pizza chain or a family-run restaurant, the tools and strategies now exist to stand up your own online ordering and delivery growth engine. The question to ask yourself is, “Do I want to be at the mercy of someone else’s platform, or do I want to build my own?” Yard Sale answered that decisively – and their success speaks volumes.
Conclusion: Your Turn to Fire the Apps?
Yard Sale Pizza’s journey from app-dependent to app-independent is inspiring, and it raises the bar for what’s possible. They reclaimed their margins, brand, and customer relationships – and the business is thriving. The takeaway for any restaurant or marketplace operator is clear: owning your ordering and delivery is not just for the Dominos of the world. With the right approach, it can be your secret sauce to sustainable growth.
So, ask yourself – what would your business look like with higher margins, more customer loyalty, and full control over your brand experience? It might be time to find out.
Ready to take control of your online ordering and delivery? Here are some ways we can help you get started on the same path:
Try Our Platform Free: Test drive our commission-free online ordering system and see how it can boost your sales (and save you 30% on fees). No commitment – just your chance to see the difference.
Book a Demo: Curious how it all works? Schedule a personalized demo with our team. We’ll show you how to build your own ordering platform and delivery program using our all-in-one solution – no tech expertise needed.
Download the Free Guide: Grab our e-book “How to Build Your Own Ordering Platform” for a step-by-step playbook on ditching third-party apps. It’s packed with tips, frameworks, and case studies (including Yard Sale’s) to guide you.
Explore More Success Stories: Not convinced yet? Check out other smart businesses who ditched the apps and built their own growth engines. Learn how owners like you turned online ordering into their competitive advantage.
Take the first step toward owning your growth. You’ve seen what Yard Sale Pizza achieved – now it’s your turn to write the next success story. Get in touch for a free demo or resources, and let’s fire those apps for good!
