The Delivery Loyalty Trap: Why Third-Party Apps Keep Your Customers, Not You
You’ve invested time, energy, and heart into your food, your team, and your customer experience. But if you rely on national delivery platforms to reach your diners, you might be giving away your most valuable asset—your customers.
While third-party apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub promise visibility and convenience, they quietly position themselves as the brand customers are loyal to—not your restaurant. The result? You’re doing the work, they’re building the relationship.
This is what we call the delivery loyalty trap—and it’s costing restaurants long-term revenue, brand equity, and control. Here's how it works, and how CravinGrub is helping restaurants break free and take back ownership of their customer relationships.
The Illusion of Loyalty: Who Customers Are Really Loyal To
At first glance, being listed on major food delivery apps seems like a win. You're accessible, discoverable, and can reach customers in your area. But look closer, and you’ll see those same apps promoting other restaurants on your listing page—often offering discounts or faster delivery times to sway customers away.
Even repeat customers who love your food are encouraged to browse other options. Why? Because the app’s goal is to keep customers loyal to their platform, not your restaurant.
National apps build their loyalty programs around:
- App usage, not restaurant loyalty
- Exclusive platform discounts
- Points and perks tied to volume, not brand preference
So even if someone orders from you five times, they’ve earned rewards from the app—not you. And next time they’re hungry? The app will suggest your competition.
The Customer Data You Never See
Beyond visibility, there’s a bigger issue: you don’t own your customer data.
Third-party apps collect and guard key information that you could be using to grow:
- Customer names and email addresses
- Order history and frequency
- Favorite menu items and feedback
- Location-based patterns and preferences
Without access to this data, you’re locked out of powerful tools for retention, such as:
- Email marketing
- Targeted promotions
- Loyalty programs
- Birthday offers or personalized rewards
In short, you’re renting your customers from third-party apps—while they keep the tools to re-engage them.
The Real Cost of Lost Loyalty
When customers associate their delivery experience with a platform instead of your brand, it hurts more than your pride—it hits your bottom line.
- Lower lifetime value: Customers are less likely to return consistently to your restaurant.
- Weaker brand recall: If they forget your name and just remember “that place I ordered from on Uber Eats,” you lose recognition.
- Perpetual platform dependency: You become reliant on apps for every new and repeat order, which means forever giving up a slice of your profits.
Loyalty isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s a growth engine. And when it’s built on someone else’s platform, your restaurant never gets the full reward.
How CravinGrub Breaks the Loyalty Trap
At CravinGrub, we believe that restaurants should own their customer relationships—because you’re the one providing the food, the service, and the experience.
Here’s how CravinGrub is different:
1. You Own Your Customer Data
We give you full access to customer names, emails, and order history so you can:- Build email or SMS marketing lists
- Track customer behavior
- Run targeted offers and loyalty incentives
2. Loyalty Is With Your Brand—Not Ours
Unlike national apps, CravinGrub encourages repeat business with your restaurant, not just delivery in general. When customers reorder, it’s through your branded experience.
3. No Competing Listings
We never promote your competitors next to your menu. When a customer clicks your listing, they see your food, your offers, and your brand—nothing else.
4. Personalized Tools to Re-Engage
You can run custom promotions like:- “Order 4 times, get $10 off”
- “Free dessert with 3rd order this month”
- “Loyalty rewards for pickup or delivery”
A Better Kind of Delivery Relationship
Imagine this:
You get a new customer through CravinGrub. You now have their email. After a great experience, you send them a thank-you offer. Next time they order, they get a discount on your most popular item. Over time, they become a regular—and you never once had to fight an algorithm or pay 30% of your revenue to make it happen.
That's how delivery should work.
Don’t Rent Your Customers—Keep Them
The loyalty trap is real. Third-party apps make it easy for customers to order once—but they make it hard for restaurants to build relationships that last.
With CravinGrub, you get more than just an order management platform. You get the tools, the data, and the support to create a true delivery experience that’s loyal to your brand—not someone else’s.
You’ve worked hard to earn your customers’ trust—don’t give it away to a platform that isn’t invested in your growth.
Ready to take control of your delivery strategy and keep the customers you've earned?
Partner with CravinGrub today and start building loyalty that lasts.