For a pizzeria, the marketing that pays is four things: a complete Google Business Profile that ranks you for "pizza near me," your own commission-free online ordering, reviews, and a repeat-order habit like loyalty or family deals. Third-party delivery apps bring volume but take a heavy cut, so they're a supplement, not the foundation. Here's the honest math on each, including when an app is worth its fee.
We run our own service companies and build marketing for food businesses, so this is the practical version — what keeps margin in your kitchen instead of handing 25% to an app for every order.
"Pizza near me" and "best pizza [neighborhood]" are pure-intent searches with a hungry person at the other end. A complete profile with great photos, accurate hours, and a stream of reviews puts you in the map pack. This is the single highest-impact free thing you can fix.
Delivery apps take roughly 15–30% per order. Your own ordering on a fast site keeps the whole ticket and the customer's contact info. Make it one tap from search and from your profile. This is where margin lives.
People pick pizza with their eyes and the star rating. Steady reviews lift ranking and close the next hungry searcher. A box-top card or a receipt line asking for a review costs nothing and compounds.
Pizza is a repeat purchase. A simple loyalty punch, a Tuesday family deal, or a text list to your past customers turns one order into ten. Owning the customer list — not the app — is what makes this possible.
Third-party apps aren't the enemy — they're a paid discovery channel. On a $30 order, a roughly 15–30% commission is $4.50 to $9, which on thin pizza margins can erase the profit. The smart play: use the apps to be found and to win first-time customers, but put commission-free ordering on your own site and convert repeat orders to it, where you keep the full ticket and the customer's number. Track how many app customers come back to you directly — that conversion is the whole game.
Measure orders and repeat rate, not vanity reach. The cheapest growth is a past customer ordering again, which only happens if you own the relationship.
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We build the part that keeps margin in-house: a fast mobile site with your menu, commission-free ordering, hours, and reviews, ranked in local search. Start Getting Leads is $249/month for the site plus AI order/inquiry capture and hosting. Grow in Google at $597/month adds the SEO content engine and attribution. Month-to-month, and you own the site, the domain, and your customer list.
See your pizzeria website design, restaurant marketing for the broader playbook, and what local SEO costs.
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Not required, but they help discovery. Treat them as paid acquisition and work to move repeat orders to your own commission-free site, where the margin and the customer stay yours.
Claim and fully fill your Google Business Profile with great photos and current hours, then ask every customer for a review. Free, and it moves orders within weeks.
Sometimes, for a grand opening or a slow daypart, with tracking so you know it pays. Most pizzerias get more from owning ordering and reviews before spending on ads.
Send your pizzeria name and city — we'll confirm your market is open and build a working demo within 48 hours. Free, no card, no commitment.
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