Compare a delivery dispatch partner on the full trip, not just the advertised delivery fee. Ask what starts a charge, where and when a courier is available, who contacts the guest, and who pays when an order is canceled or cannot be handed off. Get those answers in writing before comparing quotes.
For a direct order, your restaurant owns the guest relationship and prepares the food. A dispatch partner may arrange the delivery, but the details of that handoff depend on your agreement. A low base trip charge can be a poor fit if your busiest delivery area is outside the service boundary or if exceptions leave your staff without a clear way to help the guest.
Start with your actual delivery footprint and busy hours. Then compare partners using the same order scenarios, including a normal trip, a cancellation and a failed handoff. This is a contract and operating decision, separate from deciding whether to employ your own drivers.
Map who owns each part of the order
Write down the path from checkout to delivery. Your restaurant website or other direct channel presents the menu and collects the order. Your restaurant accepts it, prepares it and makes it ready for pickup. Dispatch begins when the delivery request is sent to a partner; a courier then needs enough information to find the restaurant and the guest.
For each step, name the business responsible and the person your staff can contact when something goes wrong. Do not assume that a dispatch provider handles refunds, or that an ordering system can change a courier's route after pickup. Ask how each action is requested and who can authorize it.
Useful inputs for a quote include your pickup address, intended delivery area, operating hours, expected order volume, typical preparation time and any known access issues. A downtown restaurant with apartment deliveries may need different handoff terms from a suburban restaurant serving mostly houses. Share your busiest periods as well as your average volume; a quote that works at lunch may not describe Friday dinner availability.
Also establish who sets the delivery charge shown to the guest and who receives it. The amount the guest pays is not necessarily the amount the partner charges the restaurant. Ask whether a quote is per delivery request, per completed trip or triggered at another point. If one order needs a second courier, ask whether that creates another charge.
If you are still choosing the ordering channel itself, the online ordering buying guide covers that broader decision. For dispatch, the immediate question is whether the ordering setup and the delivery partner can exchange the information needed for your location and workflow.
Compare trip charges and coverage on the same terms
Request an itemized quote from each partner for the same address, hours and delivery area. The base rate matters, but so does the rule used to calculate it. Ask whether distance, time of day, order size, waiting time or a difficult pickup changes the amount. Ask whether there are minimum charges, recurring fees or other conditions tied to volume.
Use the matrix below to record the answer and the operational question behind it. It is not a list of charges every partner applies. A written quote and service terms should show which charges and rules apply to your setup.
| Term | What to compare | Question to resolve | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trip charge | Base amount, distance and time adjustments | When does the charge begin, and what changes it? | Two base rates may cover different trips. |
| Coverage | Delivery area, hours and location availability | Are our busiest addresses and hours included? | A low rate has little value outside its boundary. |
| Cancellation | Charges before assignment, after assignment and after pickup | Who can cancel, and which stage sets the fee? | A canceled order can still create a cost. |
| Failed handoff | Return, disposal, redelivery and refund responsibility | Who decides the next action and pays for it? | Food and courier time may already be committed. |
| Guest messages | Pickup, delay and arrival communications | Who sends each message and handles replies? | Guests need a useful contact when plans change. |
Coverage is more than a radius on a map. Check the actual addresses near your boundary, including a large apartment building or business park you regularly serve. Ask whether the partner can support the hours you accept delivery orders, whether availability changes at peak times and what your staff sees when no courier is available. Availability varies by location; confirm it for your address rather than relying on a general service-area description.
Ask what happens if the guest's address is corrected after the quote or falls outside the agreed area. Can the trip be repriced, declined or canceled? Who communicates the change? Put the answer next to the price so that a cheaper quote is not mistaken for an equivalent service.
Separate dispatch expense from the direct-order plan
A commission-free direct-order plan does not make courier delivery free. As of November 2026, the Fleksa plans page lists Fix at $199 per month per location with 0% Fleksa commission on direct online orders. Payment processing, delivery or dispatch, hardware or add-ons, and applicable sales tax are extra. Confirm current pricing and availability for your setup.
Hypothetical monthly example: A restaurant uses Fix and receives 300 direct delivery orders. Assume one dispatch trip per order at $6 per trip. Dispatch costs are 300 × $6, or $1,800. Adding the $199 fixed monthly plan gives $1,999, before the excluded items below. The plan allocation is about $0.66 per order, and the plan plus assumed dispatch expense is about $6.66 per order.
This calculation includes the fixed Fix subscription and the assumed variable dispatch charge. It excludes payment processing, tax, hardware or add-ons, and exception costs such as cancellation or redelivery charges. It also assumes every order produces exactly one charged trip. The $6 trip amount and order count are illustrations, not a delivery quote.
If guests each pay a hypothetical $4 delivery charge that the restaurant receives, guests pay $1,200 in total. That amount offsets the restaurant's $1,800 dispatch expense, leaving $600 of dispatch expense before the subscription and other excluded costs. It remains a $4 cost to each guest; it is not free delivery. Confirm how the actual guest charge is collected and distributed before using it in a budget.
For a more complete quote comparison, add the fixed fees, expected trip charges and a separate estimate for exceptions. Keep processing fees distinct from dispatch and from the all-in cost of running the ordering channel. Do not treat delivery charges collected from guests as extra sales without considering what they offset. The guide to comparing direct and marketplace contribution provides a broader way to examine order economics.
Agree on exceptions and guest communication
A delivery issue has two timelines: what happened to the food and what the guest was told. Ask the partner to describe both. For a delayed courier, find out who notices the delay, whether the restaurant can contact the courier or support team, and who tells the guest. Ask how staff should respond if the guest calls the restaurant before any update arrives.
For a failed handoff, define the point at which delivery is considered unsuccessful. A courier may arrive at the address while the guest is unavailable, or the address may be incomplete. Ask how long the courier waits, what contact attempts are expected and whether the food is returned, held or otherwise handled. Clarify who authorizes a second attempt and whether it creates another trip charge.
Then discuss the financial outcome separately. Who can issue a refund or credit? Who bears the original trip charge, any second-trip charge and the cost of remaking food? A partner's answer may depend on why the handoff failed. Ask for the rules for an incorrect restaurant address, an incorrect guest address and an unavailable guest rather than accepting one broad promise to resolve problems.
Guest messages deserve the same detail. Ask which business sends order, pickup, delay and arrival updates; what information each message contains; and where replies go. If your staff must relay a change, give them a contact method and a short script. For example: confirm the order name and address, explain the known delay, and give the guest the next expected update rather than promising an arrival time you cannot verify.
Finally, ask how disputes are documented. A useful record might include the order reference, request time, status changes, contact attempts, charge and resolution. Agree on how long your team has to report a disputed fee and where to send it. Have a qualified adviser review contract questions when you need advice on responsibility or other legal terms.
Run a safe scenario review before service
Before signing, walk through a normal order and several exceptions with the ordering provider and dispatch partner. This can be a tabletop simulation using a fictional order and address. No real payment, guest message or courier dispatch should occur during practice. Ask each provider to explain what its staff or system would do at each step; a discussion does not prove that the live workflow works.
Use this sequence for the review:
- Normal trip: The restaurant accepts an order, prepares it and marks it ready. Identify when the delivery request is made, when a charge starts and how pickup and arrival are communicated.
- Cancellation before pickup: The guest cancels after a courier has been assigned. Identify who cancels the request, whether a fee applies and what happens to food already prepared.
- Failed handoff after pickup: The guest cannot be reached. Identify contact attempts, the decision about the food, any additional trip and who handles the guest's request for a refund.
- Out-of-area correction: The guest changes the address. Identify who checks the new address, whether the price changes and who tells the guest if delivery cannot continue.
Record each answer beside the relevant quote and contract term. If one partner offers a lower trip rate but cannot cover your busiest addresses, eliminate it for those orders or negotiate a workable boundary. If two partners cover the same area, compare the expected charges and exception responsibilities using the same volume assumptions. A higher quote may be reasonable if its included coverage or exception terms address a problem your restaurant actually faces; do not assign value to a feature you do not need.
After the simulation, discuss a limited live service pilot only if both providers support it and you are ready to handle real orders. Agree on the location, hours, staff contacts, escalation route and review period in advance. Live orders can involve actual charges, messages and courier dispatches, so tell staff how to recognize and resolve problems. Review the resulting invoices and incident records against the written terms before expanding service.
Use the matrix with your current setup and one written alternative. Then ask Fleksa about restaurant online ordering and verified dispatch availability for your US location, including how your chosen delivery arrangement would be set up.
Frequently asked questions
Does 0% Fleksa commission include courier delivery?
No. On the Fix plan, 0% Fleksa commission applies to direct online orders. Delivery or dispatch is separate, as are payment processing and other applicable costs.
What should a dispatch quote include?
Ask for the trip charge and its triggers, coverage area and hours, recurring or minimum fees, and charges for cancellation, waiting, failed handoff and redelivery where applicable. Confirm who pays and who contacts the guest.
How can a restaurant check exception handling safely?
First conduct a fictional tabletop simulation with no real payment, guest message or courier dispatch. If you later run a live pilot, agree on its scope and escalation process before accepting real orders.
