Order Up wasn't built in a tech office. It was built at the kitchen table of a family that has spent decades in the restaurant business — watching commissions quietly drain the profits that everyone worked so hard for.
Our family has been in the restaurant industry for over 30 years. With more than 30 locations across the Chicago area, we've seen every side of this business — the early mornings, the loyal regulars, the tight margins, and the constant pressure to do more with less.
When DoorDash and Uber Eats arrived, we were excited like everyone else. More orders, more exposure, less hassle. But as the months went on, we started looking more closely at the numbers. We were handing over 28–30% of every single delivery order to these platforms. Month after month. Year after year.
For one location that meant losing $2,000–$4,000 a month. Across multiple restaurants, it was tens of thousands of dollars a year — going to a platform that didn't cook the food, didn't hire our staff, and didn't know our customers by name.
We realized we weren't alone. Every independent restaurant owner we talked to felt the same way — trapped, frustrated, and unsure what to do about it.
We didn't set out to build a software company. We set out to solve our own problem. We hired developers to build us a direct ordering system — a website and ordering app that our customers could use instead of DoorDash. We kept 100% of the revenue. We owned the customer data. We controlled the experience.
It worked. And the moment other restaurant owners heard about it, they wanted it too.
That's when Order Up was born — not as a startup with venture capital and a pitch deck, but as a tool that a real restaurant family built to stop losing money. Today we make that same tool available to independent restaurants everywhere.
The big chains have entire tech teams and custom platforms. Independent owners deserve the same tools — without the enterprise price tag.
When a customer orders through DoorDash, DoorDash owns that relationship. When they order through your site, you do. That difference is worth thousands of dollars a year.
Restaurant owners don't have time to learn complicated software. Order Up handles everything — you run your restaurant.
We're based in the Chicago area and we work with independent restaurants across the suburbs. If you want to talk to someone who actually understands the restaurant business — not just the software — we'd love to hear from you.
Email: hello@getorderup.net
Website: getorderup.net