An example use case showing the shape and economics of a typical Big Helpers build for an Indian restaurant chain wanting to reduce dependence on Swiggy and Zomato.
Note: this is an example use case illustrating a typical Big Helpers engagement of this shape — not a named client. Real client names and numbers are kept private.
A small North Indian restaurant chain with 3 outlets in tier-2 Maharashtra was processing roughly 800 delivery orders per week, with about 78% coming through Swiggy and Zomato. Average order value was ₹520. The aggregator commission of 26-30% was eating ₹3.2-3.6 lakh per month across all three outlets. The owner had a strong WhatsApp following from regulars (~6,400 contacts collected over 4 years) but no way to take orders from them other than calls — which a single counter staff person juggled poorly between in-house customers and phone orders.
Three problems compounded: (1) commission spend was higher than rent across all outlets combined; (2) regulars who explicitly asked to order direct were being routed back to aggregators because there was no other channel; (3) order errors over phone were running at ~6% (wrong items, wrong addresses), each costing a remake plus reputation. The owner needed a way to take orders directly — without competing on app downloads (which a tier-2 Maharashtra customer base wouldn't do) and without spending six months building.
Tell us your outlet count and aggregator commission. We send back a sketch of what a direct-ordering system would look like for you, and what it would cost to build.
We built a lightweight direct-ordering system in 5 weeks. The customer-facing layer was a no-app-needed WhatsApp + web flow: regulars get a WhatsApp message every 3-4 days with an outlet-specific menu link, tap to open a single-page web menu (no signup, no download), build a cart, pick delivery slot, and pay via Razorpay UPI. The order lands in a kitchen-facing tablet at the relevant outlet with a 60-second auto-print to the kitchen printer. Delivery is via the outlet's existing 2 in-house riders + a Dunzo fallback for overflow. Owner sees a single live dashboard across all 3 outlets — orders, prep time, rider status, day-end revenue. Total system: PHP/Laravel + PostgreSQL + a tiny React kitchen-display + WhatsApp Business API for outbound + Razorpay for payments.
Within 90 days, 22% of total delivery volume shifted from aggregator-driven to direct, cutting roughly ₹2.4-2.8 lakh per month from commission outflow. Direct order errors dropped below 1% because customers built the cart themselves. Aggregator orders weren't killed — they're a useful customer-discovery channel — but the chain went from "aggregator-dependent" to "aggregator + direct" in one quarter. Payback on the ₹2.6L build was inside month two.
It's an example use case representative of typical Big Helpers builds for restaurant chains in tier-2 cities. Specific client names and exact numbers are kept private. The shape, technical choices, and rough economics are accurate to real engagements of this size.
Yes — and it's cheaper. Single-outlet builds drop to ₹1.2-1.6L because we skip the multi-outlet dashboard layer. The economics still work as long as you have a regulars list (even 800-1,000 contacts is enough).
We've integrated with both. Petpooja's API is solid; Restroworks needs a partner-API request. The integration adds ~1 week to the build and ~₹40K to the cost. Worth it if your kitchen team already lives in those systems.
For broadcast above 256 contacts you need the API (Meta's rule, not ours). The API costs ~₹0.40-1.20 per outbound message in India depending on category and provider. For a 6,400-contact list sending one message per week, that's ~₹10-15K/month — significantly less than the commission saved.
Roughly ₹5,000-8,000/month for hosting + small fixes, or ₹0 if you self-manage on your own VPS. We hand over source code on day-1 of go-live, so any local PHP/Laravel developer can extend it. Most clients keep us on a 4-hour/month retainer for 6-9 months then move to ad-hoc.
Yes — we've built variants where one outlet runs 3 brands (e.g. North Indian + Chinese + dessert). The menu, kitchen routing, and dashboard handle that natively.
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