There has been a recent scramble from restaurants wanting to remove 3rd party menus sites from their Google business listings. The reason for this uptake in restaurants asking how to remove these menu ordering sites is because Google started testing Post like Ads from the 3rd Party Menu Ordering sites into the restaurants local knowledge panel.
They are big and bold, slap bang in the businesses knowledge panel.
About 3rd Party Restaurant Menu Ordering Sites
I personally hate these 3rd party ordering sites that Google adds to restaurants business listings, a business should be able to choose what menu sites they list on their business.
But don’t these restaurant use these menu ordering sites? – Yes and No
The aggregator places.singleplatform.com scrapes restaurants details and menu and creates a listing on their site. Singleplatform then aggregates these out to all the other 3rd party menu sites, so if a restaurant does not claim their listing their menus and prices can be years out of date.
If a restaurant has claimed and keeps their menu updated, they think that these sites may bring in some additional orders off the back of their own marketing, NOT from branded queries in their own business listing.
This was already their traffic which they expect customers would come direct.
The Impact of the Ads Running in the Business Listing
I first became aware of this when a Pizza restaurant asked who or what allowed these ads in the Google business listing. The owner went onto say that their phones and own ordering just stopped and for two days all their orders came through Grubhub on which they pay a 15% commission on the order total.
The Ads never increased the average total of orders, but almost 80% of orders placed came via Grubhub. We can only assume that regular customers going to place their order saw this big red ad in the businesses listing and thought they would give it a try – why not its on their business, the business must be trying this out.
A restaurant typically uses a 35% markup on food. This 35% is to pay wages, gas and electric, business rates and rent, the remainder is profit, however if you reduce this by 15% the restaurant was pretty much only able to cover the bare costs and pretty much was working to keep the lights on for those two days.
This was also the 1st time they realised they were listed on Grubhub and by default singleplatform too.
How to Remove 3rd Party Menu Ordering Sites from GMB Listing
Check your business listing to see which ones GMB is displaying in your listing.
Then To remove the “Order Online” button from your Business Profile on Google Search, Maps or the Assistant, use the opt out form.
Add your Online Ordering Menu to your Listing
Restaurants can add their online ordering link to their business listing.
Note: This will not replace the 3rd party links, you need to request removal from site, then from GMB
- Log into your Google my Business Dashboard: https://business.google.com/manage/
- Select the Restaurant in Account
- Info Section >> Scroll Down to Order Ahead URL
- Add your Ordering URL from Website
- Apply
Whilst you are at it, I would also recommend adding your menu to your business listing.
Google will continue to test ways to monetise local and unlike hotels who have zero control, restaurants for the moment do have some control.
And before you hit that order button next time, check to see if you can order direct from the restaurant, its the difference between them making any profit that night or not.
If you also have a reservation button that needs to be removed, follow this for removal.
Online Ownership provides Google Business Troubleshooting if you are having trouble getting your restaurants profile working for you without these pesky 3rd parties.