SkipTheDishes 101: The Essential Guide for Restaurants (2025)

Founded in 2012 in Canada, SkipTheDishes is a Canadian online food delivery platform headquartered in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

SkipTheDishes is Canada’s leading food delivery app, which 55% of Canadians use. It is also the most visited website in the restaurant category, surpassing competitors like Doordash and Uber Eats. SkipTheDishes has a reach of over 250 cities and partners with approximately 47,000 restaurants nationwide.

Let’s explore valuable insights and answers to frequently asked questions about this delivery service.    

How does SkipTheDishes work?

SkipTheDishes, like Uber Eats and Deliveroo, is a popular food delivery service provider that manages the entire delivery process. This means that small businesses, restaurants, and dark kitchens (also known as Ghost kitchens) only have to focus on cooking while SkipTheDishes handles the rest.

So how does that work?

1. Customers order food from your restaurant through the SkipTheDishes website or app. 

2. Once finalized (and paid), the order is sent to your restaurant, which accepts it and prepares it.

3. SkipTheDishes couriers collect the order from your restaurant and deliver it to the customer, who can track the order in real time.

Customers can also choose pickup, collecting their food directly at the restaurant.

#1 Most-trusted food delivery brand*

—Voted by Reader’s Digest 2021. 

Registering and setup

 Registering with Skip is pretty straightforward. Here are the steps you’ll need to follow:

1. Head to SkipTheDishes.com

2. Fill out your restaurant’s name and address

3. Complete some basic contact information (your name, phone number, email address)

4. Review your info and submit your application

SkipTheDishes will contact you to set up once you apply. Depending on your needs, the partner application process can take two to ten days.

FEES AND COMMISSIONS

Restaurants partnering with SkipTheDishes have two options: Skip Marketplace and SkipGo.  Here are the details:

Skip Marketplace:

Restaurants and dark kitchens can list on the app to access a customer base and couriers. You pay:

• Delivery orders -  25% fee (+$0.99 credit card processing fee)

• Pickup -  10% fee

Skip Marketplace offers features such as:

• Partner Portal for business management

• Partner Live Orders App for order control

• Self-serve promotions to increase sales

• Support from Skip

SkipGo (Delivery as a Service):

This option allows restaurants to use their online channels for sales and SkipTheDishes’ courier network for delivery. You pay:

• The cost is an average flat fee of $8.50 for delivery orders.

SkipGo offers features such as:

• Partner Portal for business management

• Integration through trusted Middleware partners

• Fixed delivery cost with no hidden fees

• Support from Skip

What’s SkipTheDishes’ fee?

Restaurant partners are charged a commission fee when an order is placed through the platform. This fee may vary depending on location and number of orders. In addition to the commission fee, restaurants are responsible for paying a service fee of 20-30% for each order, which covers delivery expenses.

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Tips to rank higher on SkipTheDishes

Getting your restaurant listed on SkipTheDishes gives you access to millions of users and puts you in a highly competitive environment. Therefore, it is crucial to understand what elements can help you stand out within the app.

Factors like reviews and improving your performance on Skip Score can influence your ranking in the platform’s algorithm.

Next, let’s break down SkipTheDishes’ performance metric and share performance-boosting tips.

Enhance Your Skip Score

The Skip Score is a performance indicator unique to SkipTheDishes.It aims to assess the quality of service and food from each restaurant or dark kitchen based on four criteria:

1. Customer feedback

2. The number of rejected orders

3. Average courier waiting time

4. Accuracy in order confirmation

A higher score benefits your restaurant in the algorithm. Top scorers gain prominence in customers’ search radius, thus increasing visibility. This rating system is accessible on the platform, and analyzing it is essential for achieving optimal restaurant performance and enhancing the dining experience.

Work on your timing and general performance.

Fast delivery times are crucial for customers who order from your restaurant. To improve it, restaurants can reduce order prep and courier wait times by optimizing their online order flow. Integrating the Skip platform into your POS ensures automatic order acceptance when your store opens, maintaining a high acceptance rate and enhancing your in-app ranking. So you’ll never have to worry about your acceptance rate again. 

SkipTheDishes notes that an order will automatically be rejected if it is not accepted within 10 minutes. This will negatively impact your restaurant’s Skip Score and constitute a poor customer experience.

Restaurants that achieve rapid order acceptance averaging 2 minutes or less, see a significant increase in daily orders, receiving up to 145% more requests.

Turn your lookers into bookers.

If many people visit your restaurant page but do not order, your conversion rate will be low. Restaurants with low conversion rates usually don’t appear at the top. So, how can you improve your conversion rate? One surefire way to convince people to order is by curating and optimizing your menu. 

Add clear menu item descriptions and attractive photos. Verify that your prices and in-store prices are reasonable compared to those of your competitors. If a menu item isn’t selling well, replace it with another dish.

SkipTheDishes creates your Skip Score using your conversion rate and general performance metrics (like your acceptance rate, online ratio, order prep times, etc.). App users can filter by Skip Score, so the higher your score, the higher your ranking will be.

Speed up delivery by teaming up with couriers.

Even the most incredible food can result in a bad customer experience if the meal is delivered late. Therefore, work closely with them.

Your restaurant’s Skip Score will decrease if the food pickup time exceeds 5 minutes. Some actions to improve pickup times include:

• Check the courier tracker for up-to-date pickup time estimates.

• Put signs up to indicate the pickup area so couriers can find it easily.

• To analyze how you’re doing, go to Performance, click ‘Skip Score,’ and then choose ‘Courier Hold.

• Consider assigning couriers a door or window.

Keep everything updated for the best results.

In today’s digital age, restaurants use software to run their businesses. For example, the SkipTheDishes app periodically updates to fix bugs, enhance security, and introduce new features. Ensuring that all software is current is crucial to maximizing its benefits.

Your menus also need to be updated. Review them regularly for accuracy in descriptions and pricing, and consider updating your dish images if necessary.

Leverage Promotion Tools

Creating a promotion on Skip is straightforward, with the platform offering tutorials“ for your convenience. Restaurants can access the "Promotions” section, where they can configure various aspects such as duration and budget. Different kinds of promotions are offered, such as: 

• Top placement

• Free Item (dessert, fries, etc) 

• Free delivery

SkipTheDishes promotions boost visibility, loyalty, and orders. "Top placement" can increase weekly views by 33.5% and double order volume. "Free Delivery" yields up to 200% ROI, and "Free Items” yields 105%.

POS integrations

SkipTheDishes supports integration with Canada’s major modern POS systems, such as TouchBistro, Aloha Cloud, Square, Lightspeed, etc. Integrating Skip with your POS system will enable you to automatically accept online orders from SkipTheDishes and send them straight to your POS. This integration saves you time, resources, and money, as you no longer need your staff to double-punch orders into your POS system.

A POS integration can also help you manage your menu on the SkipTheDishes platform (and other food delivery systems). For example, a gateway software platform like Deliverect Restaurants lets you synchronize your POS menu with multiple third-party delivery marketplaces. You can then use the Deliverect Restaurants dashboard to edit and organize menus instantly and publish them across all platforms. 

SkipTheDishes operates in 250+ cities across Canada.

Advantages and drawbacks

Being a SkipTheDishes restaurant partner has benefits and downsides, like any other third-party delivery service. 

Advantages:

• Reach a wider audience with Skip’s loyal customers

• Utilize Skip’s courier networks, payments, and order-tracking expertise

• Focus on cooking as Skip handles the entire delivery process

• Launch delivery service without significant upfront costs

• Get personalized support from an account manager

• 1 in 4 Canadians order with Skip

• Self-serve management tools 

Drawbacks:

• Control over the driver-client experience is limited

• Include fees within your meal pricing

Integrating with leading food delivery services such as SkipTheDishes transcends mere trend-following; it represents a strategic move to extend your culinary reach and connect more intimately with your diners. Delve into the platform’s advanced functionalities, including its marketing features and analytical tools like the Skip Score, to gain deeper insights into the evolving landscape of the food industry. Whether your goal is business expansion or diversifying your sales channels, SkipTheDishes is a formidable partner in your restaurant’s growth and market adaptation journey.

Now, you have all the information you need to start working with SkipTheDishes and reach new clients nationwide.