A 13-year-old Encino pizzeria now takes more direct orders (446) than all three delivery apps combined (312) — and keeps the commission.
| Restaurant | Prego Pizzeria |
| Type | Independent pizzeria |
| Location | Encino, CA (16733 Ventura Blvd) |
| Years in business | 13 |
| Team size | 5 |
| Challenge | Too much pizza delivery revenue is lost to third-party commissions |
| Solution | Started with delivery integration, then moved to the full Orders.co POS, plus AI marketing |
| Result | 446 direct website orders vs. 312 third-party orders |
Thirteen years in, and still looking for an edge
Prego Pizzeria has been part of the Encino community for 13 years. A team of five, a loyal customer base, and a reputation built one pizza at a time.
When you’ve run a pizza shop that long, you stop chasing shiny tools. You know what actually moves the needle: getting orders out the door fast, keeping regulars coming back, and not bleeding margin to anyone who doesn’t have to be paid.
That last part is where most independent pizzerias quietly lose. Customers who order on DoorDash and Uber Eats already know the restaurant. They’ve eaten there for years. But every one of those orders still hands 15–30% to a third-party app, for a customer the shop already earned.
That’s the problem Prego set out to fix.
The real cost wasn’t pizza delivery — paying for customers they already had was
Prego was never anti-app. Delivery apps bring in new diners, and that visibility has value. The issue was that too many existing customers were defaulting to the apps out of habit, and the commissions added up fast.
The goal wasn’t to turn off delivery. It was to give regulars a better, easier reason to order directly — so the same pizza delivery order kept more money in the business.
Why the POS system mattered more than they expected
Prego started small, integrating their delivery providers first. When that worked, they moved to the full Orders.co POS.
What stood out wasn’t the feature list. It was that everything finally ran from one place — orders, providers, online ordering, and marketing — instead of a counter full of separate tablets each ringing on its own.
A good pos system for a pizza shop isn’t about having the most buttons. It’s about removing steps during a Friday-night rush, when five people are moving, and nobody has time to re-key an order into a second screen. Choosing the right pizza shop POS system is one of the few decisions that pays off on every single ticket, every single night.
“The support we have received has been top-notch from start to finish. Whether it is the POS, our providers, online ordering, or marketing, there is always someone ready to help, and they always get it right.”
The switch they were dreading didn’t happen
The biggest reason restaurants put off changing systems is fear of the transition — lost orders, confused staff, a bad week.
Prego’s experience was the opposite. The team handled the menu setup before go-live, item by item, so everything was correct on day one. The training and walkthrough were clear, and a five-person staff picked it up fast.
There was no long adjustment period. Just a system that worked from the first shift.
The numbers: where the orders actually came from
This is the part Prego is proudest of. Once direct ordering was set up and promoted, the order mix shifted toward the channel with no commission.
| Channel | Orders | Notes |
| Website (direct) | 446 | Commission-free revenue |
| Third-party providers (total) | 312 | High commission fees |
| DoorDash | 207 | |
| UberEats | 87 | |
| GrubHub | 18 |
More than half of Prego’s tracked orders now come through their own website. Every one of those 446 direct orders is revenue that stays in the business instead of being shaved down by a commission.
What actually moved customers to the website
A direct-ordering website only helps if customers use it. Prego leaned on two things:
AI marketing tools that re-engage customers automatically — reminding people who haven’t ordered in a while, and nudging app customers toward ordering directly next time.
A 10% direct-order coupon that gives regulars a concrete reason to break the app habit and order from the source. The hardest order to win is the first direct one; after that, reordering is easy.
Together, those tools didn’t just save money on the orders Prego already had — they grew the share of orders coming through the cheapest channel.
The takeaway for other pizzeria owners
Prego didn’t reinvent its business. They run the same recipes for the same neighborhood they’ve served for 13 years.
What changed is that the tools finally caught up to the operation: one POS instead of a pile of tablets, a direct-ordering website their regulars actually use, and marketing that runs in the background. The result is more pizza delivery revenue kept in-house and less handed to the apps.
“Having one place to manage everything — our POS, delivery providers, online ordering, and marketing — with a support team that is always there, has made running Prego Pizzeria smoother than ever.”
If your shop is sending more to delivery commissions than it should, the question worth asking isn’t “should we leave the apps?” It’s “are our regulars ordering through us, or through someone we have to pay?”
Frequently asked questions
The best pos system for a pizza shop is the one that cuts steps during a rush, pulls delivery orders into a single screen, and gives you a commission-free way to take direct orders. For an independent pizzeria, that usually matters more than the number of features. Prego Pizzeria runs everything — POS, delivery providers, online ordering, and marketing — through a single Orders.co system, eliminating the need to juggle separate tablets.
Yes. Prego Pizzeria now takes 446 orders through its own website versus 312 across DoorDash, Uber Eats, and GrubHub combined. The shift came from making direct ordering easy and giving regulars a reason to use it — like a first-order discount and automated reminders — not from turning the apps off.
When you’re opening up a pizza shop, it’s tempting to pick whatever POS is cheapest or most familiar. But the system you start with shapes your margins for years. Look for a pizza shop POS system that handles delivery-app orders, runs a commission-free ordering website, and includes marketing — so you own your customer relationships from day one instead of renting them from the apps.
It doesn’t have to be. Prego started by integrating their delivery providers, then moved to the full POS once they were confident. The menu was built out before go-live, the five-member staff learned it quickly, and there was no long adjustment period — the system worked from the first shift.
They re-engage customers automatically — for example, reminding someone who hasn’t ordered recently or nudging an app customer to order directly next time. Paired with a direct-order coupon, these tools helped Prego shift the majority of its pizza delivery orders to its own commission-free website.
