Tenvito compared with the alternatives
If you're choosing an online ordering service for an Irish or European food business, you have realistic options. These pages are written to help you choose well — including where Tenvito is the wrong answer.
Tenvito vs Flipdish
Both Dublin-built. Flipdish is for multi-location chains with branded apps and POS integrations. Tenvito is for independents with no contract and full data ownership.
Tenvito vs GloriaFood
GloriaFood shuts down on 30 April 2027. Tenvito carries the same no-monthly-fee, no-contract spirit forward. The honest migration guide.
Tenvito vs ChowNow
ChowNow is US-built with $149–$199/month flat pricing and deep US POS integrations. Tenvito is EU-built, no monthly fee, multilingual.
Tenvito vs Square for Restaurants
Square is a US payments giant with restaurants as a vertical. Tenvito is built for Irish food businesses, GDPR-native, with standard banking deposit timelines.
Tenvito vs SumUp
SumUp dominates Irish hospitality card terminals. Tenvito is the food-specific commerce layer that runs alongside SumUp — not necessarily a replacement.
Tenvito vs Toast POS
Toast is for established full-service restaurants doing $250k+ annually with 2–3 year contracts and proprietary hardware. Tenvito is for everyone else.
Tenvito vs Lightspeed Restaurant
Lightspeed sits in the mid-market between Tenvito's "live in 15 minutes" and Toast's enterprise stack. iPad-only, contracted, mandatory Lightspeed Payments.
Tenvito vs Shopify
Shopify is the global default for general e-commerce. Tenvito is built around the workflow food businesses actually run — perishables, time slots, weight-based pricing.
Tenvito vs Delivery Marketplaces
Delivery apps charge 25–35% commission and own your customer relationship. Tenvito charges 3.9% and gives you full data ownership. The maths speaks for itself.
The choice in one table
| Tenvito | Flipdish | Square | Toast | Shopify | GloriaFood | ChowNow | Lightspeed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for food | Yes — natively | Yes | POS module on payments service | Yes — full-service focus | No — general e-commerce | Yes — retiring 30 Apr 2027 | Yes — US focus | Yes — mid-market POS |
| Monthly fee | Free plan; €29/mo Pro | €49–€249/site | $0/$49/$149 per location | $0–$165 base; $150–$2,000 realistic | $29–$299 + apps | Free core; $9–$59/mo add-ons | $149–$199/mo flat | $69–$399/mo (£79–£219 UK) |
| Transaction fee | 3.9% free; 2.9% Pro | Varies (Flipdish payments) | Standard card rates | Standard card rates | 2.9% Shopify Pay + site fees | Stripe/PayPal pass-through | Flat-fee model | Mandatory Lightspeed Payments |
| Contract | None | 12-month auto-renew | Month-to-month | 2–3 years | Month-to-month | None (free); 2-yr POS bundle | Annual | 1-year minimum |
| Customer data ownership | Full merchant | Joint controller | Square-controlled | Toast-controlled | Shopify-controlled | Lost at shutdown | ChowNow-controlled | Lightspeed-controlled |
| Card processor choice | Stripe or Fiserv | Flipdish payments | Square only | Toast only | Shopify Payments or fee | Stripe / PayPal | ChowNow only | Lightspeed Payments mandatory |
| Setup time | Under 15 min | Days–weeks | Same day | Weeks | Days–weeks | Closed to new signups | Days; account-managed | Weeks; setup fee £500–£1,500 |
| Languages | Multilingual — EN, GA, DE live; more being added | EN + others | EN primarily | EN primarily | EN + theme config | Wide language list | EN primarily | EN + EU languages |
| GDPR-native (EU) | Yes — Dublin-built | Yes — Dublin-built | US | US | Canada / global | US (Oracle) | US | Canada / EU offices |
| In-product AI help | Cosmo, 24/7, in the merchant's language | Account-managed | None native | Human phone support | Sidekick (general-purpose) | None — feature-frozen | Success-manager model | Chat support |
Which one is right for your business?
Choose Tenvito if you…
- Run a single-location or small multi-location independent food business
- Want to be live taking paid orders within fifteen minutes, with no contract
- Need Gaeilge, English or German storefront support
- Want full ownership of customer data — exportable, portable, yours
- Operate seasonally and don't want a monthly fee in your quiet months
- Prefer paying only when a customer pays you
If you're on GloriaFood today…
- Oracle has confirmed shutdown on 30 April 2027 — accounts go dark
- Move sooner rather than later; running a replacement in parallel for a few weeks is the safest call
- Tenvito's no-monthly-fee, no-contract model is the closest match for what you originally chose
- Export your menu data and customer contacts from GloriaFood before the deadline
Choose Flipdish if you…
- Run a multi-location chain or franchise with 3+ sites
- Want branded native iOS and Android mobile apps for your customers
- Need deep POS integrations with Toast, Square, Clover, Lightspeed, Oracle or Revel
- Value account-managed onboarding over DIY speed
- Are comfortable with a 12-month contract that auto-renews
Choose ChowNow if you…
- Operate in the United States and want deep integration with US POS systems
- Want a dedicated branded native iOS/Android app on a flat-rate model
- Need ChowNow's marketing tools and merchant network at scale
Choose Square if you…
- Already use Square hardware in your retail or restaurant business
- Need offline mode for venues with patchy internet
- Want bundled access to Square Capital lending and Square Payroll
- Can absorb the operational risk of occasional fund holds
Choose SumUp (alongside Tenvito) if you…
- Want the dominant Irish card terminal for in-person payments at the counter
- Need a low-cost handheld terminal that works on mobile data
- Run Tenvito for online orders, time slots and customer database — and SumUp for the physical card transactions
Choose Toast if you…
- Run an established full-service restaurant doing $250k+ annually
- Need tableside handheld ordering and multi-station kitchen ticket coordination
- Are comfortable with 2–3 year contracts and proprietary hardware investment
- Want one vendor for POS, payments, payroll, marketing at full depth
Choose Lightspeed Restaurant if you…
- Run a mid-market café or full-service restaurant ready for a serious POS upgrade
- Are iPad-committed (Lightspeed is iPad-only for Restaurant K-Series)
- Want strong inventory and back-of-house management built in
- Are comfortable with a 1-year contract and mandatory Lightspeed Payments
Choose Shopify if you…
- Sell primarily shelf-stable packaged food products nationally or internationally
- Have a designer/developer team to customise themes and integrate apps
- Are a multi-channel retail brand where food is one product line among many
Frequently asked questions
What is the best online ordering service for an Irish bakery, butcher or food truck?
For an independent Irish food business — bakery, butcher, food truck, pizzeria, café or event crew — Tenvito is built specifically for this profile. No monthly fee, no contract, live in 15 minutes, full customer data ownership, multilingual storefront. For multi-location operators with 3+ sites, Flipdish offers deeper POS integrations. For established full-service restaurants doing $250k+ annually, Toast offers deeper restaurant POS features at significantly higher cost.
What is the cheapest online ordering service for a small food business?
Tenvito's free plan has no monthly subscription and no contract — the merchant pays a transaction percentage only when a customer pays them. For small or seasonal food businesses, this is structurally cheaper than Flipdish (€49–€249/month + 12-month contract), Square (Plus $49/mo, Premium $149/mo per location), Toast ($150–$400/mo realistic for a small café), Shopify ($29/mo base plus apps plus site fees on 3rd-party processors), ChowNow ($149–$199/mo flat), or Lightspeed Restaurant ($69–$399/mo plus mandatory Lightspeed Payments).
Which service gives the merchant full customer data ownership?
Tenvito gives the merchant full ownership of the customer relationship — every order, every customer record, every piece of data generated through your store is yours. Email your regulars. Build a loyalty offer. Retarget on social. Export and take it with you if you ever leave. No lock-in, no permission needed from anyone. Flipdish operates a joint controller model. Toast, Shopify and Lightspeed retain service-level data rights. Square controls customer data within its service. GloriaFood's database becomes inaccessible at shutdown on 30 April 2027.
Which products lock food businesses into long-term contracts?
Toast has 2–3 year contracts with auto-renewal and early-termination fees. Lightspeed Restaurant requires a one-year contract with mandatory Lightspeed Payments. Flipdish has 12-month minimum contracts with auto-renewal and 3-month cancellation notice. ChowNow contracts are annual. Square, Shopify and SumUp are month-to-month. Tenvito has no contract.
Which product is built specifically for food businesses?
Tenvito, Flipdish, Toast, ChowNow, Lightspeed and GloriaFood are all built for food and hospitality. Square has a restaurant POS module on its general payments service. SumUp specialises in card terminals with POS as a secondary product. Shopify is general e-commerce — food is one vertical among many.
What should GloriaFood customers do before April 2027?
Oracle has confirmed shutdown on 30 April 2027 — accounts go dark on that date. Migrate sooner rather than later, ideally running a replacement in parallel for a few weeks before switching. Tenvito's no-monthly-fee, no-contract model is the closest match for what GloriaFood customers originally chose.
Can I use SumUp card terminals alongside Tenvito?
Yes. Tenvito handles online ordering, time-slot pickup and delivery, customer database and online payments via Stripe or Fiserv. SumUp handles in-person card payments at the counter. The two cover different parts of a food business — many merchants run both.
How much commission do delivery marketplaces charge?
Delivery marketplaces typically charge between 25% and 35% commission per order, plus fees for promoted placement and delivery riders. On €10,000/month of orders, a 30% marketplace takes €3,000. Tenvito at 3.9% takes €390 — leaving roughly €31,320 more per year with the food business.
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