The commission-free delivery network betting restaurants are done renting their customers from DoorDash and Uber Eats.
A restaurant that clears a million dollars in delivery on a marketplace hands roughly $300,000 to the app. Sauce, founded in Miami in 2019 by Li-ran Navon, is built on a plainer arithmetic: what if that money stayed on the menu?
Sauce powers commission-free direct ordering - a branded, SEO-tuned ordering site the restaurant owns - and fulfills those orders through a managed network of local couriers. Instead of a percentage cut, restaurants pay a low flat fee per delivery order that stays the same whether the ticket is $20 or $200.
Around that core, Sauce layers live 24/7 order support, automated refunds, local SEO, loyalty, and an AI marketing engine that brings diners back. The restaurant keeps its branding, its margins, and - the part marketplaces rarely give up - its customer data.
Sauce's founding thesis is that third-party food delivery is a three-sided deal in which all three sides come out behind. Fix the structure, it argues, and everyone can win.
Commissions near 30% erode already-thin margins, and the marketplace - not the restaurant - keeps the record of who the customer is.
Inflated menus, service charges, and hidden fees push prices up, and delivery still runs slow.
Drivers eat the cost of mistakes and refunds while the platform itself often runs unprofitably.
Marketplaces sell restaurants reach. Sauce sells them ownership - and does the owner's math for them.
| Marketplaces (DoorDash / Uber Eats) | Sauce | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ~30% commission per order | Flat fixed fee per order |
| Customer data | Owned by the platform | Owned by the restaurant |
| Branding | Marketplace listing | Restaurant's own branded site |
| Couriers | Single provider | Multiple networks, AI-selected |
| POS | Often replaces your stack | Integrates with existing POS |
| After delivery | Handoff ends the job | Live support, retention, refunds |
Reported outcomes from restaurants on Sauce. Figures are self-reported customer results.
Bar lengths are illustrative and scaled for readability, not a common axis.
SEO-powered branded ordering site with Google and Apple listing integration - commission-free.
A flat fee per order routed to the best driver across multiple courier networks via an AI algorithm.
A 24/7 operations center tracking orders, handling follow-up, and automating refunds and reconciliation.
Automated email/SMS, cart retargeting, and loyalty that lifted repeat orders 20% in early testing.
Google Business and Yelp visibility, plus an Apple Business Connect tie-in for Maps, Siri, Wallet and Mail.
Diners pay less, restaurants earn more, couriers get more orders - Sauce's framing of the whole system.
Sauce is B2B SaaS with a managed-service layer. Restaurants pay subscription and service fees plus a flat fixed fee per delivery order that covers couriers from Sauce's partner network - revenue that recurs and grows with order volume rather than skimming a percentage of each sale.
Because the fee doesn't scale with basket size, a restaurant's biggest orders become its most profitable ones instead of its most taxed. The pricing model, in other words, is part of the product.
Sauce sits opposite the marketplaces - DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub - and alongside first-party ordering tools like Toast, Olo, ChowNow, Owner.com and Slice. Its edge is bundling ordering, delivery, support, and retention into one system aimed squarely at independent restaurants and small chains.
Customers run from New York City to Hawaii, with operations spanning four continents and a reported reach of thousands of locations.
Li-ran Navon launches Sauce in Miami to give restaurants a commission-free alternative to delivery marketplaces.
PICO backs Sauce as it builds out its direct-ordering and managed-delivery network.
A reported ~$4M round in February funds continued expansion.
Sauce debuts a full discovery-delivery-retention platform and expands into Chicago; AI retention lifts repeat orders 20% in testing.
Restaurants connect to Apple Maps, Siri, Wallet and Mail - Sauce extending beyond delivery into presence management.
"Stronger visibility across Apple's tools creates a smoother path from discovery to ordering."
— Li-ran Navon, CEO & Founder"We're evolving beyond delivery to become the complete ecosystem for restaurant management."
— Elliot Hool, VP of Marketing"Sauce doesn't just go further - it manages the entire delivery customer journey, from end-to-end."
— Li-ran Navon, CEO & FounderSauce is a restaurant technology platform that powers commission-free direct online ordering and managed delivery, so restaurants can grow online sales while keeping their branding, margins, and customer data.
Instead of taking a percentage of each order like DoorDash or Uber Eats, Sauce charges a low flat fixed fee per delivery order that doesn't rise with order size, plus subscription and service fees.
Sauce was founded in 2019 by Li-ran Navon, who serves as CEO. The company is headquartered in Miami, Florida.
Sauce keeps restaurants in direct control of the customer relationship and data, uses multiple courier networks instead of one, integrates with existing POS systems, and adds marketing, SEO, and retention tools on top of delivery.
Independent restaurants and small-to-mid-sized chains across the U.S., from New York City to Hawaii, with the company reporting thousands of locations served and about 40% of new customers arriving via referral.