URL Shortener for Food Delivery The Complete Guide
Food delivery runs on links. A customer finds a restaurant through a social post, orders through a link in a profile, gets order updates by text message, receives a bag with a flyer inside, and is asked for a review the next day. Each step involves a link, often printed or sent in a format that cannot be changed later, and each one is a chance to win the next order or lose it.
This guide shows how restaurants with delivery, ghost kitchens, meal-kit and grocery services and delivery operators can use a URL Shortener to build direct ordering links, put QR Codes on packaging that keep working as menus change, send recognizable links in order messages, run time-limited promotions, manage many locations and brands, and measure which channels bring orders. It ends with common mistakes and the Cuttly plan that fits each size of operation.
What This Guide Covers
- Where links appear in a delivery customer's journey
- Setting up a branded domain, aliases and tags for locations and channels
- Direct ordering links, app links and menu links
- QR Codes on bags, boxes and inserts for reorders, loyalty and reviews
- Order messages by SMS and WhatsApp, including rules in the US and India
- Promotions, multi-location operations, ghost kitchens and delivery operators
- Analytics by meal time and channel, common mistakes and the right Cuttly plan
Why Delivery Businesses Need Managed Links
A few characteristics of the delivery business make link management unusually valuable.
Menus and offers change constantly
Dishes rotate, prices move, specials last a week and promotions last a weekend. Printed materials, on the other hand, are ordered in batches of thousands. A QR Code that encodes a long ordering URL directly breaks the moment the ordering page changes. A QR Code that encodes a managed short link keeps working, because the destination behind it can be edited.
Direct orders matter
Many restaurants sell through third-party delivery platforms and through their own ordering site or app. Each channel has its own economics. Links in bags, on receipts and in messages are one of the few touchpoints a restaurant fully controls after the first order, which makes them a natural place to invite customers to order directly next time.
Everything happens on a phone
Delivery customers browse, order, track and review on their phones. Short, recognizable links work better in text messages and social posts, and QR Codes on packaging are scanned with the same phone used to order.
Many locations, brands and channels
A single kitchen may run several virtual brands, and a chain may run dozens of locations. Without structure, links multiply in different accounts and tools, and nobody can say which location's flyers work.
Where Links Appear in the Delivery Journey
| Stage | Where the link appears | Typical destination |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Social posts, Link in Bio, local flyers, posters, partner sites | Menu, ordering page, current offer |
| Ordering | Profile links, messages, QR Codes on menus and windows | Direct ordering site or app, marketplace listing |
| Waiting | Order confirmation messages | Order status, contact page, delivery instructions |
| Receiving | Bags, box stickers, inserts, receipts | Reorder page, loyalty sign-up, allergen information |
| After the meal | Follow-up messages, inserts, social posts | Feedback survey, review page, next week's menu |
Each row is a place where a managed short link adds control and measurement. Most businesses already have links in several of these places, often created at different times by different people, with no common domain, naming or tracking. The first step is usually to list them, decide which ones matter most and bring them under one set of conventions. The rest of this guide walks through them, starting with the setup that every other link depends on.
Setting Up: Domain, Aliases and Tags
Use a branded domain
Customers are wary of unfamiliar links in text messages, and with good reason: fake delivery notifications are a common scam. A short link on your own domain, such as yourbrnd.link/order, tells customers whose link it is. Connect a short domain or a subdomain such as go.your-domain.co to Cuttly with a DNS A record and a DNS TXT record (no CNAME), and keep it separate from your website's hostname, because the connected hostname serves short links. Cuttly includes 1 branded domain on Free and Starter, 5 on Single, 10 on Team and 99 on Team Enterprise, with SSL from Let's Encrypt included from Single. See the custom domain guide.
Plan aliases around actions and locations
Aliases appear in messages and under QR Codes, so make them short and obvious: /order, /menu, /reorder, /review. For several locations, add the location: /order-north, /order-center. For printed materials, choose aliases you can keep, because the alias is encoded in the QR Code; changing it later breaks the printed codes, while changing the destination does not.
Tag by location, channel and campaign
Use tags such as north-bags, north-flyers or summer-promo. Tags let you find every link for a location or campaign, and on Team plans, Campaigns aggregates analytics for all links with a tag, so "how did the summer promotion do across all locations?" has one answer.
Direct Ordering, App and Menu Links
One ordering link everywhere
Create one short link for your direct ordering page, such as yourbrnd.link/order, and use it in your social profiles, Google profile, website buttons, posters and messages. When you change ordering systems, change the destination once. If you want to compare channels, create variants per channel that point to the same page (/order-ig, /order-flyer), tagged with the same campaign.
Linking to marketplace listings
If you also sell through delivery platforms, you may want to send some customers to your listing there, for example in areas your own couriers do not cover. A short link in front of each listing lets you change which listing a printed code or a social link points to, and shows how many people you send there. Check each platform's terms before promoting your listing in ways it does not expect.
Own app: route by device
If you have an ordering app, one link can serve every phone. Mobile URLs (from Single) send Android, iOS and other devices to different destinations and support custom app schemes. Deep Links (from Team) add redirects to the Google Play Store and the App Store when the app is not installed, with an optional Android install referrer. That means one QR Code on a bag can open the app for existing users and the right store for everyone else. See the mobile apps guide.
Menu links
A menu link that never changes, pointing to a menu that changes often, is one of the simplest and most useful short links a food business can have. Use it on table cards for dine-in, on pickup counters and in profiles. The guides to QR Code menus and restaurants cover dine-in uses in depth.
Packaging: Bags, Boxes and Inserts
The delivery bag is the most direct line to a customer who just ordered. It is opened at home, with a phone at hand, often while the customer is deciding whether to order again. A QR Code on a sticker, box or insert can lead to the next step you want.
What to link to
- Reorder directly: your own ordering page, ideally with the customer's favorites easy to find.
- Loyalty or newsletter sign-up: a reason to stay in touch beyond the platform.
- Allergen and nutrition information: always current, even when recipes change.
- Feedback: a short survey while the meal is fresh in mind.
- Review request: a link to your review page, timed for satisfied customers.
Practical tips for packaging codes
- Use stickers or inserts rather than printing on boxes if offers change often; stickers can be swapped without reordering packaging.
- Keep the code flat and clean: avoid folds, seams and areas that get greasy or wet.
- Size for hand distance: a few centimeters wide is usually enough, with high contrast.
- Print the readable link under the code, and a short call to action: "Scan to reorder and save".
- Use one link per packaging type or location if you want to compare them.
Every Cuttly short link has a QR Code. Free and Starter generate a standard code (PNG, JPG or WEBP); from Single you can add your logo and brand colors and download SVG for printers. See the guide to QR Codes with a logo.
Order Messages by SMS and WhatsApp
Order confirmations and delivery updates are among the most-read messages a business sends. The links inside them should be short, recognizable and on your own domain.
Why the domain matters in messages
Scammers frequently imitate delivery notifications to steal payment details. Customers who have learned to distrust unexpected links in messages are more likely to tap a link that shows the brand they just ordered from. A consistent branded domain, used in every message, builds that recognition. Name your business in the message text as well, so the link matches the sender.
Rules for business messaging
- Consent: send marketing messages only to customers who opted in, and make opting out easy. Transactional updates about an order a customer placed are different from promotions; keep them separate.
- United States: business texting from standard local numbers usually requires brand and campaign registration through your messaging provider, and CTIA guidance recommends that senders using a URL shortener use one dedicated to their exclusive use. A branded domain gives you a web address only you use.
- India: TRAI rules require commercial SMS links to match patterns registered on the DLT platform. Cuttly supports Tracking Headers on custom domains and the 2s.ms domain in the format
2s.ms/HEADER/aliasfrom Single; registering the static part on DLT remains the sender's responsibility.
For channel details, see the guides to WhatsApp, SMS marketing and TRAI compliance in India.
Links per order at scale
Some operators create a unique link per order, for example for tracking or feedback. That is a job for the API, and it needs planning around volume. Cuttly's monthly link limits are 30 on Free, 300 on Starter, 5,000 on Single, 20,000 on Team and 50,000 on Team Enterprise (on Team plans, each team has its own monthly volume), and API rate limits range from 3 calls per 60 seconds on Free to 360 on Team Enterprise. For many businesses, a shared link per message type with the order identified on the destination side is more practical than a new short link per order. See the API developer guide.
Promotions and Time-Limited Offers
Delivery promotions are short and frequent: a weekend discount, a lunch special, a new dish launch, a holiday menu. Links make them measurable and, with a little planning, self-managing. The goal is that nobody on the team has to remember to switch a link off at midnight on Sunday, and that no customer ever lands on an offer that has already ended, whether they open a message from last week or an insert that has been on the fridge for a month.
Expiring links with a fallback
From Single, a short link can expire on a date or after a number of clicks (all or unique), after which it sends visitors to a fallback URL you choose. Print yourbrnd.link/weekend on this week's inserts, set it to expire on Sunday night with your regular menu as the fallback, and nobody lands on an expired offer page on Monday.
Launch pages with a countdown
For a new menu or a limited drop, Action Pages (from Single) create a simple page from a short link, with a title, description, background image or video, a countdown and one ordering button. The countdown can hide the button when it reaches zero, while the page stays live. Analytics show visits and click-through rate on the button. See the Action Pages guide.
Testing two offers
Link rotation sends traffic from one short link to two destinations, so you can compare, for example, a free-delivery offer page with a discount page, using the same flyer and the same audience. Single splits 50/50; Team lets you set percentages, and Team Enterprise adds a third variant. Measure orders on the ordering side, not just clicks. The A/B testing guide covers sample sizes.
Social Media and Link in Bio
Food is one of the most visual categories on Instagram and TikTok, and profiles have limited link slots. A Link in Bio page can hold your ordering link, today's specials, catering inquiries and your app. Cuttly includes Link in Bio on every plan: 1 page with 5 links on Free and Starter, up to 3 pages with 20 links on Single and more on Team plans, with cutt.bio or your own domain from Single and click-through rate from Single. Put the ordering link first and update the page as specials change. See the Link in Bio guide.
For posts promoting a specific dish or offer, use a dedicated short link with a tag for the post, so you can see which content leads to ordering clicks rather than just likes.
Multi-Location Restaurants and Franchises
Chains and franchises need two things at once: consistency across locations and the ability to see each location's results.
- One convention, many links. Use the same alias pattern everywhere (
/order-city,/menu-city) and the same tags, so every location's materials work the same way. - Location-level reporting. Tag links by location to compare them; on Team plans, Campaigns aggregates all links with a tag, such as a chain-wide promotion.
- Team workspaces. On Team (up to 3 teams with 5 members each) and Team Enterprise (up to 10 teams with 20 members each), regions or franchisees can have their own teams with their own links, tags and QR Code defaults, while head office keeps oversight. Roles from Owner to Viewer control who can change what.
- Brand-wide changes. When the ordering system changes, editing destinations to any URL (on Team plans) updates every location's printed materials at once.
Ghost Kitchens and Virtual Brands
A single kitchen may operate several delivery-only brands, each with its own name, menu and audience. Each brand deserves its own identity in links too. Give each brand its own branded domain (5 on Single, 10 on Team, 99 on Team Enterprise) so customers see the brand they ordered from, its own Link in Bio page and its own tags. On Team plans, separate teams per brand keep links, domains and analytics apart. The ghost kitchens guide covers virtual brands in more depth, and the food trucks guide covers mobile operations.
Delivery Operators and Couriers
Delivery and courier companies send enormous numbers of tracking and notification messages. Cuttly is used by courier companies, among others, and the considerations are specific.
- Recognition first: a consistent branded domain in every notification helps customers tell real messages from fake delivery scams.
- Volume planning: check monthly link limits and API rate limits against message volumes, and decide whether you need a unique link per message or a shared link per message type.
- Regional rules: in India, use TRAI-compliant formats with registered headers; in the US, align with carrier registration and dedicated domains.
- Per-team keys: on Team plans, each team has its own API key and monthly volume, which suits separate regions or clients.
Agencies managing delivery marketing for several restaurants can use the same structure: one team and one domain per client. The agency guide covers client separation.
Use Cases by Type of Food Business
The building blocks are the same across the industry, but each type of business leans on different links.
Independent restaurants
For an independent restaurant, the priorities are usually direct orders and repeat customers. Start with three links: /order for direct ordering, /menu for the current menu and /reorder on bag inserts. Add a feedback survey and a Link in Bio page. A single branded domain and the Single plan cover most needs, with Hourly Insights showing when your customers order.
Fast casual and pizza chains
Chains run frequent promotions across many locations and channels. Location-specific links on flyers and inserts, a consistent alias pattern, expiring promotion links and campaign tags are the core. Team plans add team workspaces for regions and Campaigns analytics to see a promotion's total effect across locations.
Meal kits and food subscriptions
Meal kits ship recipe cards with every box, which makes them ideal for QR Codes leading to cooking videos, ingredient substitutions and allergen details. Because recipes rotate weekly, editable destinations and readable aliases per recipe (/recipe-123) keep things organized. Links to skip a week, change a plan or refer a friend belong on the box insert too.
Grocery and convenience delivery
Grocery deliveries involve substitutions, delivery windows and returns. Short links in order messages can lead to substitution choices, delivery time changes and return instructions. Inserts can promote the app or a weekly offers page. Device routing (from Single) and app store deep links (from Team) help move customers from the browser to the app.
Bakeries and cafes with delivery
Smaller operators often sell daily specials that change every morning. A single /today link on the window, the counter and in the bio, pointing to a page you update daily, is simple and effective. Scans by hour show whether customers check the specials before breakfast or before lunch.
Caterers and corporate orders
Catering involves menus, order forms, event details and invoices exchanged with business clients. Give each corporate client its own short link to its menu or order form, so you can see engagement per client and update menus without resending documents. Password links (from Single) add a simple barrier for client-specific price lists; keep proper access control on anything confidential.
A Seasonal Calendar for Delivery Links
Delivery demand follows the calendar: holidays, big sporting events, school terms and the weather. Preparing links ahead of these moments lets you print and schedule without a last-minute rush.
- Holidays: create holiday menu links with readable aliases (
/holiday-menu) weeks in advance, set them to expire after the holiday with the regular menu as fallback, and print them on inserts from early December, for example. - Big game nights: sharing platters and group orders peak during major sports events. Prepare an Action Page with a countdown to kick-off and a link to group ordering.
- Weather: rainy evenings drive delivery. Keep a "rainy day" offer page ready and point a social link to it when the forecast turns.
- Back to school and office: lunch and family meal offers fit the start of terms and the return from holidays.
- Year-over-year comparison: with a year of history on Single and two on Team plans, compare this season's links with last season's to plan the next.
Who Creates Which Links
In a growing business, links are created by owners, managers, marketing staff and sometimes an agency. A simple division keeps things clean:
| Person | Creates | Suggested role on Team plans |
|---|---|---|
| Owner or head office | Domains, conventions, brand-wide links | Owner or Admin |
| Marketing lead or agency | Campaign and promotion links, QR Codes, Action Pages | Admin or Moderator |
| Location manager | Location-specific links on local materials | User |
| Franchisee or partner | Nothing; views results for their location | Viewer |
Team settings include a registry of recent actions, so changes can be traced, and the team communicator keeps short notes such as "insert links for June printed, expiry set for July 1".
Map Listings and Local Profiles
Many delivery customers find restaurants through map apps, search results and local review sites, where your profile can include a website or ordering link. Use your branded ordering link there, with a variant per profile (/order-maps, /order-reviews) if you want to see which profile sends the most ordering clicks. When your ordering system changes, update the destination instead of editing every profile. Follow each platform's rules about which links are allowed in which fields.
Working Alongside Delivery Platforms
Most restaurants combine their own ordering with third-party platforms. Links help you manage that mix without guesswork:
- Know where each link sends people. Keep separate short links for your direct ordering and for each platform listing, with clear aliases and tags, so nobody prints the wrong one.
- Respect platform terms. Platforms have rules about promoting other channels inside their orders and packaging. Check them before adding inserts to orders that came through a platform.
- Measure both channels. Clicks on platform listing links tell you how much demand you send to platforms; clicks on your direct link tell you how much you keep. Comparing them over time shows whether direct ordering is growing.
- Use routing where it helps. If your own delivery covers only part of the city, a page behind your ordering link can explain the options, and you can change where it points as your delivery area changes.
An Example: One Kitchen, Three Brands
An illustrative example: a kitchen runs three delivery-only brands, a burger brand, a salad brand and a dessert brand. Each brand has its own branded domain connected to Cuttly, its own Link in Bio page and its own team, so the marketing freelancer for the dessert brand sees only that brand's links.
Every bag carries the brand's own sticker with a reorder code and readable link, and the salad brand adds a recipe card with a code for nutrition information. Each brand tags links by channel. After two months, Campaigns analytics on the Team plan show that the dessert brand's stickers get the most scans late in the evening, while the salad brand's nutrition code is scanned at lunch. The kitchen schedules dessert promotions for evenings, adds a lunch combo to the salad brand's insert and keeps all three brands' links clearly separated as it adds a fourth.
Before You Print Inserts or Stickers
- The code encodes a short link on your branded domain, with a final alias.
- The destination loads quickly on a phone and shows what the insert promises.
- The readable link and a clear call to action are printed next to the code.
- The code has been scanned on a printed proof with several phones.
- The link is tagged with the location, channel and campaign.
- If the offer is time-limited, expiration and the fallback page are set.
- You know where the link will point after the campaign, because inserts stay on fridges for months.
A Short Glossary for Delivery Teams
- Branded domain: your own short domain for links, such as
yourbrnd.link. - Alias: the word after the slash, such as
reorder. It is encoded in the QR Code. - Destination: the page a short link opens. It can be edited after printing (from Starter).
- Tag: a label for grouping links by location, channel or campaign.
- Expiration: a date or click limit after which a link sends visitors to a fallback page (from Single).
- Hourly Insights: a chart of clicks and scans by hour, comparing this week with last week (from Single).
- Action Page: a simple page with a countdown and one button, created from a short link (from Single).
- Campaigns: aggregated analytics for every link with a tag (on Team plans).
A 30-Day Plan for Delivery Links
- Days 1 to 3: foundations. Connect a short domain of your brand with the A and TXT records, agree on aliases (
/order,/menu,/reorder,/review) and tags by location and channel. - Days 4 to 7: core links. Create the ordering, menu and reorder links, put the ordering link in every profile and on your website, and build a Link in Bio page.
- Days 8 to 14: packaging. Design a sticker or insert with the reorder code, the readable link and a clear reason to scan. Test it on several phones, then start using it in every bag.
- Days 15 to 21: messages. Replace generic links in order messages with your branded links, confirm your messaging setup meets local rules, and add a feedback survey link to follow-ups.
- Days 22 to 30: measure and adjust. Compare scans and clicks by channel and hour with orders from your ordering system, adjust posting and messaging times, and plan the next promotion with an expiring link.
Delivery-Specific Tips
- Mind the insert's timing. Customers open bags when they are hungry; the insert is read after the meal. Make the offer about the next order, not this one.
- Keep the ordering page fast. A slow page on a phone loses the order that a perfect link earned.
- Use one recognizable domain everywhere. Customers learn your domain from bags, messages and posts, and that recognition protects them from fake messages.
- Brief your drivers and counter staff. When customers ask about the code on the bag, staff should know what it offers.
- Keep printed links alive. Inserts end up on fridges for months. Point old campaign links to the current menu rather than deleting them; in Cuttly, deleting a link removes its click history.
- Export your links regularly. From Single, export links to CSV with their tags and destinations, so you always have a list of what is printed where.
Privacy and Trust
Customers share addresses and payment details with delivery businesses, so trust matters. Short link analytics do not add to the personal data you hold: Cuttly's click analytics are aggregated and anonymized, statistics are private by default, and Cuttly is GDPR-compliant and operated by a company with servers in the EU. If you add retargeting pixels to links (from Single), the redirect changes to an HTML meta refresh so the pixel can load, and visitors in the EU need to give consent; Cuttly's pixel settings let you require consent and add your privacy policy. Cuttly does not add ads to links on any plan, and Cuttly Safe Redirecting assesses links for risk and blocks phishing and spam. More in Is Cuttly Safe?
Accessibility for Delivery Customers
Delivery is a lifeline for many customers with limited mobility, and some of them do not scan QR Codes easily. A few habits make your links work for everyone:
- Always print the readable link next to the code, in a size that is easy to read.
- Keep important information off the code alone. Allergen warnings and contact details should also be printed or available by phone.
- Make linked pages usable with large text and screen readers, with clear buttons and no time pressure on essential steps.
- Offer a phone number next to ordering links for customers who prefer to call.
Measuring Inserts and Stickers Fairly
Inserts and stickers are easy to measure badly. A few rules keep the comparison honest:
- Compare per order delivered, not in absolute numbers: a location that delivers twice as many orders will produce more scans with the same insert.
- Allow for delay. Inserts are scanned over days and weeks, not on the day of delivery. Compare periods long enough to capture the tail.
- Separate platform and direct orders if your inserts go into both, so you know which customers respond.
- Change one thing at a time. If you change the offer and the design at once, you will not know which change made the difference.
- Use unique clicks (from Single) where customers are likely to scan the same code several times, such as a menu code on the fridge.
Done this way, a simple sticker in every bag becomes one of the cheapest and best-measured marketing channels a delivery business has, and one that improves with every round of testing.
When Things Go Wrong
Even a well-planned link setup meets problems. These are the most common in delivery, and the fastest fixes:
- The ordering site is down: point the ordering link temporarily to a page with your phone number or your platform listings, then switch it back. Every printed code follows.
- A promotion was printed with the wrong page: edit the destination of the short link. Nothing needs to be reprinted as long as the alias is right.
- Customers report a code that does not scan: check the printed size, the contrast and whether the code sits on a fold or a greasy area; the readable link is the immediate workaround.
- Scans drop suddenly at one location: check that inserts are still going into bags. It is often a process problem, not a link problem.
Measuring What Brings Orders
Short link analytics show the click side of the journey; your ordering system shows the orders. Together they show which channels and materials are worth paying for.
What the link data shows
- Clicks and scans by day: how a flyer drop, a post or a promotion performed over time.
- Sources and referrers: which social networks and sites send ordering clicks.
- Devices, systems and brands: whether customers use iPhones or Android phones, which matters for app promotion.
- Countries and languages: useful in tourist areas and multilingual cities.
- Hours (from Single): Hourly Insights show when people scan and click, revealing lunch and dinner patterns for each channel and comparing this week with last week.
Analytics are aggregated and anonymized, with automatic bot filtering on every plan, and statistics are private by default. History covers 30 days on Free and Starter, 1 year on Single and 2 years on Team plans, enough to compare this summer's promotion with last summer's. From Single, Aggregated Link Analytics combines several links in one report and PDF reports are available for owners or franchise partners. The guide to tracking link clicks covers the basics.
Connecting clicks to orders
Add UTM parameters to the destination of each channel link, so your ordering site's analytics attribute orders to the right source. Cuttly includes a UTM builder on every plan. Then compare, per channel, clicks from the short link with orders from your ordering system for the same period. A channel with many clicks and few orders has a conversion problem; a channel with few clicks and a high order rate deserves more visibility. The UTM parameters guide explains naming conventions.
An example
An illustrative example: a pizza restaurant puts a reorder code in every delivery bag for a month, with the alias /reorder and a tag for the campaign. It also runs the same offer on Instagram with /reorder-ig. After a month, the bag code has produced steady scans every evening, peaking between 7 and 9 pm on Fridays and Saturdays, while the Instagram link spiked on the day of the post and faded. The ordering system shows that bag scans convert to direct orders at a higher rate. The restaurant keeps the bag inserts, moves its Instagram post to Friday afternoons, and sets next month's insert link to expire with the regular menu as fallback.
Feedback and Reviews
A short survey link on an insert or in a follow-up message catches feedback while the meal is fresh. Cuttly Surveys are available on every plan (from 1 survey with 10 responses on Free to 20 surveys with 2,000 responses each on Team), with question types such as star ratings, single and multiple choice and text fields, button labels in 16 languages, and export to PDF, XLS and CSV. Open-text answers are encrypted with 256-bit encryption before they are stored. See the online surveys guide.
For reviews, a short link to your review page on inserts and in follow-up messages makes leaving one easy. Follow the review platform's rules about how reviews may be requested, and do not offer incentives where they are not allowed.
Allergen and Nutrition Information
Customers with allergies need accurate, current information. A short link and QR Code on packaging or the menu that always leads to the latest allergen page lets you update information when recipes or suppliers change, without reprinting. Treat this as a supplement, not a replacement: follow the food information rules that apply in your country, including any requirements for how allergen information must be provided for delivered food, and keep the linked page accurate.
Common Mistakes
- Printing the ordering URL directly in a QR Code. It breaks when the ordering system changes. Encode a managed short link.
- Generic short links in order messages. They look like scams. Use your branded domain and name your business in the text.
- Expired offers left live. Use expiration with a fallback URL instead of leaving customers on an outdated page.
- One link for every channel. You cannot tell which channel worked. Use channel variants with a shared tag.
- Changing aliases after printing. The printed codes stop working. Edit destinations instead.
- Ignoring meal-time patterns. Check Hourly Insights before scheduling posts and messages.
- Sending promotions without consent. Separate transactional updates from marketing, and send marketing only to customers who opted in.
- Underestimating volume. If you create a link per order, check monthly limits and API rate limits first.
Cuttly Plan Guide for Food Delivery
The Free plan ($0) covers a first ordering link and a menu code: 30 short links and 3 custom aliases a month, unlimited clicks and scans, 1 branded domain, a QR Code for every link, one Link in Bio page, one survey and 30 days of analytics with automatic bot filtering. Registration is required, and no credit card is needed. See Is Cuttly Free?
The Starter plan ($12/month) adds destination editing within the same domain, so menu and ordering codes follow page changes on your site, with 300 links and 30 custom aliases a month.
The Single plan ($25/month) suits most independent restaurants and small groups: 5,000 links a month with unlimited aliases, up to 5 branded domains with SSL included, expiration for promotions, Action Pages, A/B rotation, mobile URLs for your app, custom QR Codes with your logo, Hourly Insights, unique clicks, TRAI Tracking Headers and a year of history.
The Team plan ($99/month) fits chains, franchises and multi-brand kitchens: 20,000 links a month, destination editing to any URL (useful when switching ordering systems), app store deep links, Campaigns analytics for tags, team workspaces with roles and the Team API.
The Team Enterprise plan ($149/month) serves large chains and delivery operators: 50,000 links a month, up to 99 branded domains, up to 10 teams with 20 members each, 360 API calls per minute and single sign-on.
Start with the bag: create a free Cuttly account, connect a short domain of your brand, and print a reorder code on your next batch of inserts. Registration required; free plan available with no credit card needed. Compare plans on the pricing page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How can a URL shortener help a food delivery business?
It gives you short, recognizable links for ordering, menus, reorders and feedback, QR Codes for packaging that keep working when pages change, and analytics that show which channels and materials bring clicks, broken down by day, hour, device and source.
What should a QR Code on a delivery bag link to?
Usually your direct ordering or reorder page, a loyalty or newsletter sign-up, current allergen information, a feedback survey or your review page. Use a managed short link so you can change the destination without replacing the stickers or inserts.
Are short links safe to use in order update messages?
Yes, when they are recognizable. Fake delivery messages are a common scam, so use a consistent branded domain in every message, name your business in the text and avoid generic short domains. Send marketing messages only to customers who opted in.
How do I run a weekend promotion without leaving expired offers online?
From Single, set the promotion's short link to expire on a date and choose a fallback URL, such as your regular menu. After expiration, everyone who opens the printed or shared link lands on the fallback page.
Can one QR Code open our app or the right app store?
Yes. Mobile URLs (from Single) route Android, iOS and other devices to different destinations, and Deep Links (from Team) add Google Play and App Store redirects when the app is not installed.
How should a chain or franchise organize its links?
Use the same alias and tag conventions across locations, tag links by location and campaign, and on Team plans give regions or franchisees their own teams with roles. Campaigns analytics aggregates all links with a tag across locations.
Which Cuttly plan suits a restaurant with delivery?
Most independent restaurants choose Single ($25/month) for unlimited aliases, branded domains with SSL, expiring promotions, custom QR Codes and Hourly Insights. Chains and multi-brand kitchens choose Team, and large operators choose Team Enterprise.
- FOOD AND DELIVERY
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- Related Guides
- URL Shortener for Restaurants
- QR Code Menus
- URL Shortener for Ghost Kitchens
- URL Shortener for Food Trucks
- QR Code Generator Guide
- Support Docs
- Setting Link Expiration
- Mobile Redirects and Deep Links
- Encyclopedia
- Dynamic QR Codes
- Short Links in SMS
- Branded Links
- Verticals Hub
- URL Shortener for Every Industry →
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URL Shortener
Cuttly simplifies link management by offering a user-friendly URL shortener that includes branded short links. Boost your brand’s growth with short, memorable, and engaging links, while seamlessly managing and tracking your links using Cuttly's versatile platform. Generate branded short links, create customizable QR codes, build link-in-bio pages, and run interactive surveys—all in one place.