Does a food broker compete with delivery marketplaces?

No. A food broker sells on every relevant marketplace on behalf of the restaurant. Marketplaces remain the demand layer; the broker is the commercial and operational layer between them and the restaurant.

Can I use Sinqro without a food broker?

Yes. Most Sinqro customers operate their own commercial relationships with marketplaces and direct channels and use Sinqro as the operating layer. A food broker is a separate, optional commercial model layered on top — Sinqro is product-agnostic about whether the restaurant or a broker owns the channel contracts.

All guides Concept

What is a food broker?

A food broker is an intermediary that publishes a restaurant's menu across many digital channels at once and then aggregates all the resulting orders, payments, and reconciliations under a single contract. The restaurant only has to cook — the broker handles which channel charges what, which marketplace pays when, and how all of it lands in the restaurant's account.

Broker vs aggregator vs middleware

Three roles often confused: an aggregator (Glovo, Uber Eats, Just Eat) operates a marketplace, owns the customer, and dispatches delivery. Restaurant middleware (Sinqro) translates orders, menus, and data between channels and the restaurant's own systems. A food broker sits a level above both: it represents the restaurant on every channel, signs commercial contracts with marketplaces and direct ordering platforms in the restaurant's name, and pays the restaurant a single monthly settlement for everything sold across every channel.

What the broker contract typically covers

Most food broker contracts cover: channel onboarding (marketplaces, direct ordering, kiosks, table-side), per-channel menu publishing with channel-specific pricing, order intake and operational dispatch, payment reconciliation across channels, dispute and refund handling, and a single periodic settlement to the restaurant. The restaurant typically agrees to a unified commission (broker fee + pass-through of marketplace fees) and gives the broker authority to commercially represent it on the listed channels.

Why brokers need restaurant middleware

A food broker handling dozens or hundreds of restaurants across many marketplaces cannot manually type orders into each restaurant's POS or sync each menu by hand. The broker runs the commercial layer on top of restaurant middleware (like Sinqro) that orchestrates the technical layer — order intake, menu sync, POS handoff, sales data, settlements. Sinqro is the operating platform a food broker plugs each restaurant onto; Sinqro itself does not act as the broker.

Quick answers

Common questions

Does a food broker compete with delivery marketplaces?: No. A food broker sells on every relevant marketplace on behalf of the restaurant. Marketplaces remain the demand layer; the broker is the commercial and operational layer between them and the restaurant.
Can I use Sinqro without a food broker?: Yes. Most Sinqro customers operate their own commercial relationships with marketplaces and direct channels and use Sinqro as the operating layer. A food broker is a separate, optional commercial model layered on top — Sinqro is product-agnostic about whether the restaurant or a broker owns the channel contracts.

Concept What is restaurant middleware? Restaurant middleware is the software layer that translates orders, menus, and sales data between channels, POS, accounting, and operational tools. Compare Sinqro vs a delivery aggregator: what is the actual difference? Sinqro is a restaurant operations layer; a delivery aggregator is a marketplace. They sit at different layers and most restaurants run both at once.