Kotipizza trials €0.99 service fee for online orders

Kotipizza introduced a €0.99 service fee at some of its restaurants in October. According to a report published by Finnish newspaper Aamulehti on 22 October, the fee applies to all website and app orders at participating restaurants, including orders customers collect themselves. The pilot, involving around 80 restaurants, makes the cost of digital services a visible part of the price customers pay across the participating franchise outlets.

Service fee also applies to collection orders

The new fee relates to the ordering channel, not simply to food delivery. Customers also pay it when they order online and collect their food from the restaurant themselves. It is therefore distinct from the home delivery charge: choosing collection does not remove the service fee attached to a website or app order.

The service fee is €0.99. Kotipizza also has separate charges for services such as home delivery and ordering by phone. Based on the report, the change does not replace all order-related charges with a single new fee. Instead, it introduces an additional charge for digital ordering channels.

For customers, the key distinction is between the price of the food and the total cost of the order. When comparing prices, they need to take account of any fees associated with their chosen ordering and delivery methods. In this trial, choosing collection does not mean an order is free of service charges.

Kotipizza’s communications team told Aamulehti that customers earn loyalty points on the service fee. This is a detail of how the fee is treated, but it does not change its basic nature: it is an extra charge added to website and app orders.

Trial covers around 80 restaurants

The service fee is being piloted, and the duration of the trial has not been disclosed. When Aamulehti published its report, around 80 restaurants across Finland were taking part. Kotipizza has more than 300 restaurants, so the fee should not be described as a chain-wide change.

Participating restaurants are located in Tampere, Turku, Oulu, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Järvenpää, Hyvinkää, Ylivieska, Parainen and Siilinjärvi. The pilot is therefore not confined to one city or to the Helsinki metropolitan area. It includes both larger cities and smaller towns.

However, this list should not be taken to mean that every Kotipizza restaurant in those locations is participating. What matters to customers is the pricing applied to their order at their chosen restaurant. For franchisees, too, it is important to distinguish the scope of the trial from practices across the chain as a whole.

In this case, the pilot is a limited rollout. It does not yet establish whether the fee will become permanent or eventually extend to all restaurants. No further details of the timetable have been given, so there is no basis for estimating when the trial will end.

Maintaining digital services is the stated reason

According to Kotipizza’s communications team, the service fee covers the maintenance and development of its online ordering platform, digital services and order-related functions. The chain’s stated rationale therefore concerns the services supporting the ordering process, rather than simply the delivery of an individual order.

This helps explain why the fee also applies to collection orders. An order that customers collect themselves is still placed through the website or app, bringing it within the ordering channels subject to the trial fee. Home delivery and digital ordering are separate elements of pricing, even when a customer uses both for the same purchase.

However, the chain’s stated purpose for the fee does not, in itself, reveal its financial impact. The fee amount and the number of participating restaurants are not enough to calculate total revenue without knowing order volumes. The trial’s effect on customers’ ordering choices also remains unclear.

For the franchise sector, the case raises a practical question: how should the cost of shared digital services be reflected in customer pricing? In Kotipizza’s pilot, it appears as a separate service fee. The launch alone does not establish whether the trial will succeed or how customers will respond.

Clarity about the fee is crucial for franchisees

Founded in 1987, Kotipizza is owned by Norway’s Orkla. Its restaurants operate as independent businesses under a franchise model. This makes the pilot a relevant pricing change for the franchise sector, connecting the chain’s digital services with the customer-facing operations of independent restaurant businesses.

However, that independent business structure does not explain how service fee revenue is shared or what arrangements the chain and its franchisees have agreed for its introduction. It would not be justified to draw conclusions on these points from the fee’s stated purpose. The confirmed change concerns the charge paid by customers and its application at restaurants taking part in the pilot.

A useful starting point for franchisees’ customer communications is to distinguish three things: where an order is placed, how it reaches the customer and which fees apply. Online collection orders particularly need a clear explanation, as they incur a digital service fee without home delivery. The fact that customers earn loyalty points on the fee can be explained separately, without confusing it with the reason for the charge.

Practical reminder: customers should check the order total before confirming. Franchisees, meanwhile, should ensure staff can distinguish the service fee from the delivery charge and explain which charges apply to orders at their own restaurant.