I would think it would be intelligent for an Independent to have as many online gateways to their restaurant as possible. You should not limit yourself to just one online ordering system.
I have a franchise that provides a website, and online ordering for a fee. My online ordering is about 25% of my sales, and reduce my labor cost by about 4%. As well the upsell, and customer satisfaction on my online ordering is much better. The customer can look at my whole menu, prices & descriptions, and passively order at their pace. Its a much better presentation than my best phone girls can offer. My phone girls have an avg. ticket of $28.00 but my online ordering has an avg. ticket of $35.
My goal over the next year is to drive more traffic online, by direct mailing my customers with coupons that can only be redeemed online. Once they order online we have there email address, and I can email them periodically with specials and coupons that match their preferences, at a fraction of the cost of Direct Mail. Direct Mail Postcard 45 cents vs. email 1/100 of a cent, its a no brainer.
In the long run driving more traffic online will reduce labor, increase avg. ticket, and reduce the cost of advertising. Which all bring more money to the bottom line.
I am working with my Franchisor now to allow me to use multiple sites to bring sales into my store. I believe if there is only on e road in and one road out, you limit the amount of people the travel the road per se’. But if you have multiple roads leading to your business, the diversification should create more traffic.