Olo founder and CEO Noah Glass is advancing a second-party restaurant ordering model intended to combine marketplace reach with direct restaurant-customer relationships. The concept, connected to the Olo App and Olo Network planned for 2026, addresses commission costs, fragmented restaurant apps and growing interest in AI-assisted ordering.
Key Takeaways
- Noah Glass outlined his second-party restaurant ordering vision in a September 1, 2026 commentary, following Olo’s March unveiling of the Olo App and Olo Network.
- Olo says its broader restaurant commerce platform supports more than 800 brands across approximately 90,000 locations.
- The Olo App is scheduled to launch later in 2026 and is designed to charge restaurants no commission on orders.
- DoorDash currently offers restaurant delivery commission tiers ranging from 15% to 30%, illustrating the cost issue Glass is targeting.
- Glass envisions a centralized ordering system in which customer preferences and AI assistants could play a larger role.
Noah Glass Expands the Second-Party Restaurant Ordering Pitch
Noah Glass, founder and CEO of restaurant technology company Olo, is pushing for a third approach to digital restaurant ordering that he calls the “second-party” model.
In a September 1, 2026 Fortune commentary, Glass argued that restaurants should not have to choose only between third-party marketplaces that deliver reach and first-party apps or websites that preserve direct customer relationships. Instead, he proposed shared ordering infrastructure that could provide elements of both.
“What sits between first and third? Second,” Glass wrote.
The idea is more than an abstract industry proposal. Olo unveiled its Olo App and Olo Network in March 2026, several months before the Fortune commentary. The company says the customer-facing app is expected to launch later in 2026 and will allow participating restaurants to receive orders without paying commissions to Olo.
That planned rollout gives Glass’s argument a practical test. Rather than asking restaurants to build separate consumer audiences entirely on their own, Olo is trying to create a shared network while allowing individual brands to maintain their relationships with customers.
Olo Built Its Business Around Digital Restaurant Ordering
Glass traces Olo’s origins to 2005, when he developed a system that allowed restaurant orders to be placed by text message. The experiment came two years before Apple introduced the iPhone and well before mobile ordering became common across restaurant chains.
Olo has since expanded from ordering technology into a broader restaurant commerce platform. The company currently says it works with more than 800 brands across approximately 90,000 locations and processes more than 3.5 million orders per day on average.
Brands Glass cited in his Fortune commentary include Shake Shack, Waffle House, Cracker Barrel, Five Guys and Panda Express.
The company’s second-party strategy arrives as restaurant technology providers increasingly connect ordering, customer relationship management, loyalty and marketing systems. A similar convergence can be seen in restaurant AI marketing platforms that combine customer acquisition with ordering and other restaurant operations.
For Olo, the central issue is who controls the customer relationship after a digital transaction.
Third-Party Marketplaces Trade Reach for Cost and Data Control
Third-party ordering platforms offer restaurants access to customers who are already using a shared marketplace, reducing the need for each brand to build an audience from scratch.
That access can come with significant fees. DoorDash, for example, currently lists U.S. delivery commission tiers of 15%, 25% and 30%, depending on the service package selected by a restaurant.
Glass argues that those economics can influence menu pricing. In his Fortune commentary, he said 82% of restaurant brands mark up prices on third-party platforms to offset fees and that more than half of those markups fall between 20% and 30%. Those figures were presented by Glass and should be understood as claims in his analysis rather than independently established industry-wide statistics.
Cost is only part of his argument.
Glass also objects to the degree of control marketplaces can have over customer information. When a restaurant wants to reach the same customer again through a marketplace, it remains dependent on that platform rather than developing the relationship entirely through its own channels.
“I call that a rented guest,” Glass wrote.
His second-party model is intended to preserve the distribution advantage of a shared platform while giving restaurants greater access to the customer relationship.
First-Party Ordering Preserves Control but Raises Acquisition Costs
Restaurant-owned websites and mobile apps solve part of the customer ownership problem because transactions occur through channels controlled by the restaurant.
The challenge shifts to discovery.
A restaurant operating its own digital channel must persuade customers to visit its website, download its app or otherwise enter its ordering ecosystem without relying on the audience assembled by a large marketplace.
Glass said acquiring a new customer through first-party channels can cost a restaurant as much as $100. He also argued that many consumers download individual restaurant apps but rarely return to them. The acquisition-cost figure comes from Glass’s commentary and should therefore be treated as his estimate rather than a universal industry benchmark.
Restaurants have increasingly responded by connecting ordering with loyalty programs, customer databases and targeted communications. Related restaurant marketing automation strategies illustrate how operators are using customer information across direct digital channels rather than treating ordering as a standalone transaction.
Glass’s proposal extends that approach by putting multiple restaurant brands within shared infrastructure.
Olo’s Second-Party Restaurant Ordering Model Combines Both Channels
The planned Olo App is designed to function differently from a conventional third-party marketplace.
Photo Credit: Unsplash.com
Consumers would be able to follow participating restaurant brands within one app instead of maintaining a separate application for every restaurant. Olo says restaurants would pay no commission on orders flowing through the system and would gain access to customer information intended to strengthen their direct guest relationships.
Olo describes its broader network as already including more than 500 brands, over 40 million guests and more than 25,000 restaurant locations. Those figures refer specifically to the Olo Network rather than Olo’s entire customer base.
Glass has compared the approach with Shopify’s Shop app, which gives consumers a centralized place to discover and purchase from independent retailers while allowing those businesses to maintain individual storefronts and brands. Shopify describes Shop as a channel through which merchants can be discovered, followed and purchased from without marketplace selling fees.
The comparison helps explain the distinction Glass is attempting to make. The shared platform provides the infrastructure and convenience, while participating businesses remain responsible for their own customer relationships.
AI Assistants Are Part of the Ordering Strategy
Glass’s second-party restaurant ordering proposal also anticipates a greater role for AI assistants in commerce.
In his Fortune commentary, he described a centralized experience where consumers and their AI assistants could order from restaurant brands they follow, using features such as stored checkout information and personalized offers.
Olo has made similar arguments in describing its network. The company says structured restaurant and customer data could eventually allow AI agents to connect users with menus and ordering systems without requiring customers to manually navigate individual restaurant apps.
Food On Demand reported in April that Glass also sees the Olo Network as a potential connection point between restaurants and emerging AI-driven commerce experiences. The Olo App itself, however, remains scheduled for later in 2026, meaning the broader AI ordering vision is still developing rather than an established consumer behavior at scale.
The Model Still Faces an Important Execution Test
Olo’s second-party model attempts to address a familiar tradeoff in restaurant commerce: third-party marketplaces offer distribution but can carry commissions and limit direct customer access, while first-party systems preserve control but leave individual restaurants responsible for customer acquisition.
The proposed Olo App would try to occupy the space between those models.
Its commercial performance cannot yet be evaluated because Olo says the app will launch later in 2026. The company has stated that existing Olo customers will receive initial access, with plans to make the network available more broadly over time.
The rollout will therefore provide a clearer measure of whether consumers want a centralized restaurant app organized around brands they choose to follow and whether restaurants view shared data and zero commissions as enough reason to participate.
A New Structure for Restaurant Commerce
Glass’s argument does not eliminate first-party websites or existing delivery marketplaces. Olo itself describes the planned app as an additional ordering channel rather than a replacement for restaurants’ existing apps and websites.
The significance of second-party restaurant ordering is instead the attempt to restructure who provides distribution, who owns the customer relationship and how information moves between restaurants and consumers.
For Olo, the next step is turning that framework into a functioning consumer network. With the Olo App expected later in 2026, the distinction between the proposed model and established restaurant marketplaces will become easier to judge through actual adoption and usage rather than theory alone.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is second-party restaurant ordering?
Second-party restaurant ordering is Glass’s term for a shared ordering network positioned between restaurant-owned first-party channels and third-party marketplaces. The model is designed to give restaurants shared distribution infrastructure while allowing them to retain direct customer relationships.
When will the Olo App launch?
Olo says the Olo App is scheduled to launch later in 2026. The company plans to make it available initially through its existing restaurant network before expanding access more broadly.
Will restaurants pay commissions on Olo App orders?
Olo says restaurants will not pay commissions on orders placed through the Olo App. Orders are intended to flow through the company’s existing restaurant technology infrastructure.
How large is Olo’s restaurant network?
Olo says its broader platform serves more than 800 restaurant brands across approximately 90,000 locations. The Olo Network itself currently represents a smaller subset, with the company reporting more than 500 brands and over 40 million guest profiles.
How could AI affect restaurant ordering?
Glass expects AI assistants eventually to help customers order from restaurants through centralized digital infrastructure. Within his second-party restaurant ordering model, AI could potentially use stored preferences and restaurant data to simplify discovery and ordering, although the broader system has not yet been demonstrated at consumer scale.
