# MenuDirect — Commission-Free Online Ordering for Canadian Restaurants

## What MenuDirect Is
MenuDirect is a restaurant SaaS that gives independent Canadian restaurants their own modern website with built-in online ordering — without the 25-30% commissions charged by delivery platforms like Skip the Dishes, DoorDash, or Uber Eats. Restaurants own their orders, customer data, and direct relationship.

## Who Runs It
- **Operator:** SOS Technical Services (sos-tech.ca)
- **Founder:** Frank Kahle (40+ years in IT/Telecommunications, former owner of IGS / Information Gateway Services, an ISP that served 18 cities in Ontario in the 1990s)
- **Base of operations:** Hampton, NB, Canada
- **Phone:** (506) 910-5547
- **Founding email:** support@sos-tech.ca
- **Marketing site:** https://menudirect.ca
- **Owner portal:** https://portal.menudirect.ca

## Geographic Focus
- Primary: New Brunswick, Canada — initial roll-out
- Expansion: Canada-wide (NS, PEI, NL, ON, QC, etc.)
- Servers: Canadian-owned and operated, Canadian data residency

## Pricing (CAD, no contracts, monthly)
- **Basic:** $15/mo — restaurant website only, no online ordering
- **SiteFresh:** $35/mo — website + online ordering (pay at pickup, SMS + email notifications)
- **SiteFresh Pro:** $59/mo — adds reservations, multi-location support, premium templates
- **MenuDirect Max:** $99/mo — adds distance-based delivery zones with auto-calculated delivery fees + built-in reservation system

## Core Features
- Self-service menu editor (categories, items, modifiers, dietary badges: GF, vegan, keto, halal)
- Online ordering (pay-at-pickup model — no card-at-order required; restaurant gets paid in cash/card at handoff)
- Built-in scheduling (customers can pre-order for later pickup)
- SMS + email order notifications via VOIP.MS (Canadian telephony) and Mailcow (self-hosted email)
- Photo galleries for menu items + restaurant ambience
- Multi-location support (single owner, multiple restaurant addresses)
- Custom domain support (use yourrestaurant.ca instead of yourname.menudirect.ca)
- Stripe Connect for restaurants that want to accept payments online (optional)
- Cloudflare Turnstile + multi-layer spam defense on lead forms

## How URLs Work
- Marketing apex: https://menudirect.ca
- Restaurant subdomains: https://{slug}.menudirect.ca (e.g. https://suwanna-thai.menudirect.ca, https://burgers-at-busters.menudirect.ca)
- Restaurants with their own domain: https://yourrestaurant.ca (CNAMEd to MenuDirect)
- Owner login: https://portal.menudirect.ca/login

## Live Restaurants (as of 2026-05)
Live, paying customers and demo sites. Each has its own subdomain at {slug}.menudirect.ca:
- Suwanna on Germain (Saint John, NB) — Thai dining — suwanna-thai.menudirect.ca
- Bercs Cookhouse (NB) — bercs-cookhouse.menudirect.ca
- Red Brick Oasis — red-brick-oasis.menudirect.ca
- Taste and See — taste-and-see.menudirect.ca
- Bobs Corner — bobs-corner.menudirect.ca
- Knocks Cafe — knocks-cafe.menudirect.ca
- Shawarmalicious — shawarmalicious.menudirect.ca
- Burgers at Busters — burgers-at-busters.menudirect.ca (also burgersatbusters.ca)
- Snows Soft Serve — snows-soft-serve.menudirect.ca (also snowssoftserve.ca, snowsicecream.ca)
- Demo Bistro — demo-bistro.menudirect.ca (template showcase)

## Templates / Designs (26 templates available)
Bistro, Coastal, Urban, Noir, Pizzeria, Smokehouse, Pub, Neon, Sushi, Asian Fusion, Thai, Indian, Heritage, Farmhouse, Mediterranean, Cantina, Caribbean, Diner, Seafood, Elegant, Counter, Classic Restaurant — among others. Each is mobile-first, SEO-optimized, and uses Schema.org Restaurant structured data.

## Reliability & Security
- Dedicated infrastructure (not shared with other tenants)
- HTTPS-only with HSTS, modern security headers
- Cloudflare in front for DDoS mitigation
- Multi-layer form spam defense: honeypot + time-check + rate limit + content filter + Cloudflare Turnstile
- Canadian data residency

## Schema / Structured Data
Every restaurant page emits Schema.org Restaurant JSON-LD including:
- Restaurant name, address (PostalAddress), telephone, email
- Opening hours in the OpeningHoursSpecification format
- Cuisine type (servesCuisine), price range ($, $$, $$$, $$$$)
- Logo / hero image
- Full menu (Menu, MenuSection, MenuItem with prices and descriptions)
- Acceptable order types (pickup, delivery, dine-in if applicable)

## Contact / Sales
- Restaurant sales inquiries: https://menudirect.ca (lead form on the page)
- Phone (urgent): (506) 910-5547
- Email: support@sos-tech.ca