Google Lets Restaurants Turn Off Ordering Providers in Business Profile

Google now lets restaurants switch off individual third-party ordering providers directly from their Google Business Profile (GBP) dashboard, ending the old system where the provider itself had to process removal requests within five business days. Lisa Landsman, Google's Head of Industry Engagement & SMB Success, announced the setting in a LinkedIn post, confirming it applies to what customers see on profiles in Search and Maps.

Asked in the post's comments which countries the feature covers, Google product manager Michael G. replied: "all."

What does the new control actually do?

A screenshot in Landsman's post shows a "Manage provider" panel for a placeholder provider, www.provider.com. Under the heading "Show provider to customers," the panel carries separate switches for pickup and for delivery — both switched on in the image. A restaurant can disable a provider for pickup, for delivery, or both.

Landsman framed the change as a time-saver: restaurants no longer need to send a separate request to each delivery platform. If a provider no longer fits a restaurant's operations or margins, she wrote, "you can turn it off yourself."

She also argued for keeping some providers listed. Diners tend to order through apps where they already hold a subscription or have a card saved, she wrote, so listing those apps can keep those orders from flowing to a competitor.

How the policy shifted from requests to controls

The change rewrites a compliance process that previously put the burden on providers. According to an archive of Google's compliance policy for ordering providers captured in May, each provider had to give restaurants a method — a removal form or a help/support ticket, for example — to take themselves out of the provider's feed to Google. Providers then had five business days to review and complete the opt-out.

The current version of that page, most recently updated Oct. 19, drops that requirement. It now states that merchants may enable or disable individual provider integrations through product controls. One line is unchanged in substance: providers must still drop any restaurant that asks to be removed from their feed.

The policy page also carries a detail that managers should not miss: "All partner integrations are enabled by default." That means every new integration switches on automatically until someone at the restaurant turns it off.

Why restaurant owners should audit their profiles now

For multi-location operators and single-site restaurants alike, the practical takeaway is a checklist item: for each profile you manage, review the provider list under "Food ordering" in the Business Profile dashboard. A provider the restaurant never agreed to — or no longer wants — can now be turned off without waiting on the provider's support queue.

The stakes are concrete. Under the old flow, a restaurant that wanted a delivery link gone had to file a request and wait up to five business days, with no guarantee of follow-through. The new switches cut the middleman out of that loop entirely.

What's still unclear

Gaps remain. As of Oct. 28, Google's help page on ordering options — the one describing the "Remove link" option — does not mention the new "Show provider to customers" setting, so documentation lags the feature. The LinkedIn post also did not say whether the control works in bulk or through the Business Profile API (the interface agencies use to manage profiles programmatically), a question commenters raised and Google has not answered.

Watch for updates to the help documentation and any Google statement on API and bulk support — those two items will determine whether large restaurant chains can manage the new switches at scale or one profile at a time.