cobble
Log in
A painted cobblestone main street lined with local shops

The Promise

My why, and what I promise you.

Why I started Cobble, and what I promise the local shops that use it. It also covers what it costs and what happens to your data, in plain English.

01

Why Cobble exists

The corner shop deserves the same great online ordering the big chains have. Not a watered-down version. The real thing, free, and backed by someone who lives down the road.

Right now, ordering online from a local shop in Fairfield County is hard on everyone.

For customers, it’s confusing. You tap a shop’s “Order” button and end up in some app. Every shop uses a different one. There are extra fees, the menu doesn’t match the one on the wall, and you have to make yet another account.

For the owners, it’s expensive. Delivery apps take up to 30% of every order. A beloved local spot becomes one listing among hundreds, and the shop never gets to know its own regulars.

And that money doesn’t stay here. It leaves our town for a corporation in another state, one order at a time.

Cobble changes that. Every local business gets its own ordering site, free. Its own name, its own menu, its own prices, its own customers. No marketplace in the middle, and no commission taken off the top. When a regular orders direct, the money stays on Main Street. It pays the people who work there, the suppliers who stock the shelves, and the next good idea.

It just works.

Your menu, prices and stock stay in step with your register. Closing early is one tap. There’s nothing to maintain, so you just run your business.

Local businesses make our neighborhoods what they are. They deserve this. So do we.

02

Why it matters to me

The shops on a street are what make it a neighborhood.

Luke juggling a football by a lake
Luke

Hi, I’m Luke. I’m from England, and I built Cobble.

In England, the street with the shops on it is called the high street. Here it’s Main Street. It’s the same thing. It’s the café where they start your coffee when you walk in, and the deli that knows how you like your sandwich. Places like that make a street feel like home.

For more than eight years I’ve worked in enterprise technology, building apps used by over 100 million people around the world. The big companies always get the best software. The people running our local shops work just as hard, and they deserve it too.

Luke on a rooftop in Paris, with the city's rooftops and the Eiffel Tower behind him on a gray day

So I’m putting what I’ve learned to work for the shops near me, and for the neighbors who love them.

And I’m local. I live in Trumbull, CT. When something needs fixing, I’ll come by, not send you a ticket number.

03

What I believe

A few simple things about local business.

  1. The money should stay on Main Street.When a neighbor orders from a local shop, the shop should keep that money. Cobble is free for the shop, which only pays card processing when it makes a sale. The customer's small order fee is shown plainly at checkout.
  2. A shop should know its own regulars.The people who order from you are your customers. Their orders come straight to you, and you can download your customer list any time.
  3. Help should come from a neighbor.When something goes wrong, you should be able to text a real person who lives nearby. You can text me.
  4. Ordering local shouldn’t cost more.Your neighbors see the same menu prices online that they see at your counter. They come straight from your own menu.

04

How it started

It started with one shop, Nella’s Nutri-Bar in Westchester, NY.

Nella’s was Cobble’s first customer, and she still takes her online orders with Cobble today. She’s had hundreds of online orders since. Most of them come from her regulars, who now order straight from her at her own prices. Tips for her team went up too.

Everything I’ve built since was shaped by what a local shop needs on a busy Saturday morning.

Thank you for reading. If any of this sounds like your shop, I’d love to hear from you.

Luke

05

Here when you need me

Not just a website and goodbye. I’m local, and I’ll help with your account, your menu, Square questions, a new item for the weekend, or getting a card reader set up. Text or call me, or I’ll come by.

There’s no help center to dig through. Need a price changed before Saturday, or your holiday hours set? Tell me and I’ll do it. Or I’ll show you how, and it takes a couple of minutes.

06

How it works

Your shop keeps running the way it does today, on Square or on Cobble POS. Cobble gives it a front door online, so your neighbors can order from you directly.

  1. 1Sign in your wayIf you use Square, you sign in on Square's own screen and approve Cobble. That's how Cobble knows the shop is yours. On Cobble POS, you get your own Cobble login.
  2. 2Your site is built from your menuOn Square, your menu, prices and locations come from your Square account, and your site follows any change you make there. On Cobble POS, you keep your menu in your Cobble dashboard.
  3. 3You switch ordering onOnline ordering stays off until you turn it on in your dashboard. Nothing goes live until you say so.
  4. 4Orders land where you already workOn Square, every online order goes into your Square with the prices from your Square menu. On Cobble POS, it shows up on your orders board. Either way, it's paid through your payment processor.

What your dashboard is for

  • Turn online ordering on or off
  • Set your hours and holiday closures
  • Choose pickup and delivery lead times
  • Set up delivery and catering
  • See orders the moment they come in
  • Get to know your customers

Want the site on your own web address? You can connect it from the dashboard. You can also keep the website you have and add an “Order online” button to it. If you’d rather not do either yourself, I’ll do it for you.

07

What it costs

Free for your shop. You only pay card processing when you make a sale.

On Square

Free

Nothing from Cobble. Your card fees stay exactly what Square charges you today.

On Cobble POS

Free

No monthly fee and no commitment. You only pay card processing when you make a sale.

How Cobble makes money

When someone orders online, they pay a small order fee of 3% per online order, which typically works out to between 20¢ and 99¢. Your customer pays it at checkout by default. Prefer to cover it yourself, or split it? That’s your call. It’s set per shop, and when the customer pays it, it shows on their order as its own line, called a “Service fee”, with a short note saying it keeps menu prices the same as in the shop.

That fee is how Cobble gets paid. Your payment processor collects it as Cobble’s fee on that order. If you use Square, sales at your counter go through your Square like they always have. Cobble has no part in them and takes nothing from them.

Your claim page shows your shop’s real fees before you connect anything.

08

Your data

Cobble keeps only what it needs to run your orders. It never sells any of it.

What Cobble keeps, and why

  • Your menu and locations. Your site needs them to show your shop. If you use Square, Cobble copies them from Square, and Square stays the original.
  • Orders. What was ordered, when, and for how much. That's how each order reaches your dashboard (and your Square, if you use it), and how the customer gets a receipt.
  • Your customers' contact details. Their name and email, and their phone number if they give it. A delivery order also needs an address. These are used to confirm the order, send the receipt and hand the order over.
  • Your payments connection. It lets Cobble take card payments for your online orders. If you use Square, it's the access Square issues when you approve Cobble.

Who sees what

  • Your payment processor takes the card payment, so Cobble never sees a card number.
  • For a delivery, the driver gets only what they need: the customer's name, address, phone number and what's in the bag.
  • Receipts come by email. Order updates come by text, and only if the customer asks for them.
  • Everything else stays with Cobble, on secure servers in the US, and is never sold.

What Cobble never does

  • Cobble never sells personal information. Not yours, and not your customers'.
  • Cobble doesn't market to your customers unless they agree to it separately.
  • No advertising cookies or tracking pixels on Cobble-powered ordering pages.

It’s yours, and you can leave

Your business name, logo and menu belong to you. You can download your customer list as a spreadsheet from Customers in your dashboard, any time. There’s no contract. You can leave whenever you like. If you use Square, you just disconnect Cobble from your Square dashboard.

You or any of your customers can ask Cobble to delete personal information. Cobble does it within 30 days, apart from what the law says it has to keep. Order records are kept for up to three years for accounting and disputes. Cobble’s Privacy Policy has the full detail.

09

Payments & security

Your payment processor handles card payments. Cobble never sees a card number.

  • Cards stay with the payment processor. The card form at checkout comes from the payment processor itself. For a Square shop, it's Square's own form, loaded from Square. It turns the card into a one-time code in the customer's browser, and only that code reaches Cobble. Apple Pay and Google Pay work the same way. Cobble never stores card details.
  • Your login is yours. If you use Square, you sign in on Square's own page, so Cobble never sees your Square password. Each time you connect or sign in with Square, the request is signed and tied to your browser. It can only be used once. On Cobble POS, you sign in with your own Cobble login.
  • Your team gets their own logins. Staff see the orders board. Managers see a bit more. Only owners see banking and settings.
  • Locked down at the database. Row-level security is switched on for every table in Cobble's database, and Cobble's own admin tools are locked to a single account.
  • Encrypted in transit. Every Cobble page is served over HTTPS. Browsers are told never to connect any other way.

If you use Square: exactly what Cobble asks for

When you connect, Square shows you this list and asks you to approve it. Here it is in plain English.

Your business profile
Your business name and locations, to build your site.
Items (see only)
Read your menu and prices, so your site matches Square.
Orders (see and create)
Put each online order into your Square, and keep its status in step.
Payments (take)
Charge the customer's card through Square for an online order, including Cobble's order fee as Square's app fee.
Customers (see only)
Know who your customers are, so you can see your regulars in your dashboard.

Cobble can see your menu and customers. It can’t change them. Your Square menu is yours to edit in Square.

Cobble doesn’t ask for your team members, your bank account or your payouts. Square never gives it permission to see them.

10

My promise to you

  1. 01Free for your shop.You only pay card processing when you make a sale. No contract.
  2. 02Your shop comes first.Your name and your prices, on your own site.
  3. 03No surprises.The order fee is shown to your customers at checkout, and to you up front.
  4. 04Cards stay safe.Cobble never sees or stores a card number.
  5. 05Your data is never sold.Not yours, and not your customers'.
  6. 06Your menu stays yours.On Square, Cobble can read your menu and never change it.
  7. 07Leave any time.There's no contract, and your customer list goes with you.
  8. 08A real person answers.Text Luke and he'll answer you himself.

11

Questions?

Ask me anything about the fee, your data, or whether Cobble is a good fit for your shop.

info@cobblecommerce.com

The formal versions are the Privacy Policy, Terms of Service and SMS Terms.

Last updated October 10, 2026 · Cobble