Although lockdown in the province is extended until at least the beginning of June, with vaccination numbers quickly rising it's only a matter of time before patio dining at Toronto restaurants becomes a reality again.

For when that happens, a Toronto startup called OrderUp has a new solution that includes contact tracing, ordering, payments and digital menus. Best of all, there's no fees or commissions for restaurants. 

Considering how many restaurants have been forced to close over the past year, the no-barrier proposition seems to be one many restaurants are already getting behind.

So far, approximately 50 restaurants have signed up for at least one of OrderUp's solutions, many starting with something simple like digital menus before expanding to the ordering and payment offerings.

Some of the restaurants currently considered customers include La Cubana on Ossington, El Pocho, Granite Brewery and Pizzeria Oro Di Napoli.

OrderUp allows restaurants to service both those who are dining in, and also those ordering online and looking to pickup food from the restaurant.

In that sense, it's very similar to Ambassador except it doesn't charge restaurants a $99 per month subscription fee.

There's no delivery solution or drivers so restaurants looking to do that will still need to rely on their own staff or a third-party app like Uber Eats or DoorDash.

The one catch? There's a 53 cent service fee OrderUp will charge customers for every order, so restaurants need to be comfortable passing on that cost to the consumer and hope they don't balk at the checkout.