The Real Math on Delivery Apps: What You Actually Net Per Order

What third-party delivery actually costs you per order

The delivery apps charge most restaurants between 20% and 30% commission per order. The standard rate for the marketplace plan is 27 to 30%. That is not a small fee. That is nearly a third of your revenue on every single delivery order.

Let's walk through the math. A customer orders $25 worth of food through a delivery app. At a 28% commission rate, the platform takes $7.00. Your gross from that order is $18.00. Now subtract your food cost. If your food cost runs at 30%, the food itself cost you $7.50. Your net on that order is $10.50. Before labor, before packaging, before the credit card processing fee on the platform payout.

Compare that to a direct order. The same $25 order through your own online ordering system costs you a 2.9% processing fee, which is $0.73. Your gross is $24.27. Subtract the same $7.50 in food cost and your net is $16.77. That is $6.27 more per order than the delivery app version.

The menu markup strategy

Most restaurants should mark up their third-party menu prices by 15 to 25% to protect margin after fees. If your in-store price for a burger is $15, your delivery app price should be $17.25 to $18.75. This does two things. It covers the commission, and it makes your direct ordering channel more attractive by comparison.

The mistake most operators make is keeping the same price on every channel. That means every delivery order is subsidized by your in-store margin. You are paying the apps to deliver your food at a loss.

Building a direct ordering channel

You do not need to leave the apps. You need to build a direct ordering channel alongside it and shift 20 to 30% of your volume over time. The tools are straightforward: Toast, Olo, or ChowNow for the ordering platform, QR codes on tables and takeout bags, and a simple email or SMS list to drive repeat orders.

We cover the full playbook in our guide on moving delivery customers to your own channel. The short version: make direct ordering easy to find, price it right, and let the economics do the work. You can see the side-by-side comparison in our the delivery apps vs. direct ordering breakdown.

What the shift is worth

If you do 300 delivery orders a month at $25 average and you shift 25% of those to direct ordering, that is 75 orders per month moving from a $6.27 commission loss to a $0.73 processing fee. That is $415 in saved margin every month, or $4,980 per year. And that is before you factor in the customer data you now own, which lets you drive reorders through email and SMS at no additional commission.

Restaurants with active email and SMS lists see 20 to 25% higher visit frequency from enrolled customers. That compounds. The direct channel gets cheaper and more profitable the more you use it.

If you want someone to look at your delivery setup and show you exactly what you are losing, get a free audit. We will run the numbers and show you the gap.

The Bottom Line

The delivery apps charge 27 to 30% commission per order, which means a $25 order nets you about $10.50 after food cost. The same order through direct ordering nets $16.77. That is a $6.27 difference per order. If you do 300 delivery orders a month, a 25% channel shift saves you nearly $5,000 a year. Mark up your third-party menu, build a direct channel, and the math speaks for itself.