Guide
What the apps actually cost you.
The headline commission is the part everybody quotes. It is rarely the whole bill, and the largest cost does not appear on the statement at all.
In short
Marketplace commission commonly runs 25 to 30 percent per order when the platform handles delivery, and lower when you deliver yourself. On top of that sit card and service charges, any promotion you agreed to, and the cost of orders refunded without your say. The largest cost is not on the statement: the customer belongs to the platform, so you pay again to reach them next time.
Updated 28 August 2026
Do the sum on your own statements
Take ninety days of platform statements, add every deduction, and divide by gross order value. Not the rate in your contract, the actual figure after promotions, adjustments and refunds. Most owners doing this for the first time land several points above the number they had in their head. Ninety days matters because a single month with a promotion in it will flatter or ruin the average.
- Commission on the order, including on the delivery fee where it applies
- Card and service processing
- Any promotion, discount or free-delivery campaign you opted into
- Refunds and adjustments made without your agreement
Compare it against gross profit, not revenue
Thirty percent commission does not mean you keep seventy. You keep seventy minus food, minus packaging, minus the labour to make it. On a dish running a 70 percent gross margin, a 30 percent commission takes most of what was left. This is the arithmetic that explains the most common complaint in the trade, which is being busy and broke at the same time. Volume through a high-commission channel can genuinely make a restaurant poorer.
What you are actually buying
It would be dishonest to pretend the money buys nothing. It buys demand you did not have to generate, a delivery network you could not build, and an app already sitting on the phone of everybody in your area. For a new shop with no list and no reputation, that is worth real money and switching it off on day one would be bad advice. The question is not whether it was worth it. It is whether it is still worth it on the orders you would now get anyway.
The repeat order is where it stops being worth it
The distinction that matters is discovery versus repeat. A customer the platform genuinely introduced to you is a customer you did not have, and the commission is a marketing cost you chose. The same customer ordering the same thing every second Friday for two years is not discovery. You are paying an introduction fee, repeatedly, for somebody who already knows your name. Split your platform customers into those two piles and the decision usually makes itself.
What moving volume direct is worth
A direct order costs you the card fee and your share of whatever you pay for the ordering system. On a €30 order at 30 percent commission, moving it direct is roughly €9 back, less the card fee. Ten of those a night is around €2,500 a month. The honest qualifier: you will not move all of them, and the ones you move will be your regulars rather than your new customers. Model it on a share, not on the whole.
Questions, answered straight.
Not covered here? Just ask us.
Should I put my prices up on the apps to cover commission?
Many do, and most platforms allow it, though some contracts restrict price parity so read yours. The trade-off is real: higher menu prices reduce conversion inside the app, where you are being compared side by side with everybody else. Raising prices there and holding them on your own site also gives customers a reason to order direct.
Is it worth leaving the apps entirely?
Rarely, and rarely straight away. Most restaurants that do well run both for a long time, using the marketplace for discovery and their own channel for the regulars. Turning off a demand source before you have built a replacement is how good shops get quiet.
What commission rate should I expect?
As a rule of thumb, 25 to 30 percent where the platform delivers, and meaningfully less where you deliver yourself. Rates vary by market and by contract, so treat published figures as a guide and your own statements as the truth.
Do I own the customer data from platform orders?
Generally no, or only in a limited form. That is the structural point: the channel that brings the order also keeps the relationship, which is what makes each repeat order cost you again.
See it run your restaurant.
Twenty minutes on your menu and your numbers. We'll show you what actually changes in the first month and exactly what it costs. If it's not right for your restaurant, we'll tell you that instead.
- Live in days, not months
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- No contract, and thirty days to change your mind
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