What delivery app commission really costs your restaurant

Delivery apps commonly charge independent restaurants a commission that takes a large share of each order, and card processing, promotions and refunds come on top. On a thin restaurant margin, that can turn a busy delivery night into a night you worked for free. The fix is not to quit the apps overnight but to move the customers who already love you to ordering direct.

How much do delivery apps really take from each order?

The headline number is the commission tier you signed up for. The large platforms sell tiered plans: a basic tier at the low end where you get less visibility and a smaller delivery radius, and premium tiers at the high end that buy better placement. Pickup orders through the same apps usually carry a lower rate. Platforms publish their current plans on their merchant pages, and the percentages change, so read your own contract.

Then the extras arrive. Card processing is commonly charged separately. Sponsored listings, "buy one get one" promotions and discounts you fund yourself all come out of your side of the order. Refunds for a missing side or a cold order often land on you too. Owners who add it all up regularly find the real cost sits well above the tier they chose.

What does a high commission do to your margin?

Run the numbers on one order from your own sales report. Take the order value and multiply it by the commission rate on your plan. That is what the app keeps before card fees. Now subtract your food cost for the items in that order, using your plate costs, and then your packaging. What is left has to pay the cook, the rent and the light bill, and that is before any promotion you agreed to. Repeat it for five or six recent orders and for each plan, and you will see whether the platform makes money for you.

That is why many restaurants price delivery menus higher than dine-in menus, and why a delivery order from a regular who lives five minutes away is the most expensive order you take. They would have ordered from you anyway. The app charged you for an introduction you did not need.

Do any US cities cap delivery app fees?

Yes, some have, and New York City is the best-known example.

New York City first capped what third-party delivery platforms can charge a restaurant during the pandemic and later made limits permanent. In 2025 the City Council passed a law that changed the structure, with separate limits for delivery services, for basic marketing and platform services and for payment processing, and an optional tier for enhanced services. This guide does not repeat the percentages, because summaries of the law differ. Read the local law itself, the city's consumer and worker protection department and your contract before you rely on any figure, and do not opt in to anything by accident.

San Francisco and a few other cities have also capped fees on core delivery services, sometimes while allowing separate charges for extras such as advertising. These rules have been amended since they were first passed, so look up your own city's current ordinance rather than relying on a summary.

Other cities passed temporary caps during the pandemic, and many of those have lapsed. Check your own city and state before you sign or renew a delivery agreement.

Which customers should you move to direct ordering?

Not all of them. Delivery apps are good at one thing: putting you in front of people who have never heard of you. Keep them for that.

The orders to move are the repeat ones:

• Regulars who order every week and already know your menu
• Pickup customers, who are paying commission for the privilege of walking to your counter
• Office and group orders, which are large, repeat and easy to plan
• Locals within a short walk or drive

A customer who has ordered three times is no longer discovering you. They are using the app as a phone line, and you are paying for it.

How do you get regulars to order direct without losing them?

Make direct the easier option, and make it a little better.

1. Put your own ordering link everywhere a regular already looks: the menu on your website, your social profiles, the bag the food goes home in, the receipt.
2. Offer something the app cannot. A free side, a loyalty stamp, a slightly lower price, or first access to specials. Direct prices can be lower because you are not paying the commission.
3. Ask at the counter. "Next time, order straight from us and the drinks are on the house" works better than any flyer.
4. Keep pickup fast. Direct pickup has to be at least as quick as the app, or people go back.
5. Collect the customer relationship. On the apps, the platform owns the customer details. On your own channel, you can thank people and tell them about the new menu.

Should you raise your prices on delivery apps?

Many restaurants do, and it is a reasonable answer to a high commission. Charging more on the app than in your own channel tells customers, without a word, that direct is cheaper. Check your platform agreement first, because terms on price differences vary, and keep the gap modest so the app still sends you new customers.

What does direct ordering cost you instead?

Nothing about direct ordering is free. You still pay card processing, and if you deliver yourself you pay for drivers, insurance and the time it takes. Many independents start with pickup only, which is the cheapest direct channel and the one with the highest margin, then add their own delivery for a small radius once the volume is there.

Mosey is an Irish-built platform where people rate the places and dishes they ate, and where independent food businesses run ordering, bookings, payments and loyalty in one place. Whatever system you use, judge it on one figure: what it keeps from a typical order.

More guides for your business:

• Restaurant food cost and menu pricing: a step-by-step method
• Restaurant gift cards: the five-year rule and how to sell more
• Restaurant loyalty programs that work for independents

More in the US guides for food businesses.