Delivery commissions: the questions every owner asks (common myth vs MR answer) 2026

How much do delivery platforms really charge me per order?

They charge between 15% and 30% commission: on a $25 order at 25% that is $6.25 before food and labor. But that contract figure is not everything the channel takes.

Add packaging of $0.60 to $1.40 per order, refunds on incomplete orders of 3% to 6%, and a VAT many owners miscalculate on gross instead of net. The real app channel cost runs 33-38% of the ticket. On that $25 order, the channel takes about $8.35, not $6.25. Masterestaurant forces you to measure this effective commission per platform before setting any price, because each app has its own. Diego F. Parra says it plainly: an owner who answers 'they charge me 25%' is deciding with a figure 11 points below reality, and almost always sells below cost on at least one dish of the delivery menu.

Does delivery make me money or just give me volume?

It depends on how you cost it, not on the volume you see in the app. With the dine-in price raised as-is, a $25 order loses $1.80 after effective commission;

costed per channel with a +18% price and an optimized menu, that same order leaves $4.10. The difference is $5.90 per order, and neither shows by looking only at order count. The mistake I see over and over is confusing volume growth with cash: a group can double app orders and lose more money each month. The only way to answer this truthfully is a delivery P&L separate from the dining room. When the channel lives hidden in the business average, a delivery losing 7 margin points disappears from the radar. Masterestaurant always splits it: in 70% of audited groups, delivery was destroying margin without anyone measuring it in isolation.

Can I raise app prices without scaring off my customers?

Yes, if you raise only the dishes that can absorb the increase and not all of them blindly. A 15-22% reprice on the right dishes absorbs the 32-38% effective commission and leaves positive margin, without touching price-sensitive items.

The key is not to raise across the board: here AI applied to restaurants enters with dynamic per-channel pricing, cross-referencing demand by hour and elasticity by dish to say which dish can take a +24% and which to leave alone. Groups Masterestaurant supports with per-channel pricing raise the average app ticket 11% while losing under 3% of orders, a trade that almost always leaves net positive cash. Answering 'I can't raise prices or I lose customers' leaves on the table the difference between losing $1.80 and earning $4.10 per $25 order. Fear is expensive when the data says otherwise.

Is delivery commission subtracted from the dish's food cost?

It is not subtracted from food cost, but it is subtracted when costing the delivery channel. Food cost maximum is 32% — never call it recommended — and it measures only the dish's ingredients.

Platform commission is a direct variable cost of the order, so it is subtracted in that specific channel's price, not inside food cost. And watch the other layer: payroll, rent, and utilities are NOT charged to the plate or to the channel per order; they belong to the break-even point of the business, calculated separately. Confusing these two layers is the root of half the delivery costing errors I see in consulting. The owner who lumps commission and payroll together ends up raising app prices wrongly or subsidizing the channel with the dining room. Masterestaurant always separates: food cost measures ingredients, commission goes to the channel, payroll and rent to the monthly break-even.

Is building my own delivery channel worth it, or too much hassle?

It is worth it, and the math proves it: a direct channel with a gateway charges 4-6% versus the platforms' 25%, so every migrated order recovers nearly 20 points of commission.

It is not about abandoning the apps, which bring reach and new customers; it is about turning the recurring customer into a direct one with a simple incentive, like 10% off their second order through your website or WhatsApp. Even giving away that 10%, you still win against the app's 25%. Growing the direct channel's share of delivery within months is achievable with disciplined pricing and data, and at volumes of thousands of orders per month that returns money that used to vanish in commission. The technical build is easy today. The hard part, where the value sits, is designing the incentive so the customer prefers your channel without feeling less convenience. Answering 'too much hassle' hands that cash to the platform.

How do I know which platform is best for my delivery?

The best platform is the one with the lowest real effective commission per order for your average ticket, not the one with the most volume.

Each app charges differently once you add commission, packaging, and refunds: one advertising 22% can cost more than another at 26% depending on its packaging fee or refund rate. The way to know is to measure effective commission per platform over your last 90 days, and in 2026 AI does it in real time with per-platform profitability analysis. Groups Masterestaurant supports use that data to push volume toward the app that leaves more margin per order and to negotiate better rates with numbers in hand. There is no universally good platform: there is a best one for your dish mix and your ticket. Answering with the one that 'gives you more orders' ignores that more orders at worse commission can mean less cash at month-end.

How much do I lose if I keep costing delivery at dine-in price?

You lose between 8 and 14 margin points per order, which on a $25 order means going from earning $4.10 to losing $1.80.

That is the direct cost of costing at dine-in price, and it multiplies by your volume: on 3,000 orders per month it is nearly $18,000 of monthly difference between costing well and costing by gut. The error hides because the dining-room P&L absorbs the gap: the owner sees total cash rise with app volume and assumes all is well. The real cost does not surface until you split the channel P&L. Masterestaurant measures it in the first week, and the surprise is usually brutal: groups swearing delivery was their engine discover every order drained cash. Diego F. Parra sums it up: costing at dine-in price is not saving work, it is financing the platform with your own kitchen without realizing it.

Where do I start if I want to fix my delivery this week?

You start by measuring your real effective commission per platform: it is the most basic, most ignored, and most revealing step. Take the last 90 days, add commission, packaging, and refunds, divide by gross channel sales, and do it per app.

That number is usually 10 points above what you think. With it in hand, the second move is to split the delivery P&L from the dining room to see the channel's real margin. Those two actions, which fit in a week, usually uncover thousands of dollars of hidden margin before touching prices or building a direct channel. Diego F. Parra repeats it in every Masterestaurant engagement: profitable delivery does not start with expensive technology, it starts with two calculations almost nobody does. This week's concrete action is one: measure your effective commission and build the channel P&L apart. The rest — reprice, optimized menu, direct channel — is built on that foundation.