How delivery fees affect meal profit
5 min read · 2026-09-28
Short answer: Delivery-app commission is a percentage of your selling price, so it is a direct cost of each delivered meal. Multiply the price by the commission rate and add it to the meal's other direct costs. A 30% commission on a $14 meal costs $4.20 — often more than the food.
The formula
Work out the fee in money, then enter it as an other direct cost.
Delivery fee per meal = selling price × commission %
Worked example
A chicken burrito costs $3.10 in ingredients plus $0.40 packaging, and sells for $14.00. Collected in store: profit $10.50, margin 75%.
Through a delivery app at 30% commission: fee $4.20. Profit falls to $6.30 and margin to 45%. The same meal earns 40% less.
Common mistake
Pricing delivery and in-store the same, then trying to fix the gap by cutting ingredient costs. The fee is set by the price, so the fix is usually in the price: at 30% commission, a meal needs to be priced around 1.4× to leave the same profit.
Card and payment fees
Card processing is smaller — often 1.5–3% — but it works the same way. Add it to other direct costs if you want the number to be exact.