Delivery profit calculator · 100% free · no signup
Third-Party Delivery True-Profit Calculator
DoorDash, UberEats, and GrubHub take 15–30% commission. Then processing, packaging, promo, and tablet fees stack on top. Most operators model commission and stop there. The full take usually runs 35–45% of subtotal before food cost (Toast). This calculator runs the per-order P&L. Healthy net margin on platform orders is 10–20%.
Why this matters
Delivery is a different P&L, not a discount on the dining room.
Most operators treat third-party delivery as the dining-room menu, on a different channel, at the same price. That is the trap. The dining-room P&L pays rent, FOH labor, atmosphere, and a 10–15% net margin out of a 70-cents-on-the-dollar gross take. The delivery P&L pays the same food cost, the same back-of-house labor, plus a 30% commission, plus processing, plus packaging, plus a promo discount you may not have modeled as a cost. Same plate. Different machine. Different math.
The "free marketing" framing is the second trap. Platforms market themselves as customer acquisition. They are. They are also a 35–45% take of subtotal before food cost (Toast). If a regular customer orders dine-in tonight at 22% net margin, then orders the same plate on DoorDash next week at negative 3% net margin, the platform did not bring you a new customer. It cannibalized a profitable order with an unprofitable one and called it growth.
Run the platform menu as its own concept. Different price, different P&L, different target margin. Most of the operators I have watched lose money on delivery were running it as a discount on dining-room margin. They were not.
The fix is dual pricing. Industry standard is 15–20% above dine-in to absorb the commission stack (Toast, R365). Platforms allow it. Customers expect it. The operators who set this on day one run 12–14% net on platform orders consistently. The operators who priced delivery at dine-in prices for two years and then modeled the math, like the diner in scenario one, have to raise platform prices 18% in a single move, lose some volume, and still come out ahead because the orders that remain actually make money. The math is the easy part. The discipline is checking the per-order P&L weekly and refusing to call promo "marketing spend" when it is just commission with a different name.
Commission rates by platform tier
Standard tiers cluster at 30%. Reduced tiers exist but trade off visibility (Marketplace), require operator-provided delivery (UberEats Lite), or are partnership-specific (GrubHub partnership, ezCater corporate). Always read your contract — bundle promotions and growth-tier opt-ins can shift the number.
Real scenarios
Three operators, three different delivery stories
Same platforms. Same commission tiers. Different outcomes, depending on whether the operator modeled the per-order P&L before listing or after they noticed margin had drifted.
The "we did not know what we did not know" diner
Casual diner running a healthy 22% net on dine-in. Owner had been on DoorDash and UberEats for two years, both at 30% commission. Never modeled the per-order P&L for delivery.
Built the platform P&L from scratch. Commission 30% + processing 2.9% + packaging $0.85 + promo participation 10% + tablet fee. Net margin on platform orders was negative 3%. Every delivery order was costing the operator about a dollar before they shook the bag.
Raised platform menu prices 18% across the board. Industry-standard delivery markup (Toast). Dropped opt-in to platform promos. Kept the listing visible without stacking discounts.
Net margin on platform orders moved to 11% in six weeks. Volume dropped about 8% from losing the promo halo. Total platform contribution to monthly margin doubled.
The QSR operator who ran the math first
Fast-casual bowl concept. Modeled the delivery P&L before listing on any platform. Set platform menu 15% above dine-in from day one based on commission-stack math.
Standard 30% commission tier. Modeled net margin at 12% per platform order using their concept-typical food cost (28%) and a labor allocation that reflected the kitchen-only delivery flow (no FOH labor on delivery covers).
No fix. The pricing was right at launch. They used the platforms for incremental volume, not to cannibalize dine-in customers who were happy to come in.
Hitting 12–14% net on platform orders consistently. Platform volume is roughly 22% of revenue, contributing proportionally. The discipline was modeling the stack before listing, not after.
The promo-stacked nightmare
Independent burger spot. Owner saw delivery as "free marketing" and opted into every promo the platforms offered. 20% off, $5 off $30, free delivery on Tuesdays. Stacked on top of standard 30% commission.
Did the per-order P&L. Commission 30% + promo 20% + processing 2.9% + packaging + tablet fee = 55% of subtotal gone before food cost. Food at 30% on top. Labor allocation on top. Net was negative on every promo order.
Stopped treating promo as marketing. Promo is commission. The platform takes the discount out of operator revenue, not out of platform revenue. Re-modeled with promo as commission-equivalent. Pulled out of all promos. Raised platform prices 18%.
Net margin recovered from negative to about 9% on platform orders. Order volume dropped roughly 30%. Total platform contribution to monthly profit went up because each remaining order actually made money.
FAQ
Common questions
01 What is third-party delivery commission?
The percentage of every order subtotal a platform keeps before passing the rest to you. Standard rates are 30% on DoorDash, UberEats, and GrubHub (Toast). Reduced "marketplace" or "lite" tiers run 15–25% but typically require you to handle delivery or visibility limits.
02 How much does DoorDash, UberEats, or GrubHub really cost?
Commission is the headline. The full take is bigger. Standard tier: 30% commission + processing + packaging + promo + tablet/integration fees. Stacked, the platform-side cost on a typical order runs 35–45% of subtotal before food cost (Toast, R365). That is why operators who only model commission lose money on delivery.
03 What is the true cost of a delivery order?
Add platform commission + payment processing + per-order packaging + promo discount + monthly platform fees divided by orders + food cost + labor cost + other variable costs. The same order that runs 22% net margin in the dining room can run negative on a third-party platform with the same menu price.
04 Why are some operators losing money on delivery?
They priced the platform menu at dining-room prices and never modeled the commission stack. Platform menu price equal to dine-in menu price is the single most common mistake (R365). The fix is dual pricing: platform menu set 15–20% above dine-in to absorb commission and protect margin.
05 Should I raise menu prices on delivery platforms?
Yes. Industry guidance is 15–20% above dine-in, depending on your commission tier (Toast). Platforms allow this. Customers expect it. The alternative is subsidizing the platform with your dining-room margin, which most operators do without realizing it. Run the math weekly. If net margin on platform orders is below 8%, the menu prices are too low.
06 What is "delivery markup" and how much should it be?
A separate platform-only menu price set above dine-in to offset commission. Standard markup is 15% on a 30% commission tier. Math: if commission is 30% and target margin is 15%, you need roughly 18% above dine-in just to break even on the platform-side stack before food cost. Lower commission tiers (UberEats Lite, GrubHub partnership) need less markup.
07 How do I calculate break-even on a delivery order?
Break-even subtotal = (food cost $ + labor cost $ + other variable cost $ + packaging + integration fee per order) ÷ (1 - commission % - processing % - promo %). The reverse-solve in this calculator does this for you. Punch in the numbers and it tells you the platform menu price for any target margin.
08 Are delivery promos worth it?
Sometimes. Promo discounts feel like marketing spend until you model them. Then they look like additional commission. A "$5 off $30" promo is a 17% discount stacked on top of 30% commission. Net take to operator before food cost is around 53% of subtotal. The platforms market promos as growth tools. They are growth tools. They are also a margin trap if you run them on every order without modeling the stack.
09 What about ghost kitchens and virtual brands?
Same math, different storefront. Ghost kitchens still pay the commission stack on every order. Virtual brands inside an existing kitchen reduce labor and rent allocation, which improves the math, but does not change the platform-side take. Run the per-order P&L the same way (R365). The commission stack does not care if you have a dining room.
10 Does this calculator save my data?
No. Nothing is stored, transmitted, or tracked. The math runs in your browser and disappears the moment you close the tab. No signup, no email, no account.
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