Glossary · Delivery commission
Ordering
What is a delivery commission?
A delivery commission is the percentage a third-party app like DoorDash or Uber Eats charges a restaurant on each order it brings — typically 15–30% of the order total, in exchange for listing, marketing, and the delivery itself.
In one line: it's the app's cut of your sale. On a $40 order at a 30% commission, roughly $12 goes to the platform before you've paid for the food, the cook, or the packaging — which is why delivery can be busy and still unprofitable.
Why it matters to a restaurant
Delivery commission is the single line item most likely to turn a full kitchen into a break-even one. Because it's charged as a percentage of the ticket, it scales with your revenue but not with your effort to control it — a great sales day on the apps can hand a big slice of that growth straight to the platform. Owners feel busy and profitable in the moment, then wonder where the month went. The commission is usually the answer.
The money angle
Stack the real costs of an app order and the picture sharpens: the commission (15–30%), plus any marketing/ad spend to stay visible, plus food cost (often ~30%), plus packaging and the labor to make it. It's easy for a delivery order to clear little or nothing once all of that is paid. The fix isn't usually to quit the apps — it's to use them for what they're good at (finding new customers) while moving repeat orders to channels you own. Walk the full math in how to cut delivery commissions.
Commission vs. the customer's fees
A common confusion: the commission the restaurant pays is separate from the delivery and service fees the diner pays at checkout. Both can be large at once. That also means the headline "we charge the customer for delivery" doesn't offset your commission — the platform is being paid from two directions. Knowing which fee is which is the first step to negotiating your tier or deciding what belongs on the apps at all.
Frequently asked questions
How much commission does DoorDash charge restaurants?
DoorDash and the other major apps offer tiered plans that typically run from around 15% up to 30% of each order's food total, with the lower tiers giving you less marketing visibility. Once you add optional ad spend and other fees, the all-in cost often lands nearer the top of that range.
Is a delivery commission the same as a delivery fee?
No. The commission is the percentage the app charges the restaurant on each order. The delivery fee and service fee are separate charges the app adds to the customer's checkout. A restaurant can be paying a large commission even when the diner also pays their own fees on top.
How do restaurants reduce delivery commissions?
The main levers are steering repeat customers to your own first-party ordering, using the apps mainly for discovery of new diners, negotiating or choosing the right commission tier, and tightening delivery-only menu pricing so app orders still clear a margin. Going fully dark on the apps usually costs more in lost orders than it saves.