What the big three delivery apps list on their own pricing pages, read 4 Oct 2026, what the blended cost looks like once ads and processing stack, and the way out.
Short answer: the big three delivery apps charge 15-30% base commission on delivery orders, depending on which plan tier the restaurant picks. But the base commission is not the real number. Once you add payment processing, sponsored listings, and promotion costs, the blended real cost lands at 25-35% of every marketplace order. Against a full-service restaurant's median 2.8% pre-tax margin, that's not a fee. That's the whole business model changing hands.
Every platform rate in this post comes from that platform's own published merchant pricing page, read on 4 Oct 2026, and each one is printed with its source. We maintain a sourced, regularly re-verified version of this data at zay-os.com's restaurant delivery commission statistics page — if a platform changes its rate card, that page changes first.
DoorDash says the commission covers credit card processing. On a $30 delivery order that is $4.50 on Basic, $7.50 on Plus and $9.00 on Premier; the worked example is at how much does DoorDash charge restaurants. Source: DoorDash for Merchants pricing, read 4 Oct 2026.
Source: Uber Eats for Merchants pricing, read 4 Oct 2026.
Grubhub is the one operators most often misquote, because the plan percentage is only the marketing commission. On an order Grubhub's drivers deliver, add from 10%: from 15% on Basic, from 25% on Plus and from 30% on All-access, before processing. Source: Grubhub for Restaurants pricing, read 4 Oct 2026.
Three costs sit on top of the rate card:
That's how a 25% Plus-plan restaurant ends up with a blended real cost of 25-35%. That range isn't ours — it falls straight out of the platforms' own rate cards plus processing and typical ad spend, and it's the figure we defend line-by-line on the statistics page.
Take a realistic mid-volume independent: 650 marketplace orders a month at a $25 average ticket.
Now put that against what the restaurant itself keeps. The National Restaurant Association's 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract (read 4 Oct 2026) puts the median full-service pre-tax margin at 2.8% and limited-service at 4.0%. On $195,000 of annual marketplace revenue, that's $5,460-$7,800 of profit for the restaurant — while the platforms collect $48,750 in fees on the same orders. The apps take six to nine times what the restaurant keeps.
The commission is only half the wedge. LendingTree compared typical orders from five major chains in the 10 largest US metros and found that delivery through the apps cost 79.5% more than picking up the same meal in person, about $9.30 extra per order (LendingTree study, read 4 Oct 2026).
The platforms charge you 25-35% blended, and your customer pays well over menu price on top.
The honest answer is "it depends what you use it for." As a discovery channel — a way for new customers to find you — marketplace economics can pencil, the same way paid advertising pencils. As your primary ordering channel, the math above says most independents are working for the platform, not the other way around. We wrote the long version, with break-even scenarios, at do restaurants make money on DoorDash, and the operator playbook for shifting volume in how to reduce Uber Eats and DoorDash commissions.
The pattern that works is not "quit the apps." It's: stay listed for discovery, and move your regulars — the people who already know your name — onto a direct channel you own. We compared the main direct-ordering options honestly (including where each one is weak) at best online ordering systems for restaurants.
Disclosure: one of those options is ours. Zayos is the direct-ordering operating system we built at Zay Revenue Group. The honest version of the pitch: $399-$599 per location per month, no setup fee, month-to-month. The restaurant keeps 100% of food revenue, and 100% of tips on pickup and dine-in; the diner pays a small order fee at checkout ($0.99 pickup, $0.99 delivery, $0 dine-in, 10% on catering). It runs in production today at Naya Grill in Pompano Beach and West Palm Beach, live since June 2026, and at Shishka Lebanese Grill, Syrian Shawarma, Yummy Grill and more, and we're onboarding new restaurants now. We get you live in under a week. The break-even math against a 30% commission is in the direct-ordering payback deep-dive.
15% (Basic), 25% (Plus), or 30% (Premier) on delivery orders, and 6% on pickup. Source: DoorDash for Merchants pricing, read 4 Oct 2026. Once ads and promotions stack on top, the blended real cost of a marketplace order is higher than the plan rate.
On the listed plan rates, Grubhub Basic at 5% marketing commission, but that rises by from 10% when Grubhub's drivers deliver, and processing is extra. DoorDash Basic is 15% with processing included. Source: Grubhub for Restaurants pricing, read 4 Oct 2026. Source: DoorDash for Merchants pricing, read 4 Oct 2026. Compare the plans on the order type you really run, delivery or pickup, not on the headline.
Many do, to claw back the commission. LendingTree measured delivery through the apps at 79.5% more than picking up the same meal in person (source above). That markup is also brand damage: customers compare app prices to your dine-in menu.
Usually no. The winning pattern is hybrid: keep marketplaces for new-customer discovery, move repeat customers to direct ordering where the commission is zero and the customer data is yours.
Run your own numbers — free website + lost-revenue check at grader.zay-os.com · see the platform at zay-os.com · or start directly at app.zayrev.com/signup.
The free Zayos report does the commission math on your own order volume. About 60 seconds, no card, and you keep the report.
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