What Marketplace Commissions Really Cost: A Worked Example for Restaurants

Delivery marketplaces bring orders you might never get alone, and they charge for it. The commission percentage in the contract looks simple, but its real effect only shows when you follow a single order from price to profit. Your own ordering channel is not free either. The fair question is not which one is cheaper, but what each order actually leaves you.

The assumptions

The numbers below are a hypothetical example, not real market rates. Commissions, fees and costs vary widely by country, contract and business, so replace every figure with your own.

• Order value: 100.
• Food cost: 30 percent of the price, so 30.
• Packaging: 5.
• Marketplace commission: assume 25 percent, so 25.
• Card payment fee on a direct order: assume 3.

One order, two channels

On the marketplace, the order of 100 leaves 100 minus 25 commission, 30 food and 5 packaging: 40 to cover staff, rent, energy and profit. Ordered directly on your own site, the same basket leaves 100 minus a 3 payment fee, 30 food and 5 packaging: 62. In this example the gap is 22 per order.

That gap is not pure profit. If the marketplace handled delivery and you now deliver yourself, subtract your own courier cost. If you gave a welcome discount to win the direct order, subtract that once. And if your marketplace prices are higher than your own menu prices to absorb the commission, the comparison shifts again.

What your own channel costs

Running direct ordering means paying for things a marketplace bundles in. Be honest about them:

• Hosting, domain and security certificates.
• Payment processing fees on every order.
• Your time, or someone’s time, to update the menu, answer guests and handle problems.
• Promotion: printed bag inserts, table QR codes, social posts.
• Delivery, if you offer it: drivers, vehicles, insurance.

Suppose these fixed costs come to 300 a month in this example. With a gap of 22 per order, roughly the first 14 direct orders each month simply cover the channel. Every order after that is where the real difference starts.

Use the math to decide, not to panic

Marketplaces are good at discovery: guests find you there who would never type your name into a search bar. Your own channel works better for guests who already know and like you. Many restaurants keep both and gently move regulars to direct ordering.

QR Menu Manager runs ordering inside your own WordPress with WooCommerce, so products, checkout and order data stay in your own database. Add its cost, your hosting and your payment fees to the fixed costs above and compare honestly.

Take last month’s orders, plug in your real commission, food cost and fees, and see what each channel leaves you. Even a rough spreadsheet beats guessing.