Margin 路 July 27, 2026
What a delivery app order actually leaves you
The commission is the visible part. The invisible part is that the customer belongs to them, and you have to buy the same person again next month.
Every owner knows the commission line. Fewer people have priced the second cost, which is larger and does not appear on any statement.
The visible cost
Take your own average order and multiply by the rate on your statement. Delivery commissions commonly sit between fifteen and thirty percent depending on the plan. On a forty dollar order at thirty percent, twelve dollars leaves before you have paid for the food, the gas or the person who cooked it.
The invisible cost
The customer is not yours. You do not get the name, the email or the ordering habit. Next month, to reach the same person, you pay again. That is not a fee, it is a rent, and it is charged for as long as you stay.
What the apps are actually selling
It is worth being fair about this. They earn their cut by being findable, by advertising constantly, and by reminding people you exist. That is real work, and most restaurants are not doing it. The problem is not that they do it. It is that you rent the result instead of owning it.
The arithmetic that decides it
Work out what you keep on the same order taken on your own page: the order value, minus standard card processing, and nothing else. Then multiply the difference by the number of online orders you take in a week. The annual figure is usually the moment the conversation stops being about websites.
What to do about it
Not delete the apps. Most places need them for discovery, at least at first. But every order you can move onto your own page keeps its full margin and gives you a customer you can reach again for the price of a text message.
KOSIOS builds and runs the whole online side of independent restaurants and hotels: website, commission-free ordering, bookings, QR menu and the advertising that fills them.