Calculate the actual profit margin of an order in delivery in 2026

Many restaurateurs observe flattering delivery revenue — and a cash flow that doesn’t follow. The reason is almost always the same: the actual margin of a delivery order is much lower than the on-site margin, and too few establishments actually calculate it. Here’s the method to find out, dish by dish, whether you’re making or losing money on delivery.

Why the Delivery Margin Shrinks. A delivery order supports costs that on-site sales ignore: the platform commission (often 25 to 35%), packaging, and sometimes additional fees. On a dish that had a comfortable on-site margin, the accumulation of these costs can transform profitability into a dry loss.

The Basic Formula. The actual margin of an order is simply calculated, provided you don’t forget any items:

Margin = Delivery Price – (Cost of Goods + Packaging + Platform Commission + Variable Expense Share) – VAT Collected Not Retained.

The most forgotten item is packaging, and the most underestimated is the commission, calculated on the TTC (including tax) price, not the HT (excluding tax) price.

The Trap of the Same Price as in the Dining Room. Selling a dish at the same price on delivery as in the dining room is offering the platform commission. The best practice is to define a delivery price that absorbs the commission while remaining consistent for the customer. However, you must precisely know the applicable commission to calibrate this price.

Reasoning by Dish, Not by Average. An average global margin masks individual disasters. One dish with high raw material costs can be unprofitable on delivery while another carries the entire profitability. Dish-by-dish analysis reveals these discrepancies and guides the menu: push profitable dishes, rework or remove those that bleed.

Simplified Numerical Example.

Item	Amount (Order at 25 EUR)
Delivery Price TTC	25,00 EUR
Platform Commission (30 %)	-7,50 EUR
Cost of Goods (30 %)	-7,50 EUR
Packaging	-1,20 EUR
Remaining Before Fixed Costs and VAT	~8,80 EUR

This example shows that with a 30% commission and 30% of goods, there’s little left to absorb fixed costs: hence the importance of an adjusted delivery price.

Levers for Improvement. Three levers combine: adjusting delivery prices, optimizing packaging (cost and suitability), and increasing the average basket size through relevant additional sales. To this is added direct ordering without commission, which radically changes the equation for loyal customers.

The Role of Analytics. Calculating the actual margin by hand, dish by dish, is time-consuming. Analytics that integrate commissions and costs provide this continuous view. Fooderise offers analytics with AI to track the real profitability by platform and by dish, without spreadsheets.

Conclusion. As long as you don’t calculate your actual margin, you’re flying blind a channel that can be very profitable or very unprofitable. Fooderise gives you this visibility and a direct ordering channel without commission, with 14 days’ trial without a credit card to measure your true margin before you decide.