What it means
A restaurant sells a meal through an app for $100, and if its contracted commission is 25% of that defined order subtotal, the commission is $25 before any other applicable charges or adjustments. What the restaurant receives depends on the contract and settlement statement.
Start with the channel, because marketplace discovery and ordering differ from a merchant's direct website that only hires a courier for fulfilment. Read the fee schedule, since platforms may offer several plans with different marketing exposure, delivery service and merchant charges.
Confirm the calculation base, because the percentage might apply to menu subtotal, discounted subtotal or another defined value, and taxes, tips and delivery charges may be treated differently. Separate customer fees too, as a delivery or service fee paid by the customer is not necessarily the merchant commission, and pickup orders may be charged differently from delivery.
Watch promotions, since a discount funded by the restaurant can reduce its payout in addition to commission while a platform-funded offer may differ. Review advertising, equipment and payment costs, as sponsored listings, boosted visibility, device rental or processing charges can be separate expense lines or included in a plan.
Look at refunds and disputes as well, because customer complaints, cancellations and partial refunds may create adjustments on later statements. Reconcile gross to net by matching order subtotal, commission, promotions, taxes, fees and payout by order or settlement period.
Do not double count: if the platform already nets commission from a payout, record the gross sale and fee according to the applicable accounting policy, not as a second revenue reduction. Then calculate contribution, asking whether enough is left after food, packaging and platform costs to cover labour and fixed costs, since a high order count can hide weak margin.
Compare incremental demand, because the platform may bring customers who would not have ordered directly while some orders may shift from a lower-cost channel. Check customer data access too, as marketplace channels may limit the restaurant's relationship with diners and that affects retention marketing.
Test menu pricing carefully, since different prices by channel can change demand and may be restricted by contract or local rules, and watch delivery quality because late couriers or poor packaging can lead to refunds and ratings even when the kitchen cooked correctly. Consider geography and term, since a specific rate advertised in one country is not a global rate and plans and promotional rates can change on renewal, so keep the current contract with finance records.
DoorDash describes its marketplace plans as charging commissions and its on-demand delivery product as a flat-fee service in its U.S. materials, while Uber Eats publishes country-specific merchant pricing pages, which shows why "aggregator commission" is not one universal rate. For an owner, the useful question is how much margin remains per order after every channel cost and what demand the platform adds, including any minimums, flat charges and the all-in cost of direct alternatives.
In practice
Real-world examples.
Example
A restaurant checks the contracted percentage against the subtotal on its app order statement. The statement shows a $100 subtotal and a $25 commission line. The owner files the statement with the signed fee schedule.
Example
A pickup order uses a different fee treatment than a delivered order under its agreement. The finance team splits the monthly statement by order type before calculating the average rate. Applying one blended rate to both would have misstated the true cost.
Example
A promotion lowers the merchant payout even though the displayed commission rate stays unchanged. The owner sees the lower payout on the settlement and traces it to a restaurant-funded discount. The next campaign is tested on a small set of orders before it is rolled out widely.
Formula
Calculation
Illustrative commission = defined commissionable order amount x contracted rate. At $100 and 25%, commission is $100 x 25% = $25. Merchant payout requires a separate calculation for promotions, refunds, taxes and other agreed charges, so $75 is not automatically the final payout.
Worked example. If the same $100 order carried a $10 discount funded by the restaurant and no refund, the illustrative payout before taxes would be $100 - $25 - $10 = $65. Basket size also matters: a percentage charge scales with order value, so on a $20 order the 25% commission is $5, whereas a flat per-order fee of $4 would cost less on the small order and far less than $25 on the $100 order.Case study
Seen in the real world.
Fictional case: Lark Kitchen compared orders from an aggregator with direct online orders. Its dashboard displayed gross sales only, so the app channel looked stronger. After reconciling commission, promotion and delivery costs, the owner changed the promotion and measured repeat demand by channel. This fictional example does not specify a real platform rate.
The owner also asked the aggregator for a breakdown of how many app customers had never ordered directly. That figure helped separate genuinely new demand from orders that had simply moved from the restaurant's own website. The restaurant kept the aggregator for discovery but encouraged repeat customers to order direct.
Watch out
Common mistakes.
- Applying an advertised rate from another market to the merchant's own contract.
- Mistaking gross menu value minus commission for the final payout.
- Comparing aggregator orders with direct orders without allocating their different marketing and delivery costs.
Questions
People also ask.
Is commission always one percentage?
No. Rates, bases and other fees vary by plan, order type and agreement.
Does the customer delivery fee replace it?
Not necessarily. Customer and merchant fees are distinct; check the settlement terms.
How can a merchant assess value?
Reconcile net payouts and compare per-order contribution and incremental demand across channels.
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