How Much Do Delivery Apps Charge Restaurants? (And How to Cut the Fees)

If you run a restaurant, you have probably asked yourself the same question every month when the payout statement lands: how much do delivery apps charge restaurants, and where did all that revenue go? The order total looked healthy, but the amount that actually reached your bank account did not. The gap between those two numbers is where the real story of third-party delivery lives, and understanding it is the first step to keeping more of what you earn.

The short, honest answer is that there is no single fee. Third-party delivery marketplaces charge a stack of costs, and the headline commission is only the most visible one. In this guide we break down each fee type, explain why the commission on your food is often one of the largest line items against already-thin margins, and show how commission-free online ordering on channels you own changes the underlying math.

How much do delivery apps charge restaurants, really?

Here is the part every owner wants pinned down, and the part where you should be skeptical of any blog that quotes you a single, confident percentage. Commission rates vary by service, by plan tier, by market, and by the specific promotions a platform is running when you sign up. Two restaurants on the same block can pay different rates on the same app. So instead of a made-up number, treat the commission as what it functionally is: a significant share of every order that leaves your restaurant through that channel, taken before you cover food cost, labor, rent, or utilities.

The practical takeaway is to stop thinking in terms of one “delivery app fee” and start thinking in terms of a bundle. When you add commission to the other charges below, the total cost of an order placed through a commission-based aggregator is usually higher than owners expect. Always check each provider’s current published rates and your own signed agreement, because that is the only source of truth for what you specifically pay.

The full stack of delivery app fees

The commission gets the headlines, but it rarely travels alone. Here are the cost categories that typically show up, directly or indirectly, when you sell through third-party delivery marketplaces.

Per-order commission

This is the percentage the platform keeps from each order’s food total. Because it scales with your sales, it grows exactly as your delivery business grows, which is why it lands as one of the largest recurring line items against already-thin restaurant margins. A busy delivery night is also your most expensive night in commission terms.

Delivery and service fees

Many platforms offer different rate tiers depending on who handles the driving. Letting the marketplace provide the courier network usually carries a higher rate than a “pickup” or “self-delivery” option. Some plans also add service or technology fees layered on top of the base commission. The label varies; the effect on your net payout does not.

Marketing, promotion, and “boost” fees

To be visible in a crowded app, you are often nudged to buy placement: sponsored listings, promoted search positions, discounts the platform runs on your behalf, or “boost” campaigns priced as an extra percentage or flat spend. These are optional in theory, but in practice many restaurants feel they must pay to be found, which quietly raises the effective cost of every order the promotion touches.

Hardware and tablet costs

Some marketplaces send a dedicated tablet or printer to route orders into your kitchen. That device may come with a rental or subscription charge, and it is one more screen your staff has to watch during a rush. When you run three or four apps, you end up with a wall of tablets and no single view of your day.

Chargebacks, refunds, and adjustments

When a customer complains about a missing item, a late delivery, or an order they say never arrived, the cost of making it right often flows back to the restaurant even when the fault sits with the courier or the platform. These refunds and adjustments are unpredictable, hard to dispute, and easy to overlook until you reconcile the statement.

The hidden cost: losing your customer data

This one never appears as a line item, but it may be the most expensive of all. When someone orders through a third-party app, that customer usually belongs to the platform, not to you. You often do not get their email, their phone number, their full order history, or the ability to market to them directly. You rented reach for one transaction, and then the relationship resets. Every future order to that same guest can require paying the marketplace again.

Why owning your own ordering channel changes the math

Third-party marketplaces solve a real problem: discovery. They put your restaurant in front of hungry people who have never heard of you. That has genuine value, especially early on. The trouble starts when the majority of your regulars, people who already know your name and would happily order from you directly, keep flowing through a channel that charges a commission on every one of their orders. You are paying a discovery fee for customers you already discovered.

Owning your storefront flips that logic. When customers order through your own web storefront, your own branded mobile app, or an in-store self-service kiosk, there is no per-order commission taken by a middleman. You set the prices, you keep the customer relationship, and you keep the data that lets you bring that guest back without paying to reach them again. The goal is not to abandon the marketplaces; it is to move your loyal, repeat traffic onto channels you control so the commission applies to fewer orders.

This is exactly what KioskoGo is built for. It is a multi-channel ordering platform where your web storefront, mobile app, and in-store kiosk all run from one system, sharing one catalog and one live order queue. You update an item, a price, or a stock level once, and it reflects everywhere instantly, so there is no double entry and no wall of tablets. Orders from every channel land in a single queue your staff actually watches.

Here is how the two approaches compare across the dimensions that matter, without any invented numbers.

Dimension	Third-party delivery marketplace	Your own online ordering
Per-order commission	High per-order commission on every sale	No per-order commission on your channels
Marketing / boost fees	Often required to stay visible	You control your own promotions
Hardware	Extra tablets and printers per app	One unified queue across web, app, and kiosk
Customer data	Usually owned by the platform	Owned by your restaurant
Menu updates	Managed separately per app	Update once, reflects everywhere
Customer relationship	Belongs to the marketplace	Belongs to you
Pricing control	Constrained by platform rules	You set prices and offers

The pattern is clear. On a marketplace you rent reach and pay per order for the privilege. On your own channels you own the storefront and the relationship, and the marginal cost of each additional order does not include a commission carved out of your food total.

How commission-free online ordering works in practice

The most common worry owners raise is complexity. You are already stretched, and the last thing you want is another system to babysit. The point of a single platform is to remove that burden rather than add to it.

With KioskoGo, the owner and staff work from one dashboard, KioskoGo Merchant at merchant.kioskogo.com. From there you accept orders, manage your menu and inventory, and view your reports. Because every channel feeds the same catalog, a sold-out item disappears from your web storefront, your app, and your kiosk at the same moment. There is no scenario where the kiosk keeps selling something the website already ran out of.

The analytics are built to answer the questions this article started with. You can see sales, peak hours, and your top items broken down by channel, then run one-click exports for your accountant. The built-in AI insights go a step further with demand predictions, automated marketing suggestions, and smart menu and pricing tips, so the customer data you now own turns into decisions instead of sitting idle. That is the direct opposite of handing your guest list to a marketplace and getting nothing back.

Setup is deliberately fast. Most single-location businesses go live within a day, and every plan (Starter, Growth, and Enterprise) includes web, app, and kiosk together rather than charging you separately for each surface. Pricing is quoted per business based on what you need, which you can review on the pricing page.

If you want a step-by-step walkthrough of standing up your own channel, the restaurant guide covers the setup end to end. Running a cafe, coffee shop, or bakery instead? The cafe and bakery guide is tailored to that workflow. You will find more on margins, operations, and growth over on the blog.

A simple plan to reduce delivery app fees

You do not have to make a dramatic switch to see a difference. A steady, low-risk approach works well.

Start by measuring what you actually pay today. Pull a recent marketplace statement and add up every deduction, not just the commission line, so you know your true effective rate per order. Next, stand up your own commission-free ordering channels and make them the obvious default: put your web storefront and app links on your receipts, your packaging, your social profiles, and a kiosk at the counter. Then give regulars a reason to order direct, using promotions you control rather than ones a platform prices for you. Keep the marketplaces for genuine discovery, and let your owned channels absorb the repeat business that never needed a middleman in the first place. Over time, the share of orders carrying a commission shrinks, and more of each sale stays with you.

Frequently asked questions

How much do delivery apps charge restaurants on average?

There is no single reliable average, because commission rates vary by service, plan tier, and market, and each platform runs its own promotions. More importantly, the commission is only part of the total. Once you add delivery and service fees, optional marketing or boost spend, hardware costs, and refunds, the real cost per order is usually higher than the headline rate suggests. Check each provider’s current published rates and your signed agreement for the numbers that apply to you.

What other fees do delivery apps charge beyond commission?

Common additional costs include delivery and service fees that vary with who provides the courier, marketing or “boost” fees to stay visible in the app, tablet or hardware rental, and chargebacks or refunds that often flow back to the restaurant. The largest hidden cost is losing access to your customer data, which forces you to keep paying to reach guests you have already served.

Is commission-free online ordering actually possible?

Yes, on channels you own. When customers order through your own web storefront, mobile app, or in-store kiosk, there is no per-order commission taken by a marketplace. You still pay standard payment processing like any business, but you avoid the aggregator’s cut and you keep the customer relationship. That is the core idea behind commission-free online ordering.

Should I stop using third-party delivery marketplaces entirely?

Not necessarily. Marketplaces are useful for discovery and reaching new customers. The smarter move is to shift your loyal, repeat traffic onto your own channels so the commission applies to fewer orders, while keeping the marketplaces for what they do best. It is about balance, not an all-or-nothing switch.

How quickly can I set up my own ordering channels?

With a single platform like KioskoGo, most single-location businesses go live within a day. Because web, app, and kiosk share one catalog and one order queue, there is no separate build for each channel and no double entry to maintain.

The commission question rarely has a tidy answer, but the direction to move in does: measure the full cost you pay today, then move your repeat customers onto channels you own so more of every order stays in your restaurant. If you would like to see how a single web, app, and kiosk system would work for your menu and your team, book a demo and we will walk through it with your numbers in mind.