← Delivery app margin calculator
“DoorDash takes 30%” is the wrong unit. The commission is a percentage of the order, but packaging and the extra minutes to bag a delivery ticket are cash you spend either way — and the listed price on the app is often still the dine-in price. Here is one ticket worked through both paths, with every number visible.
A $32 check. Food cost is $9.60. Extra bagging time is eight minutes at $18/hour ($2.40). Delivery packaging is $1.25. Same food, same kitchen — only the path changes.
No marketplace commission. Card processing is usually the only platform fee. Using an illustrative 2.9% + $0.30:
| Ticket | $32.00 |
| Card processing, 2.9% of $32 + $0.30 | −$1.23 |
| Food cost | −$9.60 |
| You keep | $21.17 |
|---|
Marketplace commission is usually billed on the order total and often includes payment processing. Using an illustrative 27%, plus the packaging and bagging time dine-in did not need:
| Listed price | $32.00 |
| Commission, 27% of $32 | −$8.64 |
| Food cost | −$9.60 |
| Packaging | −$1.25 |
| Eight extra minutes at $18/hour | −$2.40 |
| You keep | $10.11 |
|---|
On this ticket DoorDash leaves $11.06 less than dine-in. At 400 such orders a month that is $4,424 — before refunds, promotions, or the dine-in seats you did not fill because the kitchen was bagging.
To keep the same $21.17 as dine-in, the DoorDash listed price has to cover commission and the extra cash. The algebra is:
($21.17 + $13.25) ÷ (1 − 0.27) = $47.15
That is a 47% markup on the dine-in ticket, not a 27% one. A restaurant that marks delivery up by the commission percentage alone still loses packaging, labor, and the commission on the markup.
The app may be selling tickets you would not have sold. $10.11 on an incremental order is still $10.11. The comparison tells you what each path leaves, and what you have to charge to make them equal — not whether the demand is incremental. Put your own rates into the calculator before treating any of these numbers as yours.
The marketplace commission is a percentage of the order, usually billed on the order total and often including payment processing. On a $32 ticket at an illustrative 27% that is $8.64, but the commission is not the whole cost: delivery packaging and the extra minutes to bag a delivery ticket are cash you spend on top of it. In the worked example the DoorDash path leaves $10.11 against $21.17 for the same ticket dine-in.
Enough to cover the commission and the extra cash, not the commission percentage alone. In the worked example, keeping the same $21.17 as dine-in needs $21.17 plus $13.25, divided by 1 minus 0.27, which is $47.15 on a $32 dine-in ticket. That is a 47% markup, not a 27% one.