Is Delivery Making Your Restaurant Less Profitable?
The typical Canadian independent restaurant nets 3-5% on every dollar of revenue. A delivery platform on a standard mid-tier plan takes 25-30% commission. On a $52 delivery order, those two numbers mean the platform collects more than five times what the restaurant keeps in profit.
That's not an argument against delivery. It's a starting point for a conversation most operators have never had.
What this article covers: What Canadian restaurants actually earn (Statistics Canada data, released February 2025), what platforms actually take, a worked example for a neighbourhood restaurant at different commission rates, when delivery is genuinely profitable and when it isn't, and three things worth checking before your next invoice arrives.
What Canadian restaurants actually earn
Statistics Canada published its most recent financial survey of food services in February 2025, covering 2023 operating data. For every dollar of revenue a Canadian restaurant takes in:
- 35.7% goes to food and supplies
- 33.4% goes to labour
- 8.3% goes to rent and occupancy
Those three line items alone consume 77.4 cents of every dollar before utilities, insurance, credit card fees, or anything else. Net margins for full-service independent restaurants land at 3% to 5%.
To put a number on it: a restaurant doing $800,000 a year in revenue, a reasonable figure for a neighbourhood spot running five evenings a week, nets between $24,000 and $40,000. Before the owner pays themselves.
51% of Canadian restaurants are currently operating at a loss or barely breaking even, according to Restaurants Canada's 2024 survey. That figure was 10-12% before the pandemic. The industry is not in a position to absorb new cost layers without running the math first.
Better guest experience. Bigger nights. $299. Once.
What delivery platforms actually take
Current commission rates for the three major Canadian platforms (verified February 2026):
| Platform | Plan | Delivery Commission | Pickup Commission |
|---|---|---|---|
| DoorDash | Basic | 15% | 6% |
| DoorDash | Plus | 25-27% | 6% |
| DoorDash | Premier | 29% | 6% |
| Uber Eats | Lite | 15% | 7% |
| Uber Eats | Plus | 25% | 7% |
| Uber Eats | Premium | 30% | 7% |
| SkipTheDishes | Standard | 20-30%* | 10-15% |
| SkipTheDishes | SkipGo | CA$7-9 flat | n/a |
*SkipTheDishes rates vary by location, order volume, and promotional commitments. SkipGo is a flat delivery fee rather than a percentage, which can be better economics for lower average orders.
Most independent restaurants end up on mid-tier plans at 25-27%. The basic 15% plans often come with limited visibility or geographic reach that makes them impractical as the primary tier for growing delivery revenue.
Running the numbers on a real restaurant
Take a 40-seat neighbourhood bistro. Average delivery order: $52. Food cost: 33% (typical for full-service). Packaging: $2.00 per order.
Here's what the same $52 order looks like at different commission rates:
| Dine-in | 15% plan | 25% plan | 30% plan | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 | $52.00 |
| Platform commission | n/a | -$7.80 | -$13.00 | -$15.60 |
| Food cost (33%) | -$17.16 | -$17.16 | -$17.16 | -$17.16 |
| Labour (15%) | -$7.80 | -$7.80 | -$7.80 | -$7.80 |
| Packaging | -$0.50 | -$2.00 | -$2.00 | -$2.00 |
| Overhead | -$5.00 | -$5.00 | -$5.00 | -$5.00 |
| Net contribution | $21.54 | $12.24 | $7.04 | $4.44 |
| Margin | 41.4% | 23.5% | 13.5% | 8.5% |
The restaurant is still making money on delivery across all three platform scenarios. But the margin on a standard 25% plan is one-third what the same order generates when the customer sits at a table.
Now consider what happens when food costs run higher. A full-service restaurant with 38% food cost ($19.76) on the same $52 order, on a 30% plan: commission ($15.60) + food ($19.76) + labour ($7.80) + packaging ($2.00) + overhead ($5.00) = $50.16 in costs against $52.00 in revenue. Net: $1.84. That's 3.5%. One bad month, one slow week, one order-heavy night where the kitchen is behind and labour runs over, and that contribution goes negative.
When does delivery actually work?
Delivery can generate real margin. The conditions for it are specific.
Higher average orders. The commission percentage stays the same, but the absolute dollars become more tolerable when order values climb. A $90 delivery order at 25% commission costs $22.50. That's painful, but there's more food cost margin to absorb it if the menu is right. A $30 order at 25% costs $7.50 and leaves almost nothing.
Low food cost ratios. Pizza, grain bowls, certain Asian cuisines, and beverage-forward menus can hit food cost ratios below 28%. Those categories have enough gross margin built in to absorb a platform cut.
Delivery-specific pricing. 55% of restaurants say third-party delivery is "only slightly profitable." 21% say it's not profitable at all. The operators in the "very profitable" 8% have usually done one thing the others haven't: they priced their delivery menu differently from their dine-in menu. A 15-20% markup on delivery items is standard practice. SkipTheDishes officially "encourages" less than 10% difference between in-store and app prices. Real restaurants are at 15-22% because the economics require it. That tension is worth understanding before signing up.
Discovery as the frame, not revenue. Third-party apps introduce your restaurant to people who would never have found you otherwise. 54% of Canadians used Uber Eats in the past year. 49% used DoorDash. That's genuine reach. If you think of a 25% commission as a customer acquisition cost rather than a revenue tax, the math looks different: you're paying $13 to put your food in front of someone new. If that person books a table three times a year, you've made a reasonable trade. If they never come back and only order delivery, you probably haven't.
Volume that enables negotiation. Commission rates are not fixed. High-volume restaurants negotiate. Some operators report 2-5 percentage point reductions once they hit meaningful monthly order numbers. You need leverage to have that conversation, but the conversation is available.
What most Canadian restaurants get wrong
Treating delivery as a revenue channel instead of a marketing channel. The restaurants that struggle most with delivery economics are the ones running it like a profit centre. When delivery is 40% or more of your revenue and the per-order margins are thin, you're exposed. When delivery is 15-20% of revenue and functions as a discovery tool that feeds your dining room, the math usually works.
Pricing the delivery menu identically to the in-restaurant menu. If a guest orders a $28 entrée from the app and you're on a 25% plan, the platform takes $7 before you've turned on a burner. That entrée needs to be at least $32-33 on the delivery platform to protect the same contribution margin as the in-house version. Most operators haven't made that adjustment.
Not tracking delivery margin separately. A restaurant doing $50,000 a month in delivery revenue might feel good about that number without knowing whether those orders are contributing $8,000 or $2,000 to the bottom line after platform fees, packaging, and incremental labour. Revenue and margin are different numbers. Most POS systems don't break this out by channel by default.
One note on SkipTheDishes specifically: unlike DoorDash and Uber Eats, Skip routes all orders through its platform, including those originating from your own website. If you're trying to build a direct ordering channel while also listing on Skip, that's worth understanding before you sign the contract.
Three things worth doing before your next invoice
1. Know your actual delivery margin. Take your last full month of delivery revenue. Subtract platform commissions, packaging costs, and any incremental labour (the extra time needed to handle delivery orders separate from dine-in service). That number, divided by delivery revenue, is your real delivery margin. Most operators who do this for the first time are surprised by how different it is from their overall restaurant margin.
Want the calculation done for you? Try our free Delivery Profitability Calculator: enter your average order value, commission rate, food cost, and packaging cost, and it returns your per-order margin and break-even volume compared to equivalent dine-in revenue.
2. Price your delivery menu for delivery. Your delivery menu does not need to be your dine-in menu with the same prices. Set it up as a separate menu in your POS, price items 15-20% higher, and track the results. If customers don't push back on the price difference, you've protected your margin. If order volume drops, you'll have data to calibrate from.
3. Decide what role delivery plays in your business. Customer acquisition tool, incremental revenue on slow nights, or primary revenue channel are three very different strategies that require different commission thresholds, different menu compositions, and different success metrics. A restaurant using delivery to fill Tuesday capacity has a different calculus than one where delivery is 40% of sales. Know which one you are.
Sources: Statistics Canada, Food Services and Drinking Places Annual Survey 2023, Restaurants Canada, Profits Remain Elusive 2024, Deliverect Canada, State of Food Delivery 2025, CBC News, B.C. delivery fee cap legislation, CBC News, Nova Scotia delivery fee cap.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is third-party delivery ever worth the commission?
Yes, for the right restaurants. Quick-service concepts, pizza, and bowls with food costs below 28-30% can generate 15-20% contribution margins on delivery orders. Full-service restaurants with 35%+ food cost and lower average orders have a harder time. The answer depends on your specific numbers, not a general rule.
Can you negotiate commission rates with delivery apps?
Some operators report success negotiating reduced rates based on order volume. High-volume restaurants have the most room; most independents accept published rates. DoorDash and Uber Eats sometimes run competitive promotions to attract restaurants. SkipTheDishes negotiates differently than the larger platforms.
Why does SkipTheDishes route orders from my own website through their platform?
SkipTheDishes routes all orders through its platform if you're integrated with them, including those from your own website, meaning even direct orders incur a commission. DoorDash Online Ordering and Uber Eats Webshop both offer commission-free direct ordering at a processing fee of approximately 2.5-3%.
What did Canadian provinces do about delivery fees?
British Columbia capped delivery fees at 20% of order value. Nova Scotia set a 15% cap. Quebec's Bill 87 temporarily capped commissions at 20% during the pandemic but expired in 2022 and was not made permanent. As of early 2026, BC and Nova Scotia have regulatory caps; most provinces do not.
How much should I mark up prices on delivery apps?
Real-world practice sits at 15-22%. SkipTheDishes discourages more than 10%, but that guidance reflects platform interests, not your margins. A 20% markup on a 25% commission plan brings the effective commission cost to approximately 20.8% of your original pricing, close to the Lite tier economics without sacrificing visibility.