Online ordering and delivery for independent Canadian restaurants

Most Canadian restaurant operators live in a state of low-grade frustration with delivery. They need it. Their customers expect it. But the math almost never works. A typical order comes in, 25% goes to the platform, your food cost is 35%, labour to pack and execute is another 8-10%, and suddenly you're looking at margins that would've made you money on dine-in but barely cover costs on the other end.

You have three real options. Third-party platforms like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and SkipTheDishes reach customers already using their apps. Direct ordering through your own website or app keeps 100% of the sale but requires you to drive traffic yourself. Or you run both, which is more complex but gives you optionality.

This is the landscape. Let's make sense of it.

The third-party platform path: what you're actually paying

DoorDash Canada now operates under a three-tier commission structure. The Basic tier runs 15% on delivery and 10% on pickup. If you want higher visibility in their algorithm, the Plus tier costs more: 25-27% on delivery, 8% on pickup. The Premier tier goes to 29% on delivery and 8% on pickup. You're paying for placement, whether you think about it that way or not.

Uber Eats uses a different labelling system but the same principle. Lite tier is 15-20% on delivery, 6% on pickup. Plus is 25% and 6%. Premium sits at 30% and 6%. As of March 2026, Uber Eats increased fees by 3% across Canada, a move that caught most operators mid-breath. Their platform hit 5.3 million monthly active users in Q1 2025, so the reach is real.

SkipTheDishes operates a flexible commission model: 20-30% on delivery depending on your city and order volume, 10-15% on pickup, or a flat CA$7-9 per order through SkipGo, their flat-fee tier. SkipTheDishes has 250+ Canadian cities and 47,000+ restaurants on its platform, making it the most geographically distributed option. It was historically the dominant player in Canada, though it's now competing more tightly with DoorDash and Uber Eats in major cities.

These three control most of the Canadian volume. Statista's 2024 data showed 54% of Canadians used Uber Eats in the past year, 49% used DoorDash, and SkipTheDishes usage has softened as the bigger platforms invested heavily in Canada.

Here's the friction: commissions compound. A CA$25 order at 25% commission is CA$6.25 gone before you've packed the food. Your food cost on that order is probably CA$8.75. Pack it, hand it over, and you've cleared maybe CA$2-3. That's a 10-12% net margin on an order where dine-in might've cleared 15-20%. Over 100 orders, the gap matters. For the full breakdown, see The real math on delivery app commissions for Canadian restaurants.

55% of restaurants say delivery is "only slightly profitable" according to Deliverect's 2025 survey. Another 21% report zero profit. Only 8% say it's "very profitable." These aren't failures of execution. This is the structure of the business. Commission sits at 5 to 6 times your total profit margin on a typical order. When your overall net margin is 3-5% as an independent, that's not sustainable long-term.

Regulatory caps exist in parts of Canada. British Columbia has a 20% cap on delivery fees. Nova Scotia caps it at 15%. Quebec experimented with a 20% cap under Bill 87, but that expired in 2022 and wasn't made permanent. Most of Canada has no cap at all.

The direct ordering path: lower reach, higher margin

Direct ordering is the alternative. You build a website, app, or phone-ordering system. Customers order directly from you. No platform takes a cut.

The margin math is stark. Direct ordering typically yields 18-25% net margin. Platforms yield 3-8% net. That's your entire business model flipping.

The catch is distribution. Platforms have the users already. You have to build an audience. Customers have to know you exist and remember your URL or app. Most people order through apps they already have installed.

The data backs this up: reorder rates on direct channels are 35-55%. On platform channels, they're 15-25%. Customer data ownership makes a difference. When you own the customer relationship, lifetime value increases by 67%. You know who ordered what, when, and you can email them, text them, build loyalty. On platforms, 43% of customers don't even remember the restaurant name after ordering.

Direct ordering platforms exist in Canada for this reason. UEAT operates in Quebec with a subscription model and zero commission. Lightspeed Order Anywhere is Montreal-based, zero commission, monthly fees. ChowNow charges CA$499 setup plus monthly fees, no commission. Square Online has a free tier. These aren't platform aggregators. They're your own ordering portal.

The tradeoff is clear: you own the customer but you own the distribution problem too. You need email lists, social media presence, loyalty programs, or word-of-mouth strong enough to drive volume. For established restaurants with repeat customers, this works. For new restaurants or those dependent on discovery through app browsing, direct ordering alone isn't enough.

What the hybrid strategy actually looks like

Most successful independent restaurants in Canada run both. Customers who know you order direct. Customers who discover you through DoorDash order through DoorDash. Your repeat customers hit your website. Your new customers hit the platforms.

This requires operational complexity. You're managing inventory across channels. You're monitoring two order streams simultaneously. Kitchen staff need to know if an order came direct or from a platform because prep times, packaging, and potentially delivery logistics differ. Packaging costs alone can add CA$1-3 per order, and they compound with commissions.

But the math works. On a CA$100 daily order volume, assume 40% comes direct (CA$40 at 20% margin = CA$8 profit) and 60% comes from platforms (CA$60 at 8% margin = CA$4.80 profit). Total: CA$12.80 profit. Pure platforms at equivalent volume and order value: CA$8 profit. Direct ordering alone requires you to build the customer base first, which takes time.

80% of independent restaurants still use third-party platforms according to recent surveys. Many of them also have websites. Many don't promote those websites effectively. The ones that are profitable usually have a deliberate distribution strategy, not an accidental one.

What to watch for when evaluating platforms

Commission structure is baseline, not the full picture. Ask about:

Algorithmic visibility. Higher commission tiers often correlate with better placement in search results and rankings. DoorDash's "Best Match" algorithm, for example, favours restaurants that opt into higher commission tiers or have high order volume and ratings. You're paying for prominence, even if the platform frames it as "optional."

Dispute policies. This matters more than marketing materials suggest. Some platforms automate merchant dispute denials at scale, a practice common enough in restaurant forums to be treated as normal. Escalation processes are often opaque. Before committing, check your industry forums and ask other restaurants.

Fee changes. Uber Eats raised fees 3% in March 2026. DoorDash has adjusted its structure multiple times. These platforms control your margins. They can change them unilaterally. This isn't a partnership. It's a channel you're renting.

Customer data. On most platforms, you don't own customer phone numbers or email addresses. You can't reach people directly. This locks you into continued platform dependence because you can't build your own audience from platform orders.

Delivery quality. This isn't in your control, but it affects your reputation. Bad delivery experiences on any platform come back as bad reviews for you. You're absorbing reputation risk from logistics partners you didn't hire.

Can restaurants actually make money on delivery?

Across Canada, 51% of independent restaurants operate at a loss or break even. This isn't specific to delivery. It's the baseline. Food cost sits at 35.7%, labour at 33.4%, rent at 8.3% (Statistics Canada 2023). You've got 23% of revenue left for utilities, insurance, capital, and profit. Delivery commissions eat 5-6x your typical profit margin on those orders. For the full analysis, read Is delivery making your restaurant less profitable?.

The restaurants that succeed with delivery do several things.

They price delivery orders slightly higher than dine-in. Not legally required, but tactically necessary. A CA$15 burrito at dine-in might be CA$16.50 on DoorDash. Customers have internalized this as normal.

They use delivery strategically, not desperately. Delivery fills capacity during off-peak hours, extends service hours, or reaches customers who can't dine in. They don't depend on delivery to replace lost dine-in business.

They optimize their menu for delivery. Some items survive transport better. Some margins are higher. Pizza places and Chinese restaurants scale on delivery because those foods travel. Restaurants fail on delivery when they try to replicate fine-dining plating and expect it to survive a 20-minute vehicle ride.

They track numbers obsessively. Most owners estimate margins from memory. That's the enemy. You need actual data: which items sell most, which are most profitable, what's the true commission impact per item, what's your repeat rate, what's your average order value by channel. Without this, you're guessing.

They test direct ordering. Even if platforms represent 80% of your delivery volume, a 10-person email list that orders once a month direct is more profitable than 100 platform orders at 25% commission.

The Canadian market in 2026

Canada's online food delivery market hit roughly CA$19 billion in revenue in 2024. Projections put it at CA$28.6 billion by 2030. Growth is real, but it's not infinite. The market is maturing. Customers order delivery roughly 4 times per month on average. Gen Z orders more, around 5 times. The user base isn't expanding at the growth rates of five years ago.

This matters because platform growth is harder. Uber Eats, DoorDash, and SkipTheDishes are fighting for market share, not just growth. When markets mature, consolidation and fee pressure follow. You're seeing both. DoorDash and Uber Eats have invested aggressively in Canada to take share from SkipTheDishes. That investment eventually translates to margin pressure on restaurants, which is exactly what happened with the March 2026 Uber Eats increase.

45% of Canadian customers say apps are easier to use than calling or visiting in person. 36% say they're more convenient. 24% say they're simply more familiar. Those are majority reasons, not consensus, which means delivery reach isn't universal. Some of your customer base will never order via app. Some prefer the phone. Some will come in person.

Building your actual strategy

Start with your baseline. What's your current delivery volume, by channel? If you're not tracking this, start now. How many orders per week does each channel generate? What's your average order value? What's your actual profit per order after commissions?

Then, test direct ordering. Pick one channel. UEAT if you're in Quebec, Lightspeed if you're in Montreal, ChowNow or Square if you're elsewhere. Spend three months driving your email list to that platform. Offer a small incentive: "Order direct and we'll throw in a free appetizer with orders over CA$50." Track the uptake. If you get traction, the economics work. If you don't, you'll have a better sense of whether your customer base is platform-native or relationship-based.

Layer in platform optimization. Don't chase the Premier tier on DoorDash just because it exists. Calculate the exact commission increase versus your expected volume increase. If moving from Basic to Plus adds CA$500 per month in commission but generates only CA$400 in incremental profit, you're losing money. If it generates CA$700, you've found a lever.

Manage your menu for delivery. Look at your platform order data. Which items sell, which sit, which are most profitable? Double down on winners. Cut deadweight. Your delivery menu can and should be different from your dine-in menu. You're optimizing for different constraints.

Own your communication with customers. When someone orders direct, email them a follow-up. When someone orders through a platform, encourage them to sign up for your list. You're building an asset that compounds. Every customer email address you collect is a customer you can reach directly, forever.

The platforms aren't going away. Neither is delivery. But the operators who stay profitable are the ones who see platforms as one channel, not the only channel. They build optionality. They track numbers. They test. They iterate.

That's the landscape. Now go build.

Want your exact delivery numbers? We're building a free Delivery Profitability Calculator for Canadian restaurants. Get notified when it launches.

---

Sources: Statista Canada, Deliverect 2025, Restaurants Canada 2024, Statistics Canada 2023, Tacit Corp, DoorDash Canada, Uber Eats Canada, SkipTheDishes.

---