The real math on delivery app commissions for Canadian restaurants

A restaurant owner in London, Ontario, told CBC this past January that 30% commission is "a big chunk, and that's before food costs." He was describing DoorDash. He was also describing the part of the math that most operators actually see. The part most don't see is everything underneath.

Platform commissions are the most visible piece of delivery's cost structure. They're not the whole story. Between packaging, incremental food costs, and how GST/HST actually works when a platform takes its cut first, your real cost per delivery order runs well above whatever rate you signed up for.

This is the complete math. Not to scare you off delivery, but because you can't make good decisions with bad numbers.

Summary: Third-party delivery commissions for Canadian restaurants range from 15% to 30% depending on the platform and plan. But the real cost, including packaging, food cost variance, and the GST/HST reality, pushes your effective contribution margin on delivery orders well below what the headline rate suggests. For most independent restaurants, a delivery order nets 30–50% less than an equivalent dine-in cover.

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What the platforms actually charge

All three major Canadian platforms use tiered commission structures. Higher tiers give you better visibility, access to subscription customers (DashPass, Uber One), and promotional placement. They also cost more.

Here's where the tiers stand as of early 2026:

Platform	Plan	Delivery Commission	Pickup Commission
DoorDash	Basic	~15%	10%
DoorDash	Plus	25–27%	8%
DoorDash	Premier	~29%	8%
Uber Eats	Lite	15%	6%
Uber Eats	Plus	25%	6%
Uber Eats	Premium	30%	6%
SkipTheDishes	Varies	20–30%	10–15%

Rates verified from platform merchant portals and editorial sources, February 2026. Commission rates are subject to change.

DoorDash: Most restaurants end up on Plus or Premier to access DashPass customers, DoorDash's subscription base. Basic gets you listed, but with limited algorithmic placement.

Uber Eats: Same structure, different names. Most independents launch on Plus or Premium, often at the suggestion of the onboarding team. It's worth knowing that Lite, at 15%, exists.

SkipTheDishes: Canada's only homegrown major delivery platform, founded in Winnipeg in 2012. Skip negotiates commissions rather than publishing fixed tiers, typically landing between 20–30% based on your market, volume, and promotional participation. They operate in over 250 Canadian cities, with notably stronger penetration in the prairies and smaller markets where DoorDash and Uber Eats have less reach. Skip also offers SkipGo, a delivery-as-a-service option where they handle courier logistics for a flat fee of roughly $7–9 per order — useful if you want to control the delivery experience.

On pickup: Pickup commissions are substantially lower across all platforms (6–15%) because the platforms aren't providing drivers. If your restaurant has meaningful walk-in or pickup traffic, platform pickup can be a lower-cost way to stay discoverable.

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The cost you don't see in the brochure

Commission is the headline. It's not the whole story.

Packaging. Delivery orders require proper containers, sealed bags, sauce cups, napkins, and often branded packaging to maintain presentation and food safety. A realistic estimate for most restaurant formats: $2–3 per order. That's easy to underestimate until you're running 30 delivery orders a night, at which point it's $60–90 per shift.

Incremental food costs. Delivery has a higher error rate than dine-in. Items get mis-made. Guests contact the platform, not you. Platforms often issue refunds automatically on your behalf, and you absorb the food cost regardless. Most operators running delivery see food cost run 2–3 percentage points higher than their dine-in equivalent.

The GST/HST reality. This one catches Canadian operators off guard. You collect and remit GST/HST to the CRA on the full sale, not on what you received after the platform deducted its commission. On a $55 order in Ontario (13% HST), you owe the CRA $7.15 in tax. The platform already took $13.75. You received $41.25 from the platform but owe $7.15 back to the government. Your real take is $34.10 before you've spent a dollar on food.

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The full math: a $55 delivery order

Reference restaurant: a 40-seat bistro in Hamilton. Average delivery order of $55. Food cost at 32% (delivery typically runs 2–3% above dine-in due to error rates and required menu variety). On DoorDash Plus at 25% commission.

	Amount
Customer pays	$55.00
DoorDash commission (25%)	–$13.75
Revenue after commission	$41.25
GST/HST remittance (Ontario, 13%)	–$7.15
Net revenue kept	$34.10
Food cost (32% of order)	–$17.60
Packaging	–$2.50
Contribution before overhead and kitchen labour	$14.00

$14.00 from a $55 order. That's 25.5% before rent, utilities, insurance, or the kitchen staff who made it.

At the Premium tier (30%):

	Amount
Commission (30%)	–$16.50
Net after commission + tax	$31.60
Food + packaging	–$20.10
Contribution before overhead	$11.50

That's 20.9%.

These aren't worst-case numbers. They're typical for a mid-range independent running a standard delivery operation on a mid-to-upper-tier plan.

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How that compares to the same sale in your dining room

Same $55, two covers at dinner, Ontario.

	Amount
Revenue	$55.00
GST/HST remittance	–$7.15
Net revenue kept	$47.85
Food cost (30%)	–$16.50
Packaging	$0
Contribution before overhead and server wages	$31.35

$31.35 vs. $14.00. The dine-in cover contributes more than twice as much to overhead and profit before you account for fixed costs.

The counterargument is fair: server wages are a real cost of dine-in that delivery doesn't carry. But your kitchen still has to make both orders. Labour isn't zero on delivery. And if delivery is filling off-peak hours when the dining room would be empty anyway, the math shifts. If delivery is cannibalizing capacity you could have used for dine-in, the trade is worse than it looks.

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When delivery actually works

Delivery isn't a lost cause. Some restaurants run genuinely profitable delivery operations. The conditions that make it work:

High-margin items that travel well. Pizza, grain bowls, burgers, and sandwiches can sustain 25–30% commissions if your food cost stays under 28%. A fresh pasta dish with a 38% food cost and a platform taking 30% commission doesn't have a viable math.

Off-peak incremental volume. Delivery that fills orders Tuesday afternoon, when your dining room is half-empty and the kitchen is already running, covers fixed costs you'd have paid regardless. The contribution math improves when the alternative is empty tables.

A separate delivery menu. Your dine-in pricing isn't built to absorb a 25–30% commission. Restaurants that run delivery profitably often price their delivery menu 15–20% higher or simplify to a tighter selection of high-margin items. Most platforms allow different pricing for delivery vs. pickup vs. in-venue.

Volume that gives you leverage. SkipTheDishes negotiates commissions. At meaningful monthly sales volume, you have a conversation. DoorDash and Uber Eats tiers are more rigid, but high-volume restaurants occasionally access negotiated terms. The path to negotiation starts with knowing your numbers.

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What to do with this

Run your own numbers. Not a rough estimate: the actual math for your restaurant. Your average delivery order value, your food cost on the items you actually sell through the platform, your packaging costs, your commission tier, your province's HST rate.

If you've been on a platform for more than three months, you have the data. Your platform dashboard shows average order values and total delivery sales. Your POS shows food cost. The calculation takes less time than a Saturday lunch service.

If delivery is working, great. Know why and protect what's making it work.

If it's not, you have three real options: negotiate your commission tier if you have the volume to support it, build a tighter delivery menu with better margins, or pull back delivery hours to off-peak windows where the incremental contribution still makes sense.

What doesn't make sense is staying on a plan that doesn't work because signing up was easy.

Run the same subtraction on your own numbers before the next renewal comes up.

Sources: CBC News, Deliverect, iOrders.ca, ishopo.ca, Global News, DoorDash for Merchants Canada, Uber Eats Canada Pricing.

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