Last Updated on July 16, 2026
Just Eat, Deliveroo and Uber Eats take roughly 15% to 35% of every order. For a typical UK takeaway that is more than the entire profit margin on the meal, so a busy delivery night can lose money
The uncomfortable argument
The order screen lights up all night. The kitchen is slammed. The takings look healthy. Then the platform statement arrives, and a third of it is gone before you have paid for a single chicken or a single hour of staff time.
This is the maths almost no one runs out loud. A delivery app commonly takes between 15% and 35% of the order value. A well-run takeaway makes a profit margin of around 5% to 10%. Put those two numbers next to each other and the problem is obvious: the commission is bigger than the entire profit on the food. On a lot of delivery orders, the platform earns more from your kitchen than you do.
To be clear, the apps are not worthless. They put you in front of hungry people who have never heard of you, and for a new or quiet takeaway that visibility has real value. The argument is narrower: depending on them for the bulk of your orders is a model where you do the cooking, carry the risk and the cost, and they keep the margin and the customer. Here is where the money actually goes, and how to win orders you keep.
Key takeaways
- UK delivery apps charge roughly 15% to 35% per order. Just Eat sits at the lower end, around 14% plus VAT and a small per-order admin fee, while Deliveroo and Uber Eats commonly run from 20% up to 30%.
- A typical takeaway’s profit margin is about 5% to 10%, so the commission alone is usually larger than the entire profit on the meal. Add packaging, promotions and card fees and many delivery orders barely break even.
- Analyses suggest a meal that earns roughly 15% profit cooked in-house can turn into a loss of around 7.6% once delivery-app fees are layered on.
- The apps also keep the customer. You rarely see who ordered, so you cannot easily bring them back yourself. You are renting access to your own customers.
- The apps still earn their place as a discovery channel, for launching, for filling quiet shifts, or reaching new postcodes. The mistake is letting them become your whole business.
- The fix is to win direct, repeat orders you actually keep: a simple ordering page, a flyer in every delivery bag, a reason to come back, and a discount for ordering direct that still costs you far less than 30%.
Contents
What you are actually paying for
It is worth being honest about the deal. The apps give you reach, a slick ordering experience and a rider at the door. In return they take a slice of every order, set the rules, own the customer relationship, and can change the terms when they choose. You provide the food, the kitchen, the staff and the risk. They provide the introduction, and they keep introducing your customers to your competitors on the same screen.
For a takeaway that has no other way of being found, that trade can be worth making at the start. The danger is when it becomes permanent. Year after year, a third of your turnover leaves the building, and you still do not own the relationship with the people eating your food.
What each app charges
The headline rates vary, and there are extras on top. The structure matters more than the exact percentage: the platform is paid first, off the top, on every single order.
| Platform | Typical UK commission | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Just Eat | Around 14% plus VAT | Lowest headline rate, but adds a small per-order admin fee, and you usually arrange your own delivery on the cheaper plans |
| Deliveroo | Around 20% to 30% | Capped near 30% per order, with a lower rate if you provide your own courier |
| Uber Eats | Around 15% to 30% | Depends on the plan and delivery option, with higher tiers and certain orders reaching 30% |
Rates change over time and by plan, location and whether the app provides the rider. Treat these as typical ranges, not fixed prices, and check your own statements.
Where a £20 delivery order goes
Put numbers on it. Take a £20 order on a roughly 30% commission, and watch how little is left once the food and packaging are paid for, before a penny goes to rent, utilities or wages.
That last slice has to cover rent, utilities, wages, insurance and everything else, before anything reaches you. Add a platform promotion or a discount code to that same order and the remaining margin can vanish completely. It is why a meal that comfortably earns about 15% when a customer collects it can become a loss of roughly 7.6% once it goes out through an app.
The bigger trap: you do not own the customer
Price is the obvious cost. The quieter one is ownership. When an order comes through an app, the customer is the app’s, not yours. You generally do not get their name, their number or their email, so you cannot thank them, tempt them back or tell them about a Friday offer. The next time they are hungry, the app shows them your rivals first.
This is the same trap that catches so many small businesses: renting customers instead of owning them. A diner who orders straight from you, or walks in because of a flyer in their last delivery bag, is yours to keep. Every direct order is one the platform cannot tax, and one you can build a relationship on.
When the apps are worth it
None of this means delete your listings tomorrow. The apps are a genuine discovery engine. A brand-new takeaway with no following has to get in front of people somehow, and the platforms do that instantly. They are useful for filling a dead Tuesday, for reaching a new estate, and for catching people who would never have found you otherwise. Treated as paid advertising that occasionally even makes a small profit, they have a clear role.
The trap is treating them as the whole business rather than the shop window. If almost every order comes through an app and you have no way to reach your own regulars, you do not have a customer base, you have a tenancy. The goal is to use the apps to be found, then move the people who come back onto orders you actually keep.
How to win orders you actually keep
The aim is simple: turn app discovery into direct, repeat custom. None of this requires an expensive system, and every direct order keeps the slice the platform would have taken.
- Set up a simple direct ordering option. A basic order page, a phone line, or a low-fee ordering tool means a regular can come straight to you. Even a fraction of orders moved direct adds real profit.
- Put something in every delivery bag. A flyer or card with a direct-order discount turns an app customer, who you paid 30% for, into a direct customer next time. It is the cheapest marketing you have.
- Offer a direct-order reward. A 10% discount for ordering direct still costs you far less than a 30% commission, and it trains your best customers to skip the app. The maths is firmly in your favour.
- Capture details where you can. Collect numbers or emails for direct orders, with consent, so you can bring people back with an offer instead of waiting for the app to show them a competitor.
- Use the apps deliberately, not by default. Keep them for discovery, new areas and quiet shifts, and track the true margin on app orders so you know what they really earn you.
- Fix the basics that win repeat custom. Good food, fast service, a tidy Google Business Profile and real reviews bring people back without a middleman. Our guide to what marketing should cost sets the benchmarks.
This is the Start and Build work in practice. Let the apps introduce you, then own the second order and every one after it. The platform can have a slice of the first hello. It should not have a third of your business for life.
Methodology and sources
Compiled by Whito in June 2026. Commission figures, a typical range of roughly 15% to 35% per order, with Just Eat around 14% plus VAT and a small per-order admin fee, and Deliveroo and Uber Eats commonly between 20% and 30% depending on plan and delivery option, reflect published 2025 and 2026 UK delivery-platform pricing comparisons and the platforms’ own published rates. Typical UK takeaway profit margins of around 5% to 10%, the illustrative £20-order breakdown, and the finding that a meal earning roughly 15% in-house can become a loss of around 7.6% on a delivery app, reflect published 2025 and 2026 UK restaurant and takeaway margin analyses. The point that platforms retain the customer relationship and limit the data shared with restaurants, and that moving regulars to direct ordering can lift the net profit on those orders by up to around 30%, reflects widely reported industry analysis. Figures vary by business, plan, location and order, so treat them as typical patterns rather than exact prices, and check your own statements. This report describes the general delivery-platform model and is not a comment on the conduct of any single named company, each of which can offer genuine value as a discovery channel. It is general information, not advice on a specific contract.
