Quick answer
In delivery, food cost alone tells you nothing. A dish that leaves a healthy margin in the dining room gets eaten alive online by packaging (3-6%) and the platform commission (28-35% plus tax). Packaging is the line most operators forget: a box, cutlery and a bag can weigh more than the tax on the commission. You only see the real margin by adding food cost, packaging and commission together, dish by dish.
Why delivery food cost must be recalculated
Classic food cost is the ratio between ingredient cost and selling price. In the dining room that number tells most of the story: add labour and fixed costs and you have the picture. In delivery the same logic leads you astray, because two new costs sit between you and the cash, costs that simply do not exist in-house:
- packaging, physical and single-use, that travels with every order;
- the platform commission, a percentage of the gross with tax on top.
The result is that a dish with a 30% food cost — perfectly healthy in-house — can end up with a total cost of 45-50% once it is delivered. If you only look at food cost, you are seeing half the problem.
Packaging: the forgotten line
Packaging is the real hidden protagonist. It is not a generic expense to smear across the year-end accounts: it is a cost that attaches to every single order, exactly like ingredients. The typical items are:
- the main container (box, tray, bowl with lid);
- secondary containers for sauces and sides;
- cutlery, napkins, condiment sachets;
- the carrier bag;
- tamper seal and label.
On a poke or a salad, the "nice" container can cost 0.40-0.70 € per portion. On a 9 € order that means a 5-8% packaging incidence alone. This is a line you measure, not eyeball.
| Dish type | Average packaging cost | Incidence on a 12 € order | |---|---|---| | Pizza (box) | 0.25-0.40 € | ~2-3% | | Pasta / main (tray) | 0.35-0.55 € | ~3-5% | | Poke / bowl (premium box) | 0.50-0.80 € | ~4-7% | | Burger + fries (combo) | 0.45-0.70 € | ~4-6% | | Sushi (tray + accessories) | 0.60-1.00 € | ~5-8% |
Packaging is not only cost: a box that holds heat or stops fried food arriving soggy reduces refunds and bad reviews. It is an investment, but it has to be accounted for.
The total delivery cost formula
For delivery, food cost is not enough: you need the total fulfilment cost. The working formula is:
Total order cost = Food cost + Packaging + Commission + Tax on commission
Real margin = Gross price − Total order cost
Keep the four lines separate so you can see where to act. You optimise food cost through the recipe, packaging through suppliers, commission by negotiating or pushing the direct channel. To set the right prices start from the food cost calculator and then check the erosion with the delivery commission calculator.
A complete worked example
Take a poke sold at 14 € gross on the app, with a 30% commission plus 22% tax, a 28% food cost and premium packaging at 0.70 €.
Customer gross price = 14.00 €
− Commission 30% = −4.20 €
− Tax 22% on commission = −0.92 €
− Food cost (28% of 14 €) = −3.92 €
− Packaging = −0.70 €
Remaining margin = 4.26 €
On 14 € collected you keep 4.26 € (about 30%) to cover staff, rent, utilities and profit. The same poke in-house, with no commission and minimal packaging, would leave almost 9 € of gross margin. The difference is not the food cost — that is identical — but everything around it.
How much each line really weighs
Lining up the percentage incidences from the example shows where the margin goes:
| Line | Amount | Incidence | |---|---|---| | Commission + tax | 5.12 € | ~37% | | Food cost | 3.92 € | 28% | | Packaging | 0.70 € | ~5% | | Remaining gross margin | 4.26 € | ~30% |
The commission is the heaviest line, but also the least compressible in the short term. Packaging, though "small", is the one you control immediately: switching supplier or format can recover 1-2 margin points without touching the recipe or the price.
How to defend your delivery margin
This is not about abandoning the channel, but making it sustainable:
- A dedicated delivery menu: recipes that survive transport and prices built to absorb commission and packaging, not copied from the dining room.
- Optimised packaging: standardise formats, negotiate volumes with the supplier, drop the "extra" containers. Every 10 cents counts.
- A higher minimum order: it dilutes the fixed packaging and bag cost over a larger value.
- Push the direct channel: every order from your own site or WhatsApp is zero commission. The packaging stays, but you recover the 30%.
- Select your dishes: some travel well with a good margin, others do not. Not everything belongs on the app.
Common mistakes
- Looking only at food cost: ignoring packaging and commission makes a break-even dish look healthy.
- Eyeballing packaging: it must be weighed on the real order, container by container.
- Using dine-in prices on the app: with no markup many dishes go into loss.
- Buying "nice" packaging without doing the maths: a premium box only makes sense if the dish price supports it.
- Not differentiating dishes: fried food that arrives soggy generates refunds and reviews that cost more than the margin.
- Forgetting the tax on commission: a nominal 30% becomes almost a real 37%.
Related resources
- Food cost calculator — the dish's ingredient cost, the starting point for pricing
- Delivery commission calculator — what you really keep on each order, tax included