Minimum Order Value Calculator

It is the smallest order value at which, after the platform commission, packaging and food cost, you still keep your target margin. Any order below it is either thin or loss-making. It is the threshold that separates orders worth fulfilling from orders that quietly cost you money.

Minimum order = (food cost + packaging) / (1 - commission % - target margin %). The denominator is the share of the order value that is left for food, packaging and margin once commission is taken; dividing your fixed per-order costs by it gives the order value you need.

Because both are slices of the order value you cannot spend on food and packaging. Commission goes to the platform; margin is the profit you insist on keeping. What remains, 1 - commission % - margin %, is the fraction of the order available to cover food and packaging, so dividing by it scales the order up to the right size.

Set your platform's minimum order at or above this figure, and design combos, bundles and upsells to nudge the average basket past it. If your current average order is below the threshold, you are subsidising small orders and should either raise the minimum or rework prices.

If commission plus target margin approaches or exceeds 100%, the formula breaks down because there is no room left for food and packaging. That is a signal the target margin is unrealistic at that commission rate; lower the margin target, negotiate commission, or reduce food and packaging cost.