Restaurant profit margin: what US restaurants make, and what delivery apps take

The typical US restaurant keeps only a few cents of every dollar. In the National Restaurant Association's survey of more than 900 restaurants, the median income before taxes in 2024 was 2.8% of sales for full-service restaurants and 4.0% for limited-service. That's why delivery-app commission matters so much: if 20% of your sales come through apps at a 30% commission, the apps take 6% of all your sales, more than the median restaurant keeps. Net profit margin = (sales − all costs) ÷ sales × 100.

What is the average profit margin for a restaurant?

These are the most recent public US figures, from the National Restaurant Association's 2025 Restaurant Operations Data Abstract (2024 results, more than 900 operators):

A few things the Association points out:

• Labor is the cost that grew. Full-service labor was about 33% of sales on average in the 2010, 2013 and 2016 reports; in 2024 the median was 36.5%. For limited service it went from about 28% to 31.7%.
• Location changes occupancy. Median occupancy was 6.0% of sales in urban areas for both segments; for limited-service restaurants in small communities it was 3.2%.
• They are not goals. The data "is not intended to represent standards or goals for individual restaurants." Half did better, half worse.

You'll find much wider ranges quoted online ("3 to 15%", "10%"). The 30/30/30/10 rule treats 10% as a budgeting target, not as what restaurants typically make.

How do you calculate restaurant profit margin?

Net profit margin = net profit ÷ sales × 100, where net profit = sales − every cost for the same period.

Gross profit margin is different: it takes off only food and drink. A 30% food cost is a 70% gross margin. Net margin is the one that tells you whether the business makes money.

Worked example: a 9% margin and 30% of sales on the apps

A restaurant sells $60,000 a month. These are illustrative figures, the starting numbers in our calculator.

• The apps take $4,500 a month, 83% of what this restaurant would otherwise keep.
• At 36% of sales on the apps, the month makes nothing. Past that, each extra app order at regular prices loses money.
• Moving those orders to its own ordering page would keep $3,978 more a month, about $47,700 a year.

What does a 30% delivery commission do to a thin margin?

The commission is charged on each app order, but its effect on the month is simple: share of sales through apps × commission rate comes straight off your margin, unless your app prices are higher than in the restaurant.

Starting from an 8% margin before any commission (illustrative):

The current US plans, from each app's own pricing page:

• DoorDash: 15% (Basic), 25% (Plus), 30% (Premier) on delivery; 6% on pickup. Card processing included.
• Uber Eats: 20% on Lite (15% in some cities), 25% on Plus, 30% on Premium; 15% if you deliver yourself; 7% on pickup.
• Grubhub: 15%, 25% or 30% in all when Grubhub delivers, with card processing on top.

Details and other fees: DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub.

Note that the NRA medians already include whatever commission those restaurants paid. The point isn't that every restaurant can subtract 6% from 2.8%; it's that commission is now one of the few costs as large as the profit itself.

How to protect your margin from commission

1. Price app orders to cover the fee. At 25% commission, an $11.99 dine-in dish needs about $16.99 in the app to leave you the same money. See how to price menu items and the menu price calculator.
2. Pick the plan that matches your orders. A lower tier (DoorDash Basic at 15%, Uber Eats Lite at 20%) reaches fewer customers but costs less per order. Pickup orders cost 6 to 7% when your app prices match in-store prices.
3. Move regulars to your own ordering page. Use the apps to find new customers, and give regulars a reason to order direct: a QR code on every bag, a lower price than on the apps. Your only fee is card processing, 2.9% + 30¢ with Stripe in the US.
4. Measure it monthly. Commission is easy to miss because the apps pay you net. Add it back as a cost line, or use the delivery app loss calculator.
5. Work on prime cost too. Food and labor are about two thirds of sales. Check food cost percentage dish by dish with the food cost calculator.

Menuthere's ordering page charges 0% commission on every plan, with a Free plan for up to 50 orders a month. See online ordering for US restaurants.

Keep the margin the apps take.

Create your free ordering page

How to check your restaurant's margin, step by step

1. Pick a month: take sales before sales tax and tips from your POS and your app statements, before commission.
2. Add up food and drink cost: opening inventory plus purchases minus closing inventory.
3. Add up labor: wages, payroll taxes and benefits for the same month.
4. Add up everything else: rent, utilities, card fees, insurance, marketing, software and repairs.
5. Add delivery-app commission as its own line: from your app statements.
6. Divide what's left by sales: multiply by 100, then compare with and without commission.

The restaurant profit margin calculator does steps 2 to 6 from percentages, and the break-even calculator shows the sales you need to cover your costs.

Outside the US

The NRA figures are for US restaurants only, and we know of no equally recent public medians for other countries. UK owners usually track gross profit (GP) per dish, where a 30% food cost is a 70% GP; use the GP calculator. UK delivery apps charge 13 to 33% and add 20% VAT on their commission, which a business that isn't VAT-registered can't reclaim.