A cloud kitchen's profit margin is what is left of a month's sales after food, packaging, cooks, kitchen rent and, above all, delivery-app commission, divided by sales. For example, the calculator below opens with a delivery-only kitchen in US dollars: $40,000 a month in sales, 31% food and packaging, 24% labor, $2,800 for a shared kitchen space, and 85% of orders through the apps at 25% commission. Change it to your own month: the gap between the app line and the direct line is what your own ordering channel is worth.
Part of the free Restaurant profit margin calculator.
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Your net margin
Example numbersFood, drink and labor together.
What you would keep if no order paid commission.
Delivery apps take $8,500 a month: 79% of the profit you would otherwise keep.
The same $34,000 of orders on your own ordering page, paying a 2.9% card fee ($986) instead of commission.
Moving those orders to your own page would keep $7,514 more a month, $90,168 a year.
Compare with US restaurants
US limited-service median income before taxes, 2024: 4% of sales (food and drink 32.4%, labor 31.7%). From the National Restaurant Association's survey of more than 900 US restaurants. Medians, not targets.
Move app regulars to your own ordering page
Make a Menuthere ordering page with your menu and a QR code. Orders on it pay 0% commission, so regulars who order direct leave you more.
Sales, food and labor as a share of sales, rent and other costs. Example numbers are filled in to start.
The share of sales that comes through the apps and their average commission. The calculator takes it off your margin.
See your margin with the apps and with the same orders coming direct, then copy the numbers for your partner or accountant.
Work out your average commission across apps
Rates differ by app and plan. DoorDash's US plans charge 15%, 25% or 30% on delivery, Uber Eats 20%, 25% or 30%, and Grubhub a 5%, 15% or 20% marketing commission plus a delivery fee from 10%. Weight each by its share of your orders before you type one average.
Put app marketing in other costs
Sponsored listings, promotions you fund and free-delivery offers are paid to the apps on top of commission. Add a month of them to everything else, so the margin shows what the apps really cost a kitchen that lives on them.
Test a small shift to direct orders
In the example, every point of sales that moves from the apps to your own page keeps most of the commission. Lower the app share by 10 points and watch the profit line: that is the case for a menu card with a QR code in every bag.
Questions owners ask
Checked against
Put your items on a Menuthere page. Customers pick, fill in their details and the order arrives on your WhatsApp. Free, with no commission.