The headline numbers
A restaurant taking £10,000 a month of orders through a delivery app that delivers for it pays about £36,000 a year in commission, before VAT. The same orders taken on the restaurant’s own ordering page at 1% cost £1,200.
That gap is the single largest controllable cost for most restaurants that sell online. This report brings together the rates the main UK platforms publish and models what they cost at four sales levels. The full table is free to download as a CSV.
Key findings
| Metric | Finding |
|---|---|
| 30% | Uber Eats’ UK fee when Uber delivers the order |
| 33% | Uber Eats’ fee on orders from Uber One members |
| 13–14% | Typical published rate when the restaurant delivers itself or the guest collects (Uber Eats 13%, Just Eat 14%) |
| +20% | VAT added on top of every commission fee |
| £650 | Uber Eats’ activation fee, excluding VAT |
| Not published | Deliveroo’s standard commission; it’s agreed restaurant by restaurant |
| £36,000 | Commission a year on £10,000 a month of platform-delivered orders at 30% |
| £1,200 | Commission a year on the same orders taken direct at 1% |
What each platform publishes
| Platform | Platform delivers | Restaurant delivers or guest collects | Other fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uber Eats | 30%, or 33% for Uber One members | 13% | £650 activation fee |
| Just Eat | Delivery service charged on top of commission | 14% on every order | No upfront joining fee |
| Deliveroo | Not published | Not published | Agreed at sign-up |
All rates exclude VAT. Sources: Uber Eats UK merchant pricing; Deliverect, Just Eat UK guide; Restaurant Hero, UK commission fees, September 2026. Check your own contract: individual terms vary.
Three things restaurants often miss:
- VAT is charged on the commission. A 30% fee becomes 36% of the order value before any reclaim. VAT-registered restaurants can usually claim it back, but it leaves the payout first.
- The rate depends on the guest, not just the restaurant. On Uber Eats, an order from an Uber One member costs 33%, three points more than the same order from anyone else.
- Promotions and visibility cost extra. Sponsored placement and app-funded discounts sit on top of the headline rate.
What it costs per order
On a typical £25 order:
| Channel | Commission | With 20% VAT |
|---|---|---|
| Platform delivers (30%) | £7.50 | £9.00 |
| Restaurant delivers or guest collects (14%) | £3.50 | £4.20 |
| Direct ordering (1%) | £0.25 | £0.30 |
The platform-delivery rate includes the rider. The other two don’t, so a restaurant delivering itself also pays for its own driver. For collection orders, there’s no rider to pay on any channel, and the difference is pure margin.
What it costs per year
| Monthly online sales | Platform delivers (30%) | Self-delivery / collection (14%) | Direct ordering (1%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| £5,000 | £18,000 | £8,400 | £600 |
| £10,000 | £36,000 | £16,800 | £1,200 |
| £20,000 | £72,000 | £33,600 | £2,400 |
| £40,000 | £144,000 | £67,200 | £4,800 |
Annual commission before VAT. Growtality analysis of published rates, October 2026. The full table, including Uber One and Uber Eats’ 13% rate, before and after VAT, is in the CSV download.
For context, most full-service restaurants keep only 3–6% of sales as profit. A 30% commission on an order is several times the profit that order makes.
Why restaurants still use the apps
Delivery apps bring something a restaurant’s own website can’t easily match: discovery. The UK food delivery market is expected to reach £14.3 billion this year, and much of it starts with a guest browsing an app.
The cost problem is repeat orders. A guest who found you on an app and now orders every Friday is no longer being discovered. The app still charges full commission on every one of those orders, and keeps the guest’s contact details.
What restaurants are doing about it
- Keep the apps for discovery, move regulars direct. Put a card in every app order with your own ordering link and a reason to use it, such as a loyalty stamp or a free side on the first direct order.
- Price for the channel. Many restaurants charge slightly more on the apps to cover commission, so ordering direct is visibly cheaper for the guest.
- Collect your own guest list. Every direct order builds a customer list you can email or text, which the apps don’t share.
- Check the plan you’re on. Self-delivery or collection rates are less than half the platform-delivery rate. If you already have drivers, the cheaper plan may pay for them.
- Run your own numbers. The commission savings calculator works out what you’d keep based on your order volume, average order value and commission rate.
More detail is in how to reduce delivery app commission and takeaway online ordering.
Methodology
- Rates.
- Uber Eats: taken from its UK merchant pricing page in October 2026.
- Just Eat: from Deliverect’s Just Eat UK guide, cross-checked against Restaurant Hero’s September 2026 summary.
- Deliveroo: no standard rate is published, so none is modelled.
- Model. Annual commission = monthly online sales × rate × 12. “With VAT” adds 20% to the fee. Card processing, delivery costs, promotions, packaging and activation fees are excluded.
- Direct ordering. Uses Growtality’s published 1% commission on completed online orders. Growtality’s monthly plan fee (from £29 a month per location) is excluded, as are the apps’ fixed fees.
- Limits. These are list rates. Negotiated contracts, promotions and plan changes will differ. Use the CSV to apply your own rate.
Use this data
The full dataset is free to download as a CSV. Journalists and researchers are welcome to use it: please credit Growtality and link to this report. For comment or more data, see our press page.
How Growtality helps
Growtality’s direct online ordering charges 1% on completed orders, with no per-order fees added for guests. Orders go straight to your kitchen screen, payments run through Stripe and PayPal, and every guest joins your own customer list. Plans start at £29 a month with a 14-day free trial.
Questions owners ask
How much commission do delivery apps charge UK restaurants in 2026?
Uber Eats publishes its UK rates: 30% when Uber delivers (33% on Uber One orders) and 13% for self-delivery or pickup, plus a £650 activation fee, all before VAT. Just Eat charges 14% plus VAT on every order, with its own delivery service charged on top. Deliveroo doesn't publish a standard rate; it's agreed with each restaurant.
Do restaurants pay VAT on delivery app commission?
Yes. Commission is charged plus 20% VAT, so a 30% rate costs 36% of the order before any reclaim. VAT-registered restaurants can usually reclaim it, but it still comes out of the payout first, and restaurants below the VAT threshold pay it in full.
How much does a restaurant pay in delivery commission a year?
At £10,000 a month of app orders, a 30% rate costs £36,000 a year before VAT; at 14% it's £16,800. The same £10,000 a month ordered direct at 1% costs £1,200 a year in commission.
What's the cheapest way for a restaurant to take online orders?
Taking orders on your own ordering page, rather than a marketplace, costs the least per order: typically a monthly fee plus a small percentage. Marketplaces still help guests discover you, so many restaurants use both and move repeat customers to direct ordering.
Can I use this data?
Yes. The full table is available to download as a CSV. Please credit Growtality and link to this report.
