When you order a $25 chicken parmigiana through Uber Eats, the restaurant receives somewhere between $16 and $19 of that. The rest goes to the delivery platform. This fact alone explains most of what’s wrong with food delivery in Australia.

The commission structure

The major delivery platforms in Australia charge restaurants commissions ranging from 25 to 35 percent of each order. The exact rate depends on the platform, the restaurant’s negotiating power, and the tier of service selected.

Uber Eats typically charges 30-35 percent. DoorDash offers tiered pricing from 15 to 30 percent depending on the level of marketing and support included. Menulog’s rates are similar.

For a restaurant operating on margins of 5-10 percent before platform fees, a 30 percent commission doesn’t just reduce profit — it often eliminates it entirely. Many restaurants lose money on every delivery order.

How restaurants respond

This economic pressure produces predictable responses, and understanding them makes you a more informed consumer.

Higher delivery prices. Many restaurants charge more for delivery than dine-in. Sometimes 15-20 percent more. This isn’t greed — it’s an attempt to recover the commission. The platforms technically discourage this, but it happens widely.

Adjusted portions. Some restaurants serve slightly smaller portions for delivery orders. Again, not malicious — it’s the maths. If you’re losing 30 percent of the revenue, something has to give.

Different menus. Delivery menus often feature higher-margin items. That $18 pasta with expensive imported ingredients might not appear on the delivery menu, replaced by a $20 fried chicken burger with cheaper inputs and better margin.

Quality compromises. When the margin is razor-thin, corners get cut. Cheaper cheese, fewer prawns in the pad Thai, thinner steaks. The incentive structure pushes toward cost-cutting, not quality improvement.

The driver economics

Drivers are squeezed too. Delivery platform drivers in Australia earn, on average, $15-22 per hour after expenses. That’s before accounting for vehicle costs, fuel, insurance, and the fact that most drivers are classified as independent contractors without leave entitlements or superannuation.

The gig economy debate in food delivery is ongoing, but the simple version is this: the platforms are extracting value from both sides of the transaction — restaurants and drivers — while presenting themselves as neutral intermediaries.

Alternatives that work

Order directly. Many restaurants have their own online ordering systems. The food is the same (often better, because the restaurant isn’t losing margin), delivery fees are often lower, and 100 percent of the food cost goes to the restaurant.

Pick up yourself. Most delivery platforms offer a pickup option with reduced commissions. Better yet, call the restaurant directly and pick up from them. Some restaurants offer discounts for direct pickup orders.

Subscription models. Some restaurants and local food businesses now offer subscription boxes or meal prep services that bypass platforms entirely. The economics work better for everyone.

Support restaurants that set fair delivery prices. If a restaurant charges a bit more for delivery than dine-in, don’t be angry. They’re being honest about the real cost. The restaurants that seem impossibly cheap on delivery are absorbing losses they can’t sustain.

The regulatory question

Several countries have experimented with commission caps during and after COVID. New York City capped commissions at 15 percent for delivery and 5 percent for non-delivery orders. San Francisco implemented similar caps. In Australia, some temporary caps were introduced during lockdowns but were not made permanent.

Restaurant industry bodies continue to lobby for permanent commission regulation. The platforms argue that caps reduce their ability to invest in the marketplace, affecting both restaurant visibility and driver availability.

The tension is real. The platforms provide genuine value — they bring customers to restaurants who might not otherwise find them. But the question of whether that value is worth 30 percent of every transaction is one the market is still working out.

What this means for food culture

Delivery-dominant dining changes what food gets made. When the economics push restaurants toward high-margin, easily transportable items, the diversity of what’s available narrows. Delicate dishes, labour-intensive preparations, and anything that doesn’t travel well gradually disappear from delivery menus.

This matters because delivery is becoming a larger share of how Australians eat restaurant food. If the economic model only supports burgers, fried chicken, and bowls, that’s what the delivery food landscape will look like.

We can push back by ordering directly, by eating in when possible, and by supporting restaurants that maintain quality across all channels. The delivery economy will look like whatever we’re willing to pay for.