Most restaurant owners know marketplace commission is high. Far fewer have worked out what it costs them over a year, which is the number that actually matters when deciding whether to push customers toward direct ordering.
What the headline rates look like
Marketplace commission typically lands between 25% and 30% on delivery orders, with a lower rate for collection. On top of that sit card processing fees and, in some cases, a fee for being shown higher in the listings.
What that means per year
Take a kitchen doing €8,000 a month through a marketplace at 28% commission. That is €2,240 a month, or €26,880 a year, handed to the platform. The question worth asking is not whether that is a lot, but how much of that volume could be taken directly instead.
- €8,000/month at 28% marketplace commission: €26,880 a year
- Half that volume moved to direct ordering: roughly €13,440 of commission back in play
- What you actually keep depends on the direct rate you agree — which is the number worth negotiating
The part that is not about money
Commission is the visible cost. The invisible one is the customer relationship: on a marketplace, the order history, contact details, and repeat-purchase behaviour belong to the platform. When you own the storefront, that data stays with the business, and returning customers cost nothing to reach.
Where marketplaces still make sense
Discovery. A marketplace is a good way for new customers to find you the first time. The mistake is leaving repeat customers there — they already know your name, and every subsequent order through the platform pays a discovery fee for a discovery that already happened.