Commission is the line item every operator sees. But the real cost is what you don't see — lost customer data, suppressed margins, and a brand you don't control.
Every major third-party delivery platform takes a percentage of every order. For multi-unit brands, these percentages translate to millions in lost margin every year.
For a 50-location brand doing 20 orders per location per day at a $35 AOV, that's $3.15M–$5.67M per year in commission alone.
Commission is the obvious cost. These four are the ones that compound silently.
Every order through a third-party platform generates a customer profile that belongs to the platform, not you. You can't retarget, remarket, or build loyalty. Over 3 years, a 50-location brand loses 10M+ customer records to platforms.
Most brands mark up menu prices 15–20% on third-party platforms to offset commissions. Customers notice. 67% of diners say they'd order directly from a restaurant if the prices were the same.
On DoorDash, your brand listing sits next to competitors' paid ads, ghost kitchens, and virtual brands. You pay the commission — and fund your competition's visibility.
DashPass, Uber One, and Grubhub+ train customers to be loyal to the platform, not your brand. When a customer orders through DoorDash, they earn DoorDash rewards — not yours.
For a 50-location brand · 20 orders/location/day · $35 AOV · 30% commission:
This is why the fastest-growing enterprise brands are moving to first-party.
DoorDash charges 15–30% per order, Uber Eats charges 15–27%, and Grubhub charges 5–20% plus additional pay-to-play advertising fees. For a multi-unit brand, these commissions can total millions per year.
Beyond the 15–30% commission, restaurants lose customer data ownership (no access to names, emails, or order history), face menu price inflation (15–20% markup to offset fees), brand dilution from competing ads on their listings, and loyalty cannibalization from DashPass.
A 50-location brand doing 20 orders per location per day at $35 AOV on DoorDash (30%) pays approximately $3.78 million per year in commission. Over 3 years, that is $11.34 million. On OPA!, the same brand pays $0 in commission.
The most effective approach is switching to a commission-free marketplace like OPA!, which charges $0 per order, gives restaurants 100% of customer data, and includes native loyalty at checkout. OPA! integrates with Toast, Square, and Olo in 48 hours.
No contracts. Live in 48 hours. Zero commission from day one.