Food delivery commission calculator (India)

The real cost of food delivery in India

Most restaurant operators anchor on the headline commission percentage — 18%, 22%, whatever their platform agreement states. The actual deduction from every order is higher. In India, platforms charge GST at 18% on their own commission — so a 22% commission becomes an effective 22% + 3.96% (18% GST on 22%) = ~26% off the order value, before payment gateway fees (typically 1.5–2%) and any ad spend. On a ₹300 order, that is roughly ₹84–90 in deductions before you account for food cost and packaging.

At a food cost of 30% (₹90) and packaging of ₹15, your contribution per order is ₹300 − ₹90 − ₹15 − ₹84 = ₹111 (37%) — that needs to cover all your fixed costs (rent, labour, utilities) before it becomes profit. For a cloud kitchen doing 100 orders/day, that is ₹11,100 in gross contribution to cover fixed costs that might run ₹60,000+/day. The math is tighter than the headline commission rate suggests.

Ad spend and the true acquisition cost

Platform ad spend (Swiggy Ads, Zomato Ads) is often budgeted separately from commission but belongs in the per-order cost. Divide your monthly platform ad spend by your monthly order count on that platform to get an ad cost per order. For many restaurants doing moderate volumes, this adds ₹15–50 per order — enough to push a marginally profitable delivery channel into loss. Inputting this in the calculator gives you the true all-in cost of each order.

When to list on fewer platforms

Multi-platform listing is not automatically better. If platform A has a 22% commission and platform B has 18%, but platform A sends 5× the orders, the aggregate margin on A may be higher in absolute rupees. Use the comparison here to find which platform gives the best contribution per order, then weight your pricing, menu, and ad spend to push volume on the most profitable channel. Some restaurants are better served by two platforms (or one + direct) than three, because the incremental orders from the third don't justify the operational complexity and the marketing spend required to maintain visibility.

Where this fits

• Recipe cost card — the food cost % you enter here should come from your recipe cost cards; if you do not have accurate per-dish food costs, the contribution margin calculation is guesswork
• Food cost calculator — after a month of delivery orders, use this to verify that your actual food cost % matches the recipe-card assumption in this calculator
• Prime cost calculator — delivery contribution margin is the revenue side; prime cost tells you whether COGS + labour is sustainable at the order volumes you are running
• Monthly P&L statement — aggregate delivery revenue (net of platform deductions) should appear as a separate revenue line in your P&L; keeping it separate from dine-in shows the contribution margin per channel
• Menu engineering matrix — combine this delivery margin analysis with your menu matrix to identify which Stars can sustain the aggregator deduction and which Plowhorses lose money on delivery
• P6 — Unit economics pillar — all articles on food cost, prime cost, breakeven and per-channel profitability for Indian restaurant operators