Setting different menu prices for delivery versus in-store dining starts from a cost already on the payout: DoorDash takes a percentage of the order subtotal, and Uber Eats charges a marketplace, self-delivery, or pickup fee by plan (US merchant pricing pages, read 11 October 2026). This worksheet keeps dine-in, pickup, and delivery on one row per item, turns a contribution you choose into a delivery price, and holds the pickup price to the in-store price where the card requires that match.
The guide to restaurant delivery apps explains how each channel takes its cut. This page is the arithmetic for delivery menu pricing and pickup menu pricing once you already have orders. Which dining-room dishes belong on that menu is a separate trial: keep, change, or hold.
Before filling the food component of F, use the food cost percentage formula and menu engineering comparison to cost the ingredients and distinguish their ratio from contribution.
- Record the subtotal the percentage uses, the rate after any introductory period, packaging, and food and labor.
- Solve for the delivery price that leaves the contribution you chose.
- Keep app pickup prices equal to in-store prices when you want the published pickup rate.
What the worksheet records for one item
One row is one item on one channel. Contribution is what remains from that item’s subtotal after the channel rate, any processing charged outside that rate, packaging, and food and labor. Rent, DoorDash’s optional tablet at $6 a week after the trial, promotions you turn on, and refunds come off the week after you add the rows.
| Column | What you write | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| S | Menu subtotal for this channel | The price the percentage uses |
| r | Rate after the introductory period | The plan card, then one payout |
| T | Processing or courier amount charged outside r | The payout, or the published processing line |
| P | Packaging for this order | Your packaging invoice, counted per order |
| F | Food and labor for the item | Recipe cost |
| C | Contribution you want left on this order | The target you set for the item |
Takeaway: Fill S, r, T, P, and F for the channel before you compare a delivery price with the dining-room price.
Which rate do you type into the sheet
Type the rate that applies after the introductory period. On the DoorDash US cards read 11 October 2026, Basic shows 0% for the first 7 days, and Plus and Premier show 0% for the first 30 days, then the delivery and pickup rates in the table. Uber Eats shows a 0% intro rate for 30 days on Plus and Premium, then the marketplace fee on the card. A menu priced at the intro rate falls short on the first order after that window ends.
Channel types sit under delivery operations. The rates below are the published US cards for DoorDash and Uber Eats on 11 October 2026. For any other app, leave r blank until a payout shows the percentage.
| Channel on the published card | Rate you type as r | Condition published with that rate |
|---|---|---|
| DoorDash delivery, Basic | 15% of the subtotal | After the 7-day intro. The partnership plans are shown for restaurants with 75 or fewer US locations. |
| DoorDash delivery, Plus | 25% | After the 30-day intro |
| DoorDash delivery, Premier | 30% | After the 30-day intro. The Premier card also states a commission refund for a month with fewer than 20 accepted orders. Read the current conditions before you count that refund as income. |
| DoorDash pickup, every listed plan | 6% | DoorDash pickup menu prices match in-store prices, and the merchant terms are met |
| DoorDash Online Ordering | 0% commission | A payment processing fee still applies. The pricing page does not print the processing amount, so take T from your statement. |
| Uber Eats Marketplace, Lite | 20% marketplace fee | Pickup on the same card is a separate row |
| Uber Eats Marketplace, Plus | 25% after 30 days at 0% | Uber One orders add a further 5% |
| Uber Eats Marketplace, Premium | 30% after 30 days at 0% | The card includes Uber One at no additional cost |
| Uber Eats pickup, marketplace plans and self-delivery | 7% | Card label: with validated in-store pricing |
| Uber Eats self-delivery | 15% self-delivery fee | Orders your own staff deliver |
| Uber network courier while you are on self-delivery | 25% | Farther orders, or a shift your staff does not cover |
| Uber Direct | Leave r at 0 and put the courier fee you pay into T | The card says the fee starts at $7.99 per delivery. The invoice shows the amount on that order. |
| Uber Webshop | 0% commission | Processing is 2.5% of the order plus $0.29, so t = 0.025 and f = 0.29 in the formula below |
DoorDash states that marketplace commission includes credit card processing, so T is 0 on DoorDash marketplace rows. The same page states there is no activation fee, subscription fee, software fee, or cancellation fee. Optional extras stay off the per-order rate: the tablet at $6 a week after the trial, and promotions or sponsored listings you turn on.
The Uber Eats page text saved on 11 October 2026 stops after the sentence that Uber Eats charges customers a delivery fee from factors such as location, nearby couriers, and activity on the platform. Open the current pricing page for your city and replace any row that page has changed.
Takeaway: Use the post-intro rate for the channel that will carry the order, and keep that row’s pickup price condition attached to it.
How to reverse a target contribution into a menu price
When processing outside the rate is a fixed amount, or zero:
S = (C + T + P + F) / (1 − r)
When processing is a percentage t plus a fixed amount f, as on Uber Webshop (t = 0.025, f = 0.29):
S = (C + f + P + F) / (1 − r − t)
The stand-in uses round dollar inputs so you can audit the division. Replace every input with your dish and your statement.
| Input | Stand-in dollars | Your figure |
|---|---|---|
| C, contribution you want | 4.00 | |
| r, post-intro delivery rate | 0.25 | |
| T, processing outside r | 0 | |
| P, packaging | 0.80 | |
| F, food and labor | 7.00 |
S = (4.00 + 0 + 0.80 + 7.00) / (1 − 0.25) = 11.80 / 0.75 = 15.733…
A menu price of 15.74, rounded up to the next cent, carries a commission of 3.935. Then 15.74 − 3.935 − 0.80 − 7.00 = 4.005, which clears the 4.00 target. A price of 15.73 lands a fraction under 4.00, so the sheet rounds the solved price up to the cent and checks C again.
Food and labor for a dish comes from recipe costing, which sits with menu planning. For a drink, use the recipe and the current bottle cost from the counts in the bar inventory software guide.
The 0.25 in the stand-in matches the post-intro delivery rate DoorDash prints for Plus and the post-intro marketplace fee Uber Eats prints for Plus. Your row uses the rate for the plan on your account. On Uber Eats Plus, add the further 5% on Uber One orders when the payout shows that line, and rerun the formula with the combined rate.
Takeaway: Solve for S from the contribution you want, round up to the next cent, and rerun the contribution on that rounded price.
Where discounts, refunds, and customer fees go
DoorDash describes the restaurant charge as a percentage of the subtotal. The saved pricing pages do not state whether a discount you fund reduces that subtotal before the percentage runs. Fill these three columns from one real payout before you publish the solved price:
| Extra column | What you copy from the payout |
|---|---|
| Discount base | Whether the percentage used the price before your discount or the price after it |
| Refund | The refund dollars, and whether the commission came back with them |
| Customer delivery fee | Uber Eats states that it charges the customer a delivery fee. Leave this at zero unless the payout deducts that fee from you. |
Promotions, sponsored listings, and the DoorDash tablet fee stay on a weekly line under the item rows. That keeps a weekly charge from being baked into every item price.
Takeaway: Publish the solved price after one payout shows the discount base, the refund treatment, and any customer fee that hit the deposit.
How to keep dine-in, pickup, and delivery prices in step
DoorDash’s pricing page says you can set different prices for delivery orders. The 6% pickup rate requires those pickup prices to match in-store prices. Uber Eats labels the 7% pickup fee with validated in-store pricing. Build the delivery price from the reverse formula. Set pickup equal to the in-store price when you want those pickup rates.
| Step | What you compare | Pass condition |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | In-store price for the item and each priced add-on | Written down, with the date |
| 2 | Pickup price on each app | Equal to that in-store price |
| 3 | Delivery price | The solved S for that app’s post-intro delivery rate |
| 4 | A modifier that changes the subtotal | Its own solved S at the same r, because the commission dollars move with the subtotal |
| 5 | Merchant portal versus the in-store list | Both opened on the same day |
| 6 | An account with one price field for pickup and delivery | The conflict is written down before you edit: pickup wants the in-store price, and the delivery contribution wants the solved price |
Write each item in one pattern so the in-store list and the app list stay comparable. The cocktail menu design guide shows that pattern for drinks. Drink-service guides sit under beverage service.
Takeaway: Match pickup to the in-store price, put the solved price on delivery, and record the day you compared the portal with the dining-room list.
What one payout has to confirm
Change one item first. Read the next payout for that item before you edit the rest of the menu. Where the money on an order goes names the fee types on a marketplace order. Neighboring tasks are collected with the operational guides.
| Payout line | Worksheet cell it fills |
|---|---|
| Subtotal the percentage used | S |
| Percentage deducted | r |
| A processing line separate from that percentage | T |
| Refund, and whether commission returned | Refund column |
| A promotion you funded | Weekly line, outside C |
DoorDash Premier’s card states a commission refund in a month with fewer than 20 accepted orders. Uber Eats Premium states a marketplace-fee reimbursement when you receive fewer than 20 orders in a month, for the first 6 months, if cancellations or missed orders stay under 3 and the store is online at least 95% of the hours set in Uber Eats Manager. Those credits stay off the item price. Read the current conditions on the day you sign up, because the saved Uber page also ties the clock to the first full month on the platform.
Takeaway: Edit the wider menu after one item’s payout matches the row you solved.
When this worksheet stops
- The cards above are the US pages read on 11 October 2026. A store outside that scope uses the card for its own country.
- DoorDash’s published partnership plans cover restaurants with 75 or fewer US locations.
- Alcohol delivery rules stay with your state and local authority. This sheet prices an item you already sell for delivery. Drink cost still comes from the recipe and the bottle cost.
- Re-read the pricing page on the day you change menu prices. The cards move.
Takeaway: Price from the card that applies to your store on the day you edit the menu, and leave alcohol delivery rules with the authority that issues them.
How we checked this
We compiled this worksheet on 11 October 2026 from DoorDash’s US merchant pricing page and Uber Eats’ US merchant pricing page. A direct fetch of the DoorDash page was blocked, so the plan cards, the subtotal wording, the pickup price condition, and the $6 tablet amount come from the full page text saved that day. Uber Eats returned HTTP 406 to a direct fetch, so the marketplace, self-delivery, Uber Direct, and Webshop figures come from the page text saved that day, which stops after the customer delivery-fee sentence. We did not run orders on either platform. The 4.00, 0.80, 7.00, and 15.74 figures are arithmetic checks you replace. About states who publishes this independent site.
Takeaway: Treat the rates as dated card readings, and treat the solved price as your own inputs run through the formula.
