For more than a decade, the math of third-party delivery has been simple and brutal: hand over 15% to 30% of every order to DoorDash, Uber Eats, or Grubhub, or don’t show up where your customers are looking for food. That math may finally be changing.
Olo, the restaurant technology company whose ordering and delivery infrastructure already powers more than 800 brands including Wingstop, Noodles & Company, Five Guys, and Shake Shack, just launched its first consumer-facing ordering app. The pitch is blunt: restaurants pay zero commission, keep their guest data, and customers see menu prices without the markups that third-party apps typically bake in. Instead of taking a cut from the restaurant, Olo charges consumers a delivery fee plus a 5% network fee. Early testing by Olo found orders through the new app running 15% to 30% cheaper than the identical order on a traditional delivery marketplace.
It’s a direct challenge to the business model that built DoorDash and Uber Eats into household names — and it’s worth understanding, whether or not you ever install the app.
Why This Is Landing Now
The timing isn’t an accident. Delivery commissions have been under a harsher spotlight than at any point since the apps went mainstream during the pandemic. In April 2026, the Federal Trade Commission voted to pursue a formal rulemaking process targeting “unfair or deceptive fees” in online food delivery — scrutinizing whether platforms clearly disclose the total price of an order, the existence and purpose of add-on fees, and whether in-app prices match what’s posted in the restaurant itself. That followed the FTC’s earlier $25 million settlement with Grubhub over claims the company misled consumers and restaurants about delivery costs and used deceptive tactics to list restaurants without their consent.
Meanwhile, the economics for restaurants keep getting worse to absorb. The National Restaurant Association reports that elevated food and labor costs are continuing to squeeze margins industrywide, with the median full-service restaurant earning under 3% of sales before taxes. On a business running that thin, a 25% to 30% commission on delivery orders isn’t a line item — it’s the difference between a profitable month and a loss.
What the Fees Actually Cost You
It’s worth laying out the real numbers, because headline commission rates understate the true cost:
- DoorDash offers tiered partnership plans running roughly 15% (Basic), 25% (Plus), and 30% (Premier), with higher tiers buying better placement and marketing support.
- Uber Eats mirrors that structure, charging 15% to 30% depending on plan tier.
- Grubhub charges 5% to 20% in marketing commission, plus a separate delivery fee (starting around 10%) if you use Grubhub’s own drivers rather than your own.
Layer on standard payment processing fees of 2% to 3%, and the effective cost of a delivery order frequently lands closer to 30% to 40% of the ticket — not the advertised rate. For a restaurant operating on a 3% to 5% net margin, that single order category can erase the profit on everything else you sell that day.
Is Olo’s App Actually a Fix?
It’s a meaningful option, but not a complete escape hatch — a few caveats matter before you get excited:
You need to already be an Olo customer, or sign up as one. The new app currently surfaces restaurants that run on Olo’s ordering platform. If you’re not already using Olo for your online ordering, joining the network is a separate decision with its own cost and integration work.
Consumer adoption is the real variable. DoorDash and Uber Eats have spent years and billions of dollars building habit and discovery. An app with zero commission for restaurants doesn’t help if customers don’t open it. Olo is launching with 250-plus recognizable brands to seed demand, but whether independent, non-chain restaurants get meaningful traffic from it remains to be seen.
It doesn’t replace the underlying decision about delivery. Zero commission on the platform fee doesn’t mean delivery is free — someone still pays for the driver, whether that’s baked into the consumer-facing delivery fee or absorbed elsewhere. The value here is restaurants getting back pricing control and guest data, not delivery becoming costless.
What to Do Right Now, Regardless of Which Apps You Use
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Audit your actual blended commission rate. Pull your last three months of delivery platform statements and calculate what you really paid as a percentage of order revenue, including any advertising or promotion fees — not just the headline commission tier. Most owners are surprised by the gap between the advertised rate and the real one.
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Push your own ordering channel harder. Whether through your website, a QR code on the table, or a platform like Olo, every order that comes through your own system instead of a marketplace keeps the full margin and the customer’s contact information in your hands. Use loyalty perks or modest discounts to steer repeat customers there.
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Watch the FTC rulemaking. If new disclosure rules take effect, delivery platforms may be required to show all-in pricing and itemized fees more clearly — which could shift how customers compare ordering direct versus through an aggregator. Keep an eye on the FTC’s official notice for the eventual proposed rule and comment period.
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Ask whether a lower-commission alternative fits your tech stack. If you’re already evaluating a POS or ordering system change, factor the emerging second-party options — Olo’s app among them — into that comparison rather than treating delivery marketplace fees as a fixed cost of doing business.
The Bottom Line
Olo’s move won’t dismantle DoorDash or Uber Eats overnight, but it’s a signal that the all-you-can-eat commission model restaurants have tolerated for a decade is finally facing real competitive and regulatory pressure. You don’t need to switch platforms today. You do need to know, with precision, what delivery actually costs your business — and to make sure every channel you can control is pulling its share of the weight before you hand another dollar to a marketplace that keeps the customer relationship for itself.
