Online ordering for restaurants runs through a delivery app like Uber Eats or DoorDash, which takes a commission on each order. Or it runs through your own website, with card fees and a system cost but no commission. Published app commissions run from 6% on pickup to 30% on delivery.

Syndicate builds online stores for neighbourhood shops, cafés and restaurants, so we have a stake in how you sell online.

What do Uber Eats and DoorDash charge a restaurant in Canada?

DoorDash’s Canadian merchant page, checked October 26, 2026, lists three plans. DoorDash charges 20%, 25% or 29% on delivery orders, depending on the plan, and 10% on pickup orders on Basic or 8% on Plus and Premier. DoorDash calculates the commission on the order subtotal. Our page on ordering without a commission shows the alternative for a storefront.

Uber Eats doesn’t publish one Canadian rate card, so we used Deliverect’s Uber Eats guide for restaurants, updated October 3, 2025. Deliverect, a company that connects restaurants to delivery apps, lists 15%, 25% or 30% on delivery orders by plan, and 6% on pickup. Check these against your own Uber Eats agreement, since Deliverect notes that local rules can change them.

DoorDash’s pickup rate comes with a condition. To get it, your pickup menu prices on DoorDash have to match your in-store prices, according to the same DoorDash page. You can’t add a markup on the app to cover the commission on pickup orders.

How much commission do you pay on a real order?

The table shows the commission on three order sizes for delivery orders: a $30 lunch, a $60 dinner for two and a $250 holiday catering order.

On a $250 catering order, delivery commission runs from $37.50 on Uber Eats Lite to $75 on Uber Eats Premium. As a pickup order, you’d pay $15 in commission at Uber Eats’ 6%, and $20 or $25 on DoorDash.

When the same $250 order comes through your own website, you pay a card fee and no commission. At a rate like Shopify Basic’s 2.8% plus 30 cents, that’s $7.30. You still pay for the ordering system itself, so your saving depends on how many orders go through it each month. Our breakdown of what an online store costs shows those costs.

What do the delivery apps do well?

Delivery apps bring you customers who have never heard of you. Someone scrolling Uber Eats on a Friday night can find your restaurant without knowing your name, and that discovery is worth paying for. The apps also bring drivers, so you can deliver without hiring anyone or checking your car insurance.

Use the apps to win first orders. The cost adds up on repeat customers, who already know you, and on big orders like catering, where a percentage commission grows with the bill.

You can keep the apps for discovery and give regulars a reason to order direct. Put a card in every bag with your own ordering link or a QR (quick response) code. Under DoorDash’s pickup terms you can’t charge more on the app, but you can offer something on your own site, like a free side on direct pickup orders.

How do you set up your own online ordering before the holidays?

Start with pickup. You already have a counter and staff, so pickup orders need nothing new except a shelf and a routine. Our guide to how pickup orders work in a local shop covers the shelf, the ready message and the cut-off times.

Then add catering. Put your party trays and family meals online with the notice you need (for example, 48 hours) and a deposit or full payment at checkout. Customers planning a party order days ahead, which suits a prepaid catering form.

Delivery can come last. If you want to deliver yourself, pick a small radius and a flat fee that covers the trip, and talk to your insurer before the first run.

Where do these numbers come from?

DoorDash’s rates come from its own Canadian merchant page, which shows no date, so we recorded the day we checked it: October 26, 2026. The Uber Eats rates come from Deliverect, a third party, whose guide sits on its Canadian site but doesn’t say the rates apply only to Canada. We did the arithmetic in the table ourselves.

We checked these rates in October 2026. Delivery apps change their plans, so confirm them at the linked pages and in your own agreement before you decide.

How does Syndicate set up online ordering for a restaurant?

With Syndicate, we build your restaurant’s own online ordering, with pickup at the counter. When you want it, you can add delivery at a flat rate you set, within a radius you choose. You pay no commission on those orders, and you keep every customer’s name and email, so you can contact your regulars yourself.

Le Kioko, a sushi restaurant in Montreal, used to rely on delivery apps. It now takes 40% of all its orders through the ordering system we built, and has made $100K in sales through it over more than 12 months.

We include QR codes, checkout signage and staff prompts for your counter and bags, and every store comes with a French version. Once we have your menu and everything else we need, we can have it ready in as little as 7 to 10 days. It starts from 500 CAD a month, financed over one year, and you own it.

Would it be a bad idea to take your holiday catering orders without a commission? Book a free demo or call 1-844-404-4796.