How Much Does UberEats Really Cost Restaurants in Australia?

The headline number: 25-35% commission

UberEats charges Australian restaurants between 25% and 35% of every order. The exact rate depends on which plan you choose and whether you can negotiate, but most independent restaurants end up paying around 30%.

On a $40 order, that is $12 going straight to UberEats before you have paid for ingredients, staff, rent, or electricity.

But the headline commission rate is not the full story. The real cost of UberEats is higher than 30%, and most restaurant owners do not realise it until they sit down with their accountant at tax time.

The costs nobody talks about

Tablet rental fees

UberEats provides a tablet to receive orders. Some plans include it, others charge a weekly rental fee of $5-$10. That is $260-$520 per year for a device you could buy outright for $200.

Marketing and promoted listings

Want to appear at the top of search results in the UberEats app? That costs extra. Promoted listings typically run 5-15% of the order value on top of your existing commission. So your 30% just became 35-45%.

The catch: as more restaurants pay for promotion, unpromoted listings get pushed further down. It becomes a tax you pay just to maintain your existing visibility, not to grow.

Refunds and cancellations you absorb

When a customer claims an order was wrong or never arrived, UberEats often deducts the refund from the restaurant. Even when the issue was a delivery driver problem. You have limited ability to dispute these deductions, and the process is frustrating and time-consuming.

Menu price inflation

Many restaurants raise UberEats prices 15-30% above dine-in prices to offset the commission. Customers notice. This damages your brand perception and makes your restaurant look expensive compared to competitors who do not use delivery apps.

Customer data you never see

UberEats owns the customer relationship. You do not get customer email addresses, phone numbers, or ordering history. You cannot send promotions, loyalty rewards, or even a thank-you message. Every customer interaction goes through UberEats, not through you.

Real dollar impact on an average Australian restaurant

Let us do the maths for an independent restaurant doing $8,000 per week through UberEats (which is modest for a busy venue).

Cost item	Weekly	Annual
Base commission (30%)	$2,400	$124,800
Promoted listings (~5%)	$400	$20,800
Tablet rental	$8	$416
Refund deductions (~2%)	$160	$8,320
Total cost to UberEats	$2,968	$154,336

$154,336 per year. That is 37% of your UberEats revenue going to UberEats. On typical restaurant margins of 5-10%, you are likely losing money on every UberEats order after accounting for food cost and labour.

The margin maths that matters

A typical independent restaurant operates on 5-10% net profit margins. Let us say yours is 8%.

On a $40 order with 8% margin, your profit is $3.20.

After UberEats takes their 30% ($12), your revenue is $28. Subtract your costs ($36.80 in food + labour + overhead on a $40 menu price), and you are at -$8.80. You lost $8.80 fulfilling that order.

This is not hypothetical. This is the basic maths that thousands of Australian restaurant owners face every day. The only way it works is if UberEats drives enough additional volume to cover the loss, which for most independent restaurants, it does not.

What are the alternatives?

You have three realistic options:

1. Negotiate your rate. Worth trying, but independent restaurants rarely get below 25%. The savings are marginal.

2. Use UberEats for delivery only, handle direct orders yourself. This is the smart play. Keep UberEats for customers who want delivery (where you cannot compete on logistics), but move dine-in and pickup orders to a direct ordering channel where you keep your revenue.

3. Replace UberEats entirely with direct ordering. If most of your orders are dine-in or pickup, you may not need UberEats at all. A direct ordering page like Windsor Digital costs 2% per transaction instead of 30%. On $8,000 per week, that is $160 instead of $2,400.

A side-by-side comparison

	UberEats	Windsor Digital
Commission	25-35%	2%
Monthly fee	Varies by plan	$0
Setup fee	$0	$0
Contract	Often required	None
Customer data	UberEats owns it	You own it
Your branding	Minimal	Your name, your logo
Setup time	1-2 weeks	10 minutes
Delivery included	Yes	No (dine-in + pickup)

UberEats makes sense when you need delivery logistics. For everything else, there are better options that keep more money in your pocket.

The bottom line

UberEats costs Australian restaurants 30-37% of order revenue when you include all fees. On $8,000/week, that is over $150,000 per year.

For delivery, it may be a necessary cost. For dine-in and pickup, it is revenue you are giving away for no reason. Direct ordering alternatives exist that cost a fraction of that.