Key takeaways
- Grab’s merchant page lists a 30% service fee on every GrabFood order, including self pick-up, plus GST on that fee. foodpanda shows its commission package when you register. Build your delivery prices on the rate in your own contract.
- Price each delivery item from its cost upwards: food cost, packaging and the contribution you want to keep, divided by what is left after commission and any promotion you fund.
- Leave off dishes that travel badly or cannot carry the mark-up. A smaller delivery menu is easier to price and to cook fast.
- Show customers the real price. Consumer and GST rules on price display apply to delivery listings and your own ordering page as well as your printed menu.
Last checked against Grab, foodpanda, CCS and IRAS pages: September 2026. Platform fees change, so confirm the rate in your own merchant agreement.
Why delivery prices need their own maths
Most restaurants set menu prices around dine-in costs: food cost, labour, rent and a target margin. A delivery order uses the same kitchen and ingredients but adds three costs that the dine-in price never had to carry: the platform’s commission, takeaway packaging, and a share of any discount the platform runs on your listing. If you copy your dine-in prices onto an app, those three costs come straight out of your margin.
The reverse mistake is just as common. Some owners add a flat percentage to everything, which overprices cheap items like drinks and sides and still underprices dishes with expensive packaging. A better approach is to price delivery item by item, using a simple formula, then check the results against what customers will actually pay. A delivery price level in the POS keeps those prices separate from dine-in. If you have not set a pricing method for your dine-in menu yet, start with our menu pricing strategy guide and come back to this one.
What a platform order actually costs you
The biggest number is the commission. Grab’s merchant page states that there is a service fee of 30% on all GrabFood and GrabMart orders, charged on every order through Grab, for both delivery and self pick-up, and that the fee is subject to prevailing GST. The same page lists a one-time activation fee of S$100 per outlet if you use your own Android device, or S$300 per outlet with a Grab Order Device that prints receipts (both before GST). Grab says the activation fee is offset against your future earnings rather than charged at sign-up. Our GrabFood merchant guide covers the rest of the onboarding.
foodpanda’s partner FAQ says it offers several commission packages, that they may be updated from time to time, and that the exact rate is shown in your package during registration. It does not publish a single rate, so use the figure in your signed agreement.
Two points are easy to miss:
- GST on the fee. If the platform charges GST on its service fee, the real cost is higher than the headline rate. If you are GST-registered, ask your accountant how to treat that GST in your returns. If you are not, it is simply a cost.
- Self pick-up is not free. On Grab’s stated terms, the 30% applies to self pick-up orders too, so a customer collecting at your counter through the app costs you the same fee as a delivered order.
A food delivery charge calculator you can run yourself
You do not need special software to work out delivery prices. For each dish, write down four numbers:
- Food cost: the ingredient cost of one portion, from your recipe costing.
- Packaging cost: container, lid, sauce pots, cutlery, bag and label for that dish.
- Target contribution: the dollar amount you want left over to cover labour, rent and profit. Use the same dollar figure the dish earns at dine-in, not the same percentage.
- Deduction rate: the platform commission plus GST on it, plus the average share of promotions you fund, as a percentage of the listed price.
Then: delivery price = (food cost + packaging + target contribution) ÷ (1 − deduction rate).
Here is a worked example with illustrative round numbers (not market data). For official market figures, see food delivery data for Singapore. A noodle dish has a food cost of $2.40, packaging of $0.60 and a dine-in contribution of $5.00 you want to protect. Your deduction rate works out at 35% once GST on the fee and a small promotion share are included. The delivery price is ($2.40 + $0.60 + $5.00) ÷ 0.65 = $12.31, so you would list it at around $12.30. If the dine-in price is $9.80, that is a mark-up of about 25%. The dish carries its own costs, and the mark-up is a result of the maths rather than a guess.
| Line | Illustrative amount |
|---|---|
| Food cost | $2.40 |
| Packaging | $0.60 |
| Contribution to keep | $5.00 |
| Subtotal you need back | $8.00 |
| Deduction rate (commission, GST on fee, promotions) | 35% |
| Delivery price = $8.00 ÷ 0.65 | $12.31 |
Run the same sum for every item and you will see quickly which dishes need a large mark-up to work. Those are the ones to question in the next section. The same logic works as a food delivery fee calculator for your own delivery channel: swap the platform commission for your courier cost per order and your payment processing fee.
Packaging: the cost people forget
Packaging is often the difference between a profitable delivery item and a loss-maker, especially for cheaper dishes where a few dollars of packaging is a large share of the price. Cost it per dish, not as an average. A dry rice box, a soup with a sealed lid and a separate sauce pot, and a dessert in a rigid container can have very different costs.
- Include everything that goes out with the order: containers, lids, cutlery, napkins, bags, stickers and seals.
- Re-check supplier prices each time you reorder. Packaging costs move, and a price that was right last year may not be now.
- Decide whether cutlery is included or opt-in. Asking customers to request it can reduce waste and cost.
Our takeaway packaging guide covers container types, food safety and how to choose packaging that keeps food in good condition.
Promotions and platform discounts
Platforms often invite merchants to join promotions, such as a percentage off, free delivery or a bundle price. When you fund part of the discount, it is another deduction from the listed price. Two habits stop promotions from quietly eating your margin:
- Price the promotion before you join. Take the delivery price, subtract your share of the discount, then subtract the commission. If what is left does not cover food cost, packaging and some contribution, the promotion is buying sales at a loss.
- Add an average promotion share to your deduction rate. If you run promotions for part of the month, spread their cost over all delivery orders. That is why the worked example above uses 35% rather than the bare commission rate.
Check how the platform counts commission during promotions. Whether the fee is calculated on the price before or after your discount changes the maths, so read your agreement or ask your account manager.
Which items to leave off the delivery menu
Not every dish belongs on an app. After running the calculator, go through the menu with these questions:
- Does it travel? Crisp fried items, dishes that go soggy, and anything plated for presentation can arrive in a state that earns bad reviews.
- Can it carry the mark-up? If a dish needs a price that customers will not pay, drop it, or rework the portion or packaging.
- Does it slow the kitchen? Dishes with long cook times or many components hold up delivery tickets during the dine-in rush.
- Is it a low-value add-on? Cheap drinks and sides may be better sold as part of a set than as single items with their own packaging.
Many operators end up with a delivery menu that is noticeably shorter than the dine-in menu, built around dishes that hold well and price well. For the operational side, from packing stations to rider hand-off, see our restaurant delivery operations guide.
Presenting price differences honestly
Charging more on delivery is a normal business decision. Hiding how you charge it is where problems start. The Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore’s Guidelines on Price Transparency apply to all suppliers, online or in physical stores. They say unavoidable or mandatory charges, such as taxes, surcharges and service fees, should be included in the headline price, or, where that is not possible, disclosed clearly and prominently with it. They also say discounts and strikethrough prices must be genuine and have a valid basis, and time-limited offers must state the period accurately.
In practice, that means:
- Build your delivery mark-up into the item price rather than adding a surprise charge at checkout.
- Do not show a crossed-out “usual price” that is really your inflated delivery price. A discount has to be against a price you actually charged.
- If your own ordering page adds a packaging or small-order fee, show it clearly before the customer pays.
- Consider a short note on your own site or menu, such as “Delivery prices differ from dine-in prices”, so regular customers are not caught out.
GST adds its own rule. IRAS says GST-registered businesses must display and quote GST-inclusive prices on price tags, advertisements and websites, with a fine of up to $5,000 for not complying. F&B outlets that genuinely impose a service charge may display prices before GST with a prominent statement such as “Prices are subject to GST and service charge”. That exception does not apply if you do not charge service charge, which is often the case for delivery and takeaway. Check how your delivery and online ordering prices are shown and confirm the position with IRAS or your accountant.
Your own ordering channel versus the apps
Platforms bring customers you might not reach on your own. See our foodpanda merchant guide for Singapore restaurants. Direct orders let you keep more of each sale. Many restaurants use both: apps for discovery, their own channel for regulars. Your own channel has its own costs, including payment processing, courier fees and marketing, so run the same calculator on it rather than assuming it is cheaper.
ChaChaCha gives you several direct routes. You can take orders through your own online ordering page, a mobile app, or QR pre-ordering where customers order, pay and collect. For your own delivery orders, ChaChaCha works with Lalamove. For platform orders, ChaChaCha integrates with GrabFood, so delivery orders come into the same POS and kitchen flow as dine-in. See our delivery integration and QR ordering pages for how that works.
Setting it up in your POS and reviewing it monthly
Delivery pricing is not a one-off job. Food costs, packaging prices and platform terms all change. Once a month, pull these from your POS and platform statements:
- Delivery sales by item and by channel, so you can see which dishes sell and where.
- Commission and fees actually deducted, compared with the rate you used in your calculator.
- Promotion cost for the month, to update your average promotion share.
- Food cost per item, from recipe costing, to catch ingredient price rises.
ChaChaCha deducts stock by recipe for each sale and gives you recipe costing per menu item, which keeps the food cost figure in your calculator current. Our POS reports show sales by item and channel. If you want separate price lists for dine-in and delivery on the same items, ask us to confirm how to set that up for your outlet. To talk through your delivery pricing, get in touch.
