A pizzeria in Amsterdam was pulling €12,000 monthly from Thuisbezorgd but losing €800 every month after calculating true costs. Many restaurant owners keep struggling with unprofitable delivery because they fear losing revenue. Here's how to decide objectively if stopping makes financial sense.
Calculate your actual margin per platform
You need clear numbers for smart decisions. Most entrepreneurs focus on revenue and ignore hidden costs that destroy profitability.
💡 Example calculation Thuisbezorgd:
Order of €25.00 (incl. 9% VAT)
- Revenue excl. VAT: €22.94
- Platform fee 25%: €5.74
- Food cost (35%): €8.03
- Packaging: €0.80
- Labor (30 min at €15/hour): €7.50
Total costs: €22.07 | Profit: €0.87 (3.8%)
The hidden costs of delivery platforms
Platform fees are just the beginning. These additional costs eat your margins alive:
- Packaging costs: €0.50 - €1.20 per order
- Extra labor: packing, labeling, standing by for delivery driver
- Higher food cost: smaller portions are often more expensive per gram
- Returns and complaints: cold pizzas, wrong address
- Marketing fees: paid promotions to stay visible
⚠️ Watch out:
Platform fees increase regularly. What was still profitable last year might be unprofitable now. Check your numbers every 3 months.
Recognizing the right moment to stop
Sometimes less revenue but higher profit beats volume. These signals indicate stopping might be your smartest move:
- Structurally negative margin: 3 months straight of losing money on delivery orders
- Team burnout: delivery pressure destroys your in-house service quality
- No optimization time: you can't invest in better processes
- Brand damage: cold delivery food hurts your reputation
One of the most common blind spots in kitchen management is continuing unprofitable channels because the revenue looks impressive on paper. But revenue without profit kills restaurants faster than no revenue at all.
💡 Calculation example stopping:
Restaurant with €8,000 delivery revenue per month:
- Current loss: €400/month (5% negative margin)
- Freed up time: 40 hours/month
- Focus on in-house: +€1,200 additional revenue possible
- In-house margin: 15%
Result: €400 loss gone + €180 extra profit = €580/month better off
Middle-ground alternatives to complete shutdown
Stopping doesn't mean all-or-nothing. These compromise solutions often work better:
- Raise minimum order: only accept orders above €35
- Limited hours: deliver only during quiet periods
- Own delivery: bypass platform fees with your drivers
- Pickup only: use platforms for marketing, customers collect themselves
- Price adjustment: 15-20% higher prices on platforms
Managing the emotional challenge
Letting go of revenue feels terrifying, even when you're bleeding money. This fear is completely normal. Many entrepreneurs cling to unprofitable channels because shrinking feels like failure.
⚠️ Watch out:
€10,000 revenue with €500 loss is worse than €8,000 revenue with €200 profit. Focus on the bottom line, not on revenue.
Explaining the decision to your staff
If you decide to stop, your team needs to understand why. They see vanishing revenue, not vanishing losses:
- Show the real numbers: what delivery actually cost you
- Explain your plans for the freed-up time
- Highlight opportunities: better focus on dine-in customers
- Stay honest: it was tough but necessary
How do you decide step by step?
Calculate your actual costs per platform
Add up: platform fee, packaging, extra labor and higher food cost. Compare this with your revenue excl. VAT per order. Do this for at least 50 recent orders to get a reliable picture.
Analyze 3 months of data
Look at the trend: is it getting better or worse? Are there certain times or order sizes that are profitable? One bad month is different from structural loss.
Calculate the alternative scenario
How much time and energy is freed up if you stop? What can you earn with that capacity from in-house guests? Calculate what stopping actually costs or saves you per month.
Test a middle ground first
Try raising the minimum order or limiting hours first. Watch for 4 weeks what this does to your margin and workload. You can always stop completely later.
Make the decision and communicate clearly
If the numbers justify stopping, do it. Communicate to your team and possibly regular customers why you're making this choice. Be transparent about the business reasons.
✨ Pro tip
Track your delivery performance for exactly 8 weeks before making the final call. If you're still showing negative margins after 2 months of optimization attempts, stopping becomes a financial necessity rather than a choice.
Calculate this yourself?
In the KitchenNmbrs app you can do this in just a few clicks. 7 days free, no credit card.
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Frequently asked questions
What if I'm afraid of losing revenue by stopping?
Revenue loss feels scary, but unprofitable revenue destroys your business. Focus on profit per euro of revenue, not total revenue. €8,000 revenue with €200 profit beats €10,000 revenue with €500 loss every time.
Can't I just raise my prices on the platform?
You can try, but test carefully. A 15-20% increase usually works fine with customers. More than 25% difference from your regular prices can scare customers away and hurt your platform ranking.
How do I know if my calculation is accurate?
Add everything up: platform fee + packaging + extra labor time + higher food cost. Compare with revenue excluding VAT. If you're under 5% margin, it's usually unsustainable long-term.
Should I stop both platforms simultaneously?
Not necessarily - analyze each platform separately. Uber Eats and Thuisbezorgd have different fee structures and customer behaviors. One might be profitable while the other bleeds money.
📚 Sources consulted
- EU Verordening 852/2004 — Levensmiddelenhygiëne (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 853/2004 — Hygiënevoorschriften voor levensmiddelen van dierlijke oorsprong (2004) — Official source
- EU Verordening 1169/2011 — Voedselinformatie aan consumenten (2011) — Official source
- NVWA — Hygiënecode voor de horeca (2024) — Official source
- NVWA — Allergenen in voedsel (2024) — Official source
- Codex Alimentarius — International Food Standards (2024) — Official source
- FSA — Safer food, better business (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- BVL — Lebensmittelhygiene (HACCP) (2024) — Official source
- Warenwetbesluit Bereiding en behandeling van levensmiddelen (2024) — Official source
- WHO — Foodborne diseases estimates (2024) — Official source
Food Standards Agency (FSA) — https://www.food.gov.uk
The HACCP standards shown in this application are for informational purposes only. KitchenNmbrs does not guarantee that displayed values are current or complete. Always consult the FSA or your local authority for the latest regulations.
Written by
Jeffrey Smit
Founder & CEO of KitchenNmbrs
Jeffrey Smit built KitchenNmbrs from 8 years of hands-on experience as kitchen manager at 1NUL8 Group in Rotterdam. His mission: give every restaurant owner control over food cost.
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