Uber Eats for restaurants: the real costs

Where all those conflicting percentages come from

Blogs quote 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% for Uber Eats, often in the same breath. Most of that confusion traces back to the US, where Uber Eats runs three pricing plans (Lite, Plus, and Premium), and plenty of writers copy those US percentages without checking. For a restaurant in Haarlem or Hoofddorp, those numbers don't mean much.

The only source that matters is Uber Eats' own merchant page for this market. Everything in this guide comes from there, with the caveat that Uber can change these rates. Always check the current page before you sign.

The three rates on the merchant page

Uber Eats charges a different percentage of your revenue depending on how the order is fulfilled:

• Uber delivers: 30% per order, rising to 33% when the customer is an Uber One member
• You deliver yourself: 14% self-delivery fee (the page lists 12% for Uber One members)
• Pickup: 14% pickup fee

The activation fee almost nobody mentions

Beyond the commission, Uber Eats charges a one-time activation fee of €400. You don't pay it upfront: Uber deducts it from your revenue over the first 8 weeks, capped at €50 a week. In exchange, the page says you get menu setup, professional photography, a window sticker, a welcome pack, and a training session.

€50 a week sounds manageable, but it means your first two months on the platform are, by default, more expensive than every month after. Factor that in if you're evaluating a trial period.

What 30% looks like on an ordinary night

A €30 order with Uber handling delivery costs you €9.00 in commission. If the customer is an Uber One member, that's €9.90. Twenty such orders on a Friday night means you're handing over roughly €180 to €198, before you've even accounted for ingredients, staff, or rent.

Deliver it yourself through the platform, and Uber keeps €4.20 on that same €30 order. That's less, but you're also covering the delivery yourself: someone on a bike, in the rain, during your busiest hour.

For comparison, that same pickup order through your own website costs you €0.32 per iDEAL transaction with a payment provider like Mollie. On €30, that's about 1% instead of 14% or 30%. For how the math looks with the largest player in this market, see what Thuisbezorgd costs a restaurant.

What you get for that commission

To be fair, Uber Eats does deliver something for it. You're in an app where people are already scrolling while hungry, you don't have to hire your own drivers, and payment is handled. For a new place with no name recognition yet, that reach can genuinely be worth something.

The downside is that the customer relationship stays with Uber. You get no email address, can't send anyone an offer, and build nothing that stays yours. Every regular who keeps ordering through the app keeps costing you commission, every time.

The middle path: platform for new customers, your own channel for regulars

It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Many restaurants use Uber Eats for discoverability with new customers and steer regulars toward their own site: a flyer with the order, a card at the counter, a line on the receipt. Every order that shifts from 30% to €0.32 is straight margin.

For how to set that up in practice without upsetting the platform, see running your own website alongside the platform.

Where these numbers come from, and what we couldn't verify

The percentages and the €400 activation fee come directly from Uber Eats' partner pricing page for this market (checked September 2026). The iDEAL price comes from Mollie's pricing page.

What we couldn't verify: whether negotiated rates exist for chains or large accounts, and exactly how the Uber One percentages are applied per order. Numbers that only appear on aggregator blogs, we're deliberately not repeating here as fact.