What a Wolt order really leaves you
A burger priced a euro higher on Wolt can still leave €2.25 less per order. Here is how to work out what each delivery order is actually worth.
Most kitchens raise their delivery prices to cover the platform's commission, then stop thinking about it. The menu price is higher, so the delivery order must be fine. Often it isn't.
The useful number is not food cost percentage. It is contribution: what is left from one order after the food, the packaging and the platform have been paid. That is the money that pays rent and wages.
One burger, two channels
Take a Classic Smash burger. The recipe costs €2.51 to make at current supplier prices. In the restaurant it sells for €8.50. On Wolt it sells for €9.50. All prices here are without VAT, and we use a 30% commission as an example. Your own contract sets the real rate.
| Per burger | Dine-in | Wolt |
|---|---|---|
| Menu price, ex VAT | €8.50 | €9.50 |
| Platform commission (30%) | – | −€2.85 |
| Packaging | – | −€0.40 |
| Plate cost | −€2.51 | −€2.51 |
| Contribution | €6.00 | €3.75 |
The Wolt price is a euro higher, and the burger still leaves €2.25 less. Commission is charged on the higher price, so part of every price increase goes to the platform too.
The question isn't "is delivery profitable?" It's "how much less does each delivery order leave, and is the extra volume worth it?"
What price would match dine-in?
To leave the same €6.00 on Wolt, the price has to cover packaging, plate cost and the €6.00, after the 30% commission is taken off:
(€6.00 + €0.40 + €2.51) ÷ 0.70 = €12.73
Few kitchens can charge that. That is fine. Delivery can be worth doing at a lower contribution if it brings orders you would not otherwise get and uses kitchen time that would be idle. But it should be a decision you make with the numbers in front of you.
Set a target and check it every month
A practical approach is to set a contribution target for delivery as a percentage of the delivery price, for example 38%. Then the minimum Wolt price for a dish is:
(packaging + plate cost) ÷ (1 − commission − target)
For the Classic Smash that is (€0.40 + €2.51) ÷ 0.32 = €9.09, so €9.50 passes. For a Double Smash with a plate cost of €3.96 it is €13.63, so a €12.90 price fails. When beef goes up, this is exactly the dish that falls below target first.
Three things to check in your settlement statements
- The effective commission. Divide total fees by total order value. Promotions and marketing fees often push it above the contract rate.
- Refunds and missing items. They come off the payout and are easy to miss.
- Which dishes sell on delivery. The delivery mix is often different from the dining room, so the average margin can be lower than you expect.
Do this once by hand and you will see where delivery helps and where it hurts. FoodNormIQ does it every morning, for every dish and every channel, as supplier prices change.