Written by: JJ Tan, Founder, Jelly
How UK Cafés Use Commission Tracking To Protect GP
- Café delivery commission tracking means logging, auditing and reconciling fees from Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat to protect gross profit.
- Effective commission rates often reach 30–40% once VAT and hidden fees are included, so accurate tracking keeps delivery profitable.
- Operators using Jelly have achieved 2–3% higher gross profits on delivery menus by setting separate pricing targets for each channel.
- The process uses POS integration, supplier invoice scanning and weekly payout reconciliation to keep dish costing and GP% visibility accurate.
- Talk to Jelly’s team to automate commission tracking, cut admin time and protect margins across all delivery platforms.
What You Need Before You Start Tracking Commissions
Set up a few core tools before you build a delivery commission tracking workflow.
- Active partner accounts on Deliveroo Partner Hub, Uber Eats Restaurant Manager and Just Eat Partner Hub, with admin access to download CSV payout reports
- A POS system that connects to Jelly via real-time API, with setup usually taking about five minutes
- A Jelly subscription (£129 per site per month, flat rate) to automate invoice scanning, live dish costing and delivery-menu duplication
- Supplier invoices routed to Jelly’s dedicated email address or photographed into the platform so ingredient costs stay live while you build menus
Confirm your POS is supported and get your account live within a week.
Why Delivery Commission Tracking Protects Your Margin
A 25% headline commission becomes about 30% in cash terms once 20% VAT is applied. That VAT is reclaimable by any VAT-registered business, which is compulsory if turnover exceeds the £90,000 threshold but possible on a voluntary basis below it. Additional fees and refund clawbacks that appear in the following week’s payout can push the effective cost of a delivery order to 30–40% of order value.
Sushi Revolution, a South London restaurant using Jelly, sets separate target gross profits for dine-in and delivery menus to account for 30% delivery commissions. That approach delivers actual gross profits 2–3% higher on average. When a POS connects to Jelly, weekly reconciliation time drops sharply and, across Jelly’s customer base, operators consistently add 2 percentage points to gross margin within the first three months.
To build an effective tracking system, you need a clear view of each platform’s real commission structure, starting with Deliveroo.
Deliveroo Commission Structure For UK Cafés
Deliveroo’s UK commission rates usually range from 25% to 35% for independent operators using Deliveroo riders, with self-delivery dropping to around 14%. At a standard 30% commission, adding 20% VAT on that fee produces an effective rate of about 36%.
The table below compares headline rates, VAT-adjusted effective rates and hidden fees across the three main platforms. Focus on the “Key Hidden Fees” column to spot costs that do not appear in your initial contract but still reduce your payout.
| Platform | Headline Rate (platform delivery) | +VAT Effective Rate | Key Hidden Fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deliveroo | 25–35% | ~36% at 30% base | refund clawbacks, optional marketing |
| Uber Eats | 20–30% (Lite/Plus/Premium tiers) | ~36% at 30% base | £650 activation fee (ex VAT), refund deductions |
| Just Eat | 14% (own drivers) / 30% (Just Eat network) | ~16.8% at 14% base | onboarding fee (often waived) |
How Just Eat Commission Works For Cafés
Just Eat charges 14% commission plus VAT when restaurants use their own drivers, and 30% commission plus VAT when Just Eat’s courier network handles delivery. The platform charges 20% VAT on all commission fees. Just Eat uses a weekly payment schedule, which keeps payout timing predictable. Reconciling Just Eat payouts means matching the net bank deposit against the Partner Hub CSV and accounting for refunds and promotional adjustments deducted before settlement.
Knowing the commission rate only solves half the problem. You also need to convert that rate into delivery prices that protect the same gross profit as your dine-in menu.
How To Set Food Delivery Prices That Protect GP
The core formula for setting a delivery price that protects the same gross profit as a dine-in price is:
Delivery price = base dine-in price ÷ (1 − commission rate)
To check whether a dish stays profitable after a payout, calculate food cost percentage on the net receipt, not the gross order value.
Example: a café sells a lunch plate at £12.00 dine-in. At 30% Deliveroo commission the net receipt is £8.40. If ingredient cost is £2.80, food cost on net receipt is 33%, which sits above a typical target for a 30% commission channel. The delivery price must be £12.00 ÷ 0.70 = £17.14 to restore the original margin.
The sample tracking table below shows the payout audit structure Jelly automates. The “Variance” column highlights hidden deductions that push your net receipt below the expected commission rate, so weekly checks catch margin leaks early.
| Order ID | Expected Commission | Actual Payout | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| DRV-00412 | £3.75 (25% of £15.00) | £10.50 | £0.75 under (refund clawback) |
| UBR-00891 | £6.00 (30% of £20.00) | £14.00 | £0.00 |
| JE-00234 | £2.10 (14% of £15.00) | £12.40 | £0.50 under (admin fee) |
Step-by-Step Workflow: Tracking Delivery Commission With Jelly
- Log commissions and ingredient costs in Jelly. Route all supplier invoices to Jelly via email or photo. Jelly scans every line item automatically, so ingredient costs feeding into dish GP calculations stay current. In the Jelly dashboard, tag each delivery platform as a separate income and expense code. Jelly’s Xero integration then pushes digitised invoices directly to your accounting software, which removes manual data entry.
- Audit weekly payouts from each platform. Download the weekly CSV from each platform’s Partner Hub. Reconcile each platform independently. Match order IDs to payout line items, check the commission rate against your contracted rate and flag any refund deductions for orders the kitchen fulfilled correctly. Commission rates actually applied per order can exceed the contracted tier because of plan changes or order-type misclassification. Sampling 10–15 orders per week and dividing platform commission by order subtotal reveals these discrepancies quickly.
- Build commission-adjusted delivery menus in Jelly Cookbook. Open the Cookbook section and duplicate the existing dine-in dish. Add a commission overhead line using the formula above. Jelly displays a live GP% that updates every time a new supplier invoice is scanned. When the GP% turns red, the delivery price needs adjusting before the next menu push. Sushi Revolution uses this workflow to achieve the margin gains described earlier.
Common Commission Tracking Mistakes And Fixes
- Spreadsheet drift. Manual commission logs fall out of sync within days of a supplier price change. Jelly updates ingredient costs with every new invoice, so dish GP on the delivery menu reflects today’s prices, not last month’s.
- Missed refund clawbacks. Uber Eats may deduct refunds given to customers on the merchant’s behalf from the payout. These appear in the next payout rather than the original order week, which creates phantom revenue in the POS. Flag these in the payout audit in step 2 and match them to the originating order.
- Incorrect POS-to-dish mapping. Jelly’s POS-to-dish linking only surfaces items sold since the integration was connected, which keeps the mapping clean. The main friction point is missing admin access to the POS account. Jelly flags this requirement upfront so it does not slow setup.
How To Measure Whether Your Tracking System Works
Three metrics show whether the tracking system protects your margins.
- Weekly GP% per delivery channel. Jelly’s Flash Report shows gross profit by channel daily, weekly or monthly, giving you a live view of whether delivery pricing protects margins. If GP% stays consistent week over week, your commission-adjusted prices are holding. If it drifts downward, a supplier price increase or commission change has eroded your margin and the delivery menu needs repricing.
- Hours saved. Jelly automates 10–20 hours of monthly admin across invoice entry, dish costing and reconciliation. Track time spent on delivery admin before and after implementation to quantify the saving.
- Price-alert response time. Jelly’s Price Alert feature flags every ingredient price movement. Faster supplier negotiations, measured in days rather than weeks, protect delivery-menu margins before the next payout cycle.
See the Flash Report and Price Alerts in action with £129 per site and one-week onboarding.
Advanced Jelly Features That Grow Delivery Margin
Once the core tracking workflow runs smoothly, several extensions deepen the margin gains.
- Five-minute POS integration. Open Jelly, click Integrations, sign in to your POS, grant permissions and select which POS categories to sync. Item-level sales data then flows into Jelly in real time and powers the Sales Mix report, which shows which delivery dishes are both popular and profitable.
- Xero push. One-click export of digitised invoices into Xero cuts bookkeeping time by about 90% and creates the clean audit trail HMRC requires Reporting Platform Operators to retain platform sales and due diligence records for five years after the end of the Reportable Period.
- Price alerts for supplier negotiation. Every commission-adjusted delivery dish has a food-cost ceiling. When a supplier raises an ingredient price and Jelly flags it, the Price Alert provides concrete evidence to negotiate a credit note or switch supplier before the delivery menu goes underwater.
Request our free commission-tracking template to start auditing payouts manually before you automate the full workflow.
FAQ
What is the true cost of Deliveroo commission for a UK café in 2026?
Most independent UK cafés on Deliveroo’s standard full-service tier pay 25–35% commission per order. Once 20% VAT on the commission fee is added, the effective cash cost at a 30% base rate is about 36%. As explained earlier, VAT is reclaimable by VAT-registered businesses. The all-in effective rate for a typical independent café using Deliveroo riders can reach 35% or more of order value before food, packaging or labour costs.
Can I charge different prices on delivery platforms than in my café?
Yes. UK operators can set higher prices on Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat than on their dine-in menu. Most operators raise delivery-menu prices by 10–25% to offset commissions. The standard formula is: delivery price = dine-in price ÷ (1 − commission rate). Jelly’s Cookbook makes this straightforward. Duplicate a dine-in dish, add the commission overhead line and the live GP% updates instantly. Sushi Revolution uses this approach to achieve the results described in the “Why This Process Matters” section.
How do I audit whether a delivery platform has applied the correct commission rate?
Download the weekly CSV from each platform’s Partner Hub. For a sample of 10–15 orders, divide the commission deducted by the order subtotal and compare the result with the contracted rate in your fees agreement. Rates above the contracted tier can occur because of plan changes, promotional tiers or order-type misclassification. Refund deductions for orders the kitchen fulfilled correctly appear in the following week’s payout rather than the original order week, so reconcile each platform’s payout report independently against your POS delivery orders and bank deposit. Jelly’s automated invoice and payout logging creates a running audit trail that surfaces variances without manual spreadsheet work.
How much time does delivery commission tracking take without software?
Manual reconciliation across three platforms, including downloading CSVs, matching order IDs, checking commission rates and logging refund clawbacks, usually consumes 10–20 hours per month for a single-site café. Dish costing in spreadsheets adds further time. On average, costing a single menu item manually takes 28 minutes. Jelly cuts dish costing to about 3 minutes per item and automates the invoice-to-GP workflow, saving the equivalent of 10–20 hours of monthly admin and freeing that time for service and growth decisions.
Conclusion: Turn Commission Tracking Into A Weekly Habit
Cafe delivery commission tracking works as a weekly operational discipline that protects gross profit on every order sent through Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat. The workflow has three stages. Log commissions in real time as invoices arrive. Audit each platform’s payout against contracted rates and flag clawbacks. Then build commission-adjusted delivery menus in Jelly’s Cookbook so GP% stays visible before a price goes live.
Jelly automates every stage of that workflow at the flat rate described earlier, with one-week onboarding. POS integration takes five minutes. Xero pushes happen in one click. Price alerts surface supplier increases in the same week they occur. Operators consistently add 2 percentage points to gross margin within three months.
Stop losing margin to untracked commissions and see how Jelly fits your café.