Food Trucks on Uber Eats and Deliveroo: Is It Really Worth It?

The Temptation of Delivery Platforms

Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Just Eat… These platforms boast millions of active users and promise immediate visibility. For a food truck looking to fill quiet slots or reach customers away from its usual locations, the argument seems compelling.

But the actual numbers are often less encouraging. Before signing up, you need to understand how margins work on these platforms — and why many restaurant operators end up pulling out.

How Commissions Work

This is the first thing to understand: platforms take between 25% and 35% of each order. This covers:

• Connecting you with the customer
• Payment processing
• Managing the delivery driver (for Uber Eats and Deliveroo)
• Access to the app and merchant dashboard

In practice, if you sell a meal for €12, you'll only receive €7.80 to €9 — before pulling a single ingredient. If your food cost already represents 30 to 35% of your sale price, there's almost nothing left to cover prep time, reinforced packaging and fixed costs.

Concrete example:

• Sale price: €12
• Uber Eats commission (30%): -€3.60
• Food cost (32%): -€3.84
• Delivery packaging: -€0.80
• Remaining margin: €3.76 — or 31% of the sale price

This is workable if your break-even point is low. It's dangerous if you have high fixed costs or significant vehicle finance payments.

Hidden Costs You Can't Ignore

Beyond the advertised commission, other factors eat into your margin:

1. Delivery-specific packaging Packaging that withstands 20 to 40 minutes of transport and maintains temperature costs more than standard containers. Allow €0.60 to €1.20 per order depending on the type of dish.

2. Dedicated preparation time Delivery orders arrive without warning, often in the middle of your physical service. Without specific organisation, they disrupt your normal flow, lengthen waiting times for customers present and create stress in the kitchen.

3. Payment delays Platforms pay out funds with a 7 to 14-day lag. For a food truck with tight cash flow, this is a factor to plan for in your financing.

4. Imposed promotions To appear at the top of search results, platforms strongly encourage participation in their promotional campaigns (20 to 30% discounts on certain time slots). These promotions are presented as optional, but refusing often means losing visibility.

When Delivery Is Genuinely Profitable for a Food Truck

Despite these constraints, some food truck profiles genuinely benefit from platforms. Here are the favourable configurations:

1. You have a central kitchen or fixed post

Delivery is far more profitable from a fixed post (business park, central kitchen, dark kitchen) than from a mobile truck. You avoid travel costs and can handle a higher volume of consecutive orders.

2. Your menu travels well

Some dishes don't survive delivery well (soggy chips, soggy paninis, sticky crêpes). If your menu is suited for transport — jarred salads, sauced dishes, burritos, sushi — you'll limit negative reviews and poor ratings that hurt your platform ranking.

3. You're targeting quiet slots

Delivery is a good complement for slots when you're not at your main pitch: evenings, weekends, rainy days. It shouldn't directly compete with your physical service.

4. You adjust your prices on the platform

A common and legitimate practice: increasing your prices by 15 to 20% on platforms to absorb the commission. Many customers accept paying a little more for the convenience of delivery. Check that the platform's terms allow it — they generally do.

Alternatives to Consider Before Signing Up

Before handing 30% of your turnover to a platform, explore these options:

In-house Click & Collect: offer advance ordering via your website, Instagram page or WhatsApp Business. Zero commission, direct payment, and you build a direct relationship with the customer. Tools like Sumup, Laddition or Innovorder offer low-cost modules.

Pre-order system for businesses: if you serve business parks, offer companies an advance group ordering system. You optimise your production and eliminate any third-party commission.

Direct partnership with a local courier: in some cities, cycling courier cooperatives charge commissions of 15 to 18%, well below the major platforms. A direct partnership can be more profitable and more ethical.

How to Decide Objectively

Before signing up, ask yourself these five questions:

• What is my average food cost? If you exceed 35%, platform delivery will be very difficult to make profitable.
• Do I have the capacity to handle orders on top of my physical service? If not, delivery risks degrading the experience for your on-site customers.
• Does my menu survive a 20 to 40-minute journey? If not, you'll accumulate bad reviews.
• Can I adjust my prices on the platform? A 15 to 20% price increase is often essential.
• Is my area well served by delivery drivers? In rural or suburban areas, platforms may lack available drivers.

FoodTracks lets you calculate your current break-even point and simulate the impact of an additional commission on your margins — without complex spreadsheets. 14-day free trial, no credit card required.

In Summary: Neither a Miracle Nor to Be Dismissed Outright

Delivery platforms are not a universal solution for food trucks. They can be useful as a complement to a well-established physical operation, with a suitable menu and adjusted pricing. They are risky as a primary channel if your margins are already tight.

The key: calculate your profitability before launching, test on a limited time slot, measure results over 4 to 6 weeks, then decide whether to maintain, adjust or stop.