The ₹300 order; full cost stack
Assume a ₹300 average order value (AOV), 30% recipe food cost, and a mid-tier independent outlet on standard terms. This is the stack before fixed costs (rent, salaries, utilities); contribution margin only.
| Line item | % of ₹300 | ₹ amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gross order value | 100% | ₹300 | Customer pays; GST handled per platform rules |
| Platform commission | 22-28% | ₹66-84 | Headline 18-24% + funded discounts + deal programs |
| Ad spend (attributed) | 3-5% | ₹9-15 | Visibility ads; divide weekly spend by order count |
| Packaging | 8-9% | ₹24-27 | Container, bag, cutlery, separators for gravies |
| Payment gateway | 1.8-2.2% | ₹5-7 | Deducted from settlement; rarely in the contract headline |
| Refunds / cancellations | 1.5-3% | ₹5-9 | Wrong item, late delivery, quality complaints |
| = Net revenue to restaurant | 58-65% | ₹174-195 | Cash you recognise before food cost |
| Food cost (30% of GMV) | 30% | ₹90 | Recipe cost at standard portions |
| = Contribution margin | 12-22% | ₹36-66 | What's left to cover fixed costs + profit |
Commission; the number that isn't the number
Contract commission for independents in 2026 typically shows 18-26%. Effective commission; what actually leaves your settlement; is higher because you fund customer-side discounts, participate in platform deal programs, and sometimes run visibility ads bundled into the account. For a detailed negotiation playbook, see Zomato and Swiggy commission: what to negotiate.
- Low effective rate (20-24%); high-volume single outlet, minimal discount participation, negotiated slab, low ad spend.
- Mid effective rate (24-28%); typical casual dining; some mandatory programs, moderate ads.
- High effective rate (28-35%); cloud kitchen, heavy deal participation, aggressive ad spend, new outlet without leverage.
Packaging; the line owners underestimate
Packaging is not a rounding error. Gravy dishes need two-container setups; biryani needs foil lining; beverages need separate bags. At ₹24-27 per ₹300 order, packaging is 8-9% of GMV; comparable to payment gateway plus refunds combined. Cloud kitchens budgeting ₹12 per order are under-costing by 40-60%.
- QSR (burger, wrap, bowl); ₹15-22 per order.
- Casual dining (curry + rice, combo); ₹22-30 per order.
- Biryani / multi-item; ₹28-38 per order.
Ad spend; the hidden per-order cost
Zomato and Swiggy ads are often managed as a monthly budget, but for unit economics you need per-order attribution. Divide weekly ad spend by order count: ₹12,000/week on 400 orders is ₹30/order — 10% of a ₹300 AOV. Cap total platform take (commission + ads + funded discounts) at 32% of GMV. Pause keywords below 1.5× ROAS; most accounts overspend on branded terms that would convert organically.
GST; neutral on margin, real on cash
GST is collected from the customer and remitted to the government — it does not change contribution margin on the P&L. But input tax credit timing and aggregator settlement lag (T+7 to T+14) create a 0.5-1.5% cash drag that owners miss when modelling per-order profit. Set aside output GST weekly in a separate account; do not treat it as operating cash.
Payment gateway and refunds
Payment gateway (1.8-2.2% of GMV) is deducted automatically; it rarely appears in the commission line on your dashboard. Refunds are worse because they're lumpy: one bad weekend with 8% refund rate on a high-volume outlet can wipe a week's aggregator profit. Track refunds weekly, not monthly; menu items with >4% refund rates need recipe or packaging fixes, not more ads.
Three scenarios on the same ₹300 order
| Scenario | Effective commission | Packaging | Contribution (₹) | Contribution % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optimised outlet | 22% | ₹22 | ₹68 | 23% |
| Typical casual dining | 26% | ₹26 | ₹48 | 16% |
| Cloud kitchen (heavy promos) | 32% | ₹32 | ₹22 | 7% |
All three assume 30% food cost and 2% combined gateway + refunds. The optimised outlet negotiated commission, trimmed discount programs, and standardised packaging. The cloud kitchen scenario is common for year-one outlets chasing visibility; 7% contribution cannot carry ₹4-6L monthly fixed costs at any realistic order volume.
What to do with this number
- Calculate true contribution per order; export 30 days of settlement data. Divide net settlement by orders. Subtract food cost and packaging. That's your real per-order margin.
- Set a floor; if contribution per order is below ₹25 on your highest-volume SKU, raise aggregator menu price or redesign the dish for packaging.
- Split P&L by channel; dine-in and aggregator have different unit economics. Blended food cost % hides aggregator losses.
- Revisit quarterly; commission slabs, ad spend, and refund rates shift. A Q1 model that's accurate is wrong by Q3.