Written for owners of restaurants, cafes and coffee shops, bars, takeout and delivery kitchens, food trucks and bakeries with seating in the US, with state detail for California, Texas, New York and Florida.
The short version
- Send regulars to your own ordering first.It is the channel you control most. Keep your Google Business Profile current and reply to every review.
- Record each platform's effective commission monthly.Work out what each platform really costs you against your own ordering. In New York City, check each fee line against the caps.
- Ask every guest for an honest review.Never tie a reward to the rating. The FTC bans rewards that depend on a positive review.
Delivery apps and reservation platforms bring guests, but they charge for it and they set the terms. The work is to put the channels you control first, move regulars toward your own ordering, read the platform contracts properly, and build reviews honestly.
Channels in order of control
- Your own site and online ordering.The channel you control most. Send regulars here first.
- Google Business Profile.Current hours and menu, and a reply to every review.
- Instagram and TikTok.Next in order of control, ahead of the reservation and delivery platforms.
- Reservation platforms.They charge cover fees or subscriptions, so count them in your cost per cover.
- Delivery platforms.Record the effective commission every month against your own online ordering.
Private events and catering orders carry the best margins. Each month, track check average, covers per seat per day, review rating and count, the share of online orders that come direct, and your effective platform commission.
Read the platform contract
- Look for price parity, who bears refunds and missing-item chargebacks, marketing deductions, tablet and promotion fees, and the exit notice.
- Exclusivity with price parity: compare it with your own ordering margin, and have a commercial attorney read it before you sign.
- California: a platform needs a written agreement with you before it lists or takes orders for your restaurant (Bus. & Prof. Code 22598).
- New York City: fee caps generally limit delivery fees to 15%, basic service to 5%, enhanced service to 20% and transaction fees to 3% (Admin. Code 20-563.3). As of Oct 2026.
| Delivery fee allowed at the 15% cap on $30,000 of orders | $4,500 |
| Excess charged above the cap (7 points) | $2,100 |
| Delivery fee on the statement at 22% | $6,600 |
The statement charges the whole 22% as the delivery fee, so 7 points are above the 15% cap. Basic service, enhanced service and transaction fees have their own caps, so check which line each charge sits on before you dispute it. The owner disputes the $2,100 a month in writing and reports it to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. As of Oct 2026.
Reviews
Fake reviews, incentives conditioned on a positive review, and suppressing negative reviews are banned, with civil penalties per violation. Non-disparagement clauses in form contracts are void.
FTC Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule, 16 CFR Part 465 (465.4 on incentives); Consumer Review Fairness Act
An incentive conditioned on sentiment is banned by the FTC's reviews rule. Asking everyone, with nothing tied to the score, is allowed.
Texts and email
Texts sent using an autodialer or a prerecorded or artificial voice generally need the recipient's prior express written consent, subject to exceptions. Commercial email must follow the CAN-SPAM rules on identification, headers, address and opt-out.
47 CFR 64.1200(a)(2); CAN-SPAM Act
Your own ordering only wins if everyone can use it. If a screen-reader user cannot complete an order, that can bring an accessibility demand letter, so have the site and ordering app audited against WCAG 2.1 AA and keep the audit and fix log.
Asked in Greymill
The cap: NYC generally limits delivery fees to 15% (As of Oct 2026).
Allowed: 15% x $30,000 = $4,500
Charged: 22% x $30,000 = $6,600
Over the cap: $2,100 a month, or $25,200 a year if it continues
Check first: basic service, enhanced service and transaction fees have their own caps. Confirm the whole 22% really sits on the delivery fee line.
Then: dispute the $2,100 in writing and report it to the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.
Every month: record each platform's effective commission, meaning what it really costs you. And keep sending regulars to your own ordering, the channel you control most.
Share the statement and I'll draft the dispute letter for you to send.
Ask it about your own business
Paste this into Greymill with your own figures, and Sales & Quotes works it through for your business.
I run a restaurant, cafe or bar in [state], in the US. Last month we took [amount] through our own online ordering, [amount] through [platforms] at commissions of [rates], and [amount] in dine-in sales, with a review rating of [rating] from [count] reviews. Work out the effective commission and cost per order by channel, check the platform statements against any local fee caps, and draft a plan and a table card to move regulars to direct ordering and ask for honest reviews.
More for restaurants, cafes and bars in the US
- Pricing a plate to a food cost target and knowing your breakeven coversSet menu prices from plate cost, judge dishes by dollars of contribution, watch prime cost, and show any mandatory fee the way your state requires.Read the lesson
- Keeping cash flowing when sales tax, payroll tax and gift cards are not really yoursCard money arrives daily, but part of it belongs to the state, the IRS or a gift card holder, and a 13-week model keeps it apart and shows an expensive advance for what it is.Read the lesson
- Claiming the FICA tip credit and taxing service charges correctlyYou pay payroll tax on your servers' tips and can claim most of it back through the 45B credit, while a mandatory service charge changes both your sales tax and your payroll.Read the lesson
- Opening, buying or keeping a liquor license, and staying clear of dram shop claimsThe permits around a liquor license, how a transfer works when you buy a licensed business, and what server training and your state's dram shop law mean for your risk.Read the lesson
- Buying a restaurant or signing a lease without inheriting someone else's debtsThe lease, vendor and purchase terms that sink restaurants, and the notices that stop a buyer inheriting the seller's unpaid sales tax.Read the lesson
- Paying servers right: tip credits, tip pools and service charges in your stateYour state, and sometimes your city, decides the tipped wage, who can share the pool and how a service charge is paid, and mistakes come back with liquidated damages.Read the lesson
- A failed inspection, an allergic reaction or an incident after drinks: the first 24 hoursWhat to fix, keep and say, and who to call, when an inspector, an allergic guest, an injured third party or a demand letter puts the business at risk.Read the lesson
Open the interactive lesson · Every restaurants, cafes and bars lesson · What Greymill knows about the trade
Sources
The primary sources behind this lesson, checked Oct 2026.
- Admin. Code 20-563.3(a) to (e), amended by Local Law 79 of 2025 (Delivery platforms and winning trade)
- Bus. & Prof. Code 22598 (Delivery platforms and winning trade)
- 16 CFR Part 464 (Surcharges, service charges and price display)
- Fla. Stat. 509.214(1)(b), (2) to (4) (Surcharges, service charges and price display)
- Gen. Bus. Law 518 (2024 amendment) (Surcharges, service charges and price display)
- 12 CFR 1005.20; 15 U.S.C. 1693l-1 (Surcharges, service charges and price display)
- 16 CFR 465.2 and 465.4 (Surcharges, service charges and price display)
- 15 U.S.C. 45b (Surcharges, service charges and price display)
- 2010 Standards 226.1, 902.3; 42 U.S.C. 12182, 12188 (ADA, unruh and accessibility claims)
- Civ. Code 52(a); 55.56(a) to (g) (ADA, unruh and accessibility claims)
- opinion (ADA, unruh and accessibility claims)
- 28 CFR 35.200 (ADA, unruh and accessibility claims)