Delivery Margins: Contribution, Markup and Fixed Costs
Understand contribution per order and monthly operating results with worked margin, markup and break-even examples using editable restaurant costs.
Content updated October 18, 2026. Fee-reference dates are shown separately.
Separate the calculations first
Revenue is gross sales. Contribution per order remains after variable costs and applicable fees. It must still cover subscription and fixed expenses. Estimated monthly operating results include those entered costs but do not replace accounting.
Contribution = price − ingredients − packaging − commission − applicable payment fee − tax − merchant-funded promotions − applicable delivery − other per-order costs.
Monthly result = contribution × orders − applicable subscription − fixed costs. Monthly operating margin = monthly result ÷ monthly revenue.
Example: a R$40 order and 350 monthly sales
This illustrative example uses R$12 ingredients, R$2 packaging, 6% tax, reference commission of 12%, reference online rate of 3.2%, all orders paid online, and R$1,500 monthly fixed costs. There are no additional delivery costs, promotions or other expenses. Replace these assumptions with your business figures.
- Commission / order
- R$ 4.80
- Payment / order
- R$ 1.28
- Tax / order
- R$ 2.40
- Contribution / order
- R$ 17.52
- Contribution margin
- 43.80%
- Monthly platform fees, including subscription
- R$ 2,238.00
- Subscription applied once
- R$ 110.00
- Monthly operating result
- R$ 4,522.00
- Monthly operating margin
- 32.30%
- Sustainable break-even
- 92 orders
The subscription is charged once. R$110 divided by 350 is approximately R$0.31 per order, but multiplying R$0.31 by 350 returns only R$108.50. The monthly calculation retains the full R$110; the average is for display only.
Calculate your contribution and monthly result
Margin and markup are different
Margin divides results by revenue. Markup multiplies a clearly defined cost base. A 2× markup on R$20 produces a R$40 price, but does not automatically mean 50% profit: fees and other expenses may remain.
When subscription changes break-even
The revenue threshold uses price × orders in the entered scenario. Crossing it may introduce a cost jump. Sustainable break-even is the smallest volume after which modeled results remain nonnegative; a negative contribution may make it unreachable.
Assumptions to review
- Public rates are references. Check commission, calculation base, payments, subscription and threshold in the restaurant agreement.
- Percentage tax and promotions use the entered gross price. Promotions represent only the merchant-funded share.
- The online mix estimates equal-value orders. Own card-terminal payments may have a different fee, entered under other costs.
- The calculation does not reconcile statements, refunds, different basket values, unentered wastage, subsidies or specific tax regimes.
- With no orders, monthly margin is unavailable. Fixed costs remain in monthly results. Invalid data is never silently converted to zero.
Financial definitions: Sebrae — calculating break-even.