What DoorDash costs a Tampa restaurant, and what Zayos costs instead.
Published July 2026 · Updated July 26, 2026
DoorDash charges Tampa restaurants 15%, 25% or 30% commission on delivery orders and 6% on pickup, depending on the plan. Once promotions and refunds stack, the real blended cost usually lands between 25% and 35% of food sales. Zayos charges a flat $499 to $699 a month per location.
Where does the money go on one Tampa order?
A $46 dinner order, three items, the kind a Hyde Park or Seminole Heights kitchen sends out fifteen times on a Friday. The restaurant is on the Plus plan at 25%, the most commonly signed of the three. Every deduction below is either a published rate or a stated modeling assumption.
- Menu subtotal, three items $46.00
- DoorDash commission, Plus plan at 25% of subtotal - $11.50
- Promotions and sponsored placement, modeled at 4% of marketplace sales - $1.84
- Refunds and order-error adjustments, modeled at 1% - $0.46
- What the restaurant actually receives $32.20
- Food cost at 30% of the $46 menu subtotal - $13.80
- Left for labor, rent, utilities, packaging and profit $18.40
Two numbers in that table are identical, and it is worth sitting with. On a $46 Tampa dinner order at the 25% plan, DoorDash takes $13.80 and the food costs $13.80. The platform earns exactly what the ingredients cost, and it never turned on a burner.
The diner side is worse than it looks from inside the kitchen. On top of that $46 subtotal the customer pays a delivery fee, a service fee that scales with the order, and tax, and in most cases the menu prices themselves were raised to survive the commission. So the diner spends well over $46 while the restaurant nets $32.20. Everybody is unhappy except the party in the middle.
What does that add up to over a Tampa year?
Commission only, before promotions and refund adjustments, at a $34 average ticket. Find your monthly marketplace order count across the top and your plan down the side.
| Plan | 800 orders a month | 1,500 orders a month | 2,500 orders a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic 15% delivery, 6% pickup | $4,080 a month, $48,960 a year | $7,650 a month, $91,800 a year | $12,750 a month, $153,000 a year |
| Plus 25% delivery, 6% pickup | $6,800 a month, $81,600 a year | $12,750 a month, $153,000 a year | $21,250 a month, $255,000 a year |
| Premier 30% delivery, 6% pickup | $8,160 a month, $97,920 a year | $15,300 a month, $183,600 a year | $25,500 a month, $306,000 a year |
Basis: DoorDash’s published US partnership plan rates, a $34 average ticket, and the marketplace order counts in the header row. Commission only. Promotions, sponsored placement and refund adjustments are additional and are what push the real number toward a 25% to 35% blended rate. Verify against your own merchant statement.
Same volume on Zayos: $499 to $699 a month per location, flat, at 800 orders or 2,500. That is the entire pricing model. The full national breakdown is on how much DoorDash charges restaurants, and the head-to-head is on Zayos versus DoorDash.
What does DoorDash cost beyond the commission line?
Five costs that never appear as a percentage on the plan page. Four of them are money. The fifth is worth more than the other four combined.
Menu inflation, and the orders it quietly costs you
Most operators raise app prices to survive the commission. That is a second cost, paid in conversion rather than in dollars, and it shows up as a lower order count rather than a line on a statement.
Promotions and sponsored placement
Ads and promotions sit on top of commission, not inside it. They are also the lever the platform suggests when your volume dips, which is exactly when you can least afford another percentage point.
Refunds and error adjudication
A missing side or a cold entree gets refunded, and the charge lands on the store. You are not in the room when that decision is made.
Pickup is not free
Pickup commission runs 6% on the published plans. That is a fee on an order where the platform did no driving, on a customer who was already standing in your doorway.
The customer stays theirs
You do not get the email or the phone number, so you cannot bring that diner back without going through the platform again. This is the cost that compounds, and it never appears on any invoice.
Why does this land harder in Tampa than in a flat market?
Because a percentage fee is a tax on your best month and a fixed problem in your worst one. Tampa Bay’s revenue year is front loaded. January brings Gasparilla and a full house of seasonal residents. February and March bring Grapefruit League baseball to Tampa, Clearwater, Dunedin and Bradenton, plus spring break and a street race that closes downtown St. Petersburg. That is when the commission bill is largest in absolute dollars, because that is when you are selling the most.
Then August arrives. Covers fall, rent does not, and a percentage-based fee gives back only in proportion to the volume you already lost. Meanwhile hurricane season is running from June 1 through November 30, and a closure week still generates refund adjustments on orders placed before you shut the doors.
A flat subscription flips the shape of the cost. It is at its most expensive in your slowest month and its cheapest, per order, in your busiest. The full month-by-month picture is on the Tampa Bay hub.
Questions Tampa owners ask about DoorDash fees
How much does DoorDash charge a Tampa restaurant?
Is DoorDash pickup free for restaurants?
How do I lower my DoorDash commission?
Should a Tampa restaurant leave DoorDash completely?
What would that same volume cost on Zayos?
What happens to commission when a hurricane closes my store?
Do you have Tampa restaurants on Zayos today?
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