Delivery apps solved a real problem for Karachi's cloud kitchens and small restaurants: they brought a ready-made customer base and a payment and logistics rail you did not have to build yourself. The tradeoff is commission, and if you do not understand how it interacts with your food cost, it can quietly turn a seemingly healthy order into a loss.

How Commission Actually Works

When a customer pays a set price for a plate through the app, the platform takes its commission off that gross order value before you see any payout. Commission rates commonly cited in the 25-30% range are typical for the Pakistani market, though the exact number depends on your specific vendor agreement, city tier, and any promotional campaigns you have opted into. That percentage is taken off the top — before you have paid for chicken, oil, packaging, gas, or labor.

Why This Hits Chicken-Based Menus Hardest

Chicken items — biryani, BBQ, karahi, burgers — are the backbone of most Karachi delivery menus, and chicken is usually the single largest ingredient cost on the plate. If your chicken cost per portion is not tightly controlled, commission compounds the pressure on an already thin margin. A five or ten rupee swing in your per-kg chicken rate, multiplied across a busy day of orders, can be the difference between a profitable week and a break-even one.

Menu Pricing That Accounts for Commission

Many first-time cloud kitchen owners price their app menu the same as their walk-in or WhatsApp menu, then wonder why margins vanish. A more sustainable approach is to build your app-menu pricing around your target margin after commission, not before it — treating commission as a real cost of doing business on that channel, the same way you would treat rent or gas.

Control What You Can: Raw Material Cost

You cannot change the app's commission rate on your own, but you can control what you pay for chicken. Sourcing from a supplier with transparent, daily market-linked wholesale rates — rather than a vendor who quotes inconsistent prices — means your food cost calculations stay accurate, and you can adjust app-menu pricing proactively rather than discovering a margin problem after the fact.

Diversify Beyond a Single App

Relying entirely on one platform leaves you exposed to their commission structure and algorithm changes. Building even a modest direct-order base through WhatsApp or Instagram — covered in more detail in our companion piece on Foodpanda vs direct orders — gives you an escape valve where you keep the full order value.