Vendor pricing · verified September 2026
New York City's delivery commission cap in 2026
New York City is the largest US market with a permanent cap on what DoorDash, Uber Eats and Grubhub can charge a restaurant. The cap, made permanent in August 2021 and written into Administrative Code section 20-563.3, is 15% of the order for delivery, 5% for all other services such as listing and marketing, and a 3% pass-through for card processing: 23% in total. In 2025 the Council changed the structure. Int 762-B, passed May 1, 2025 and enacted as Local Law 2025-79 after the mayor returned it unsigned on June 2, 2025, keeps those caps for a basic plan but lets a platform charge up to an additional 20% for enhanced services, so long as it also offers the capped basic plan that includes delivery and listing. The most a restaurant can now agree to pay is 43%.
Sources: New York City Council press release of August 26, 2021; Int 762-B / Local Law 2025-79 as recorded at intro.nyc; Restaurant Business coverage of the May 1, 2025 vote. Read September 2026. This page describes the law; it is not legal advice.
What the cap allows, line by line
New York City's cap is unusual in that it got looser rather than tighter. The 2021 law set a hard ceiling: 15% for delivery, 5% for every other service a platform provides, and a 3% pass-through for card processing. Twenty-three per cent, full stop, with no tier a restaurant could be talked into that went above it. For four years that was the most protective arrangement in the country.
Local Law 2025-79 changed the shape of it. The 15%, 5% and 3% caps survive, but only as the ceiling on a basic plan. Above that, a platform may now charge up to an additional 20% for what the law calls enhanced services, on the condition that it also offers the capped basic plan including delivery and listing. The bill passed the Council on May 1, 2025 and became law on June 2 when the mayor returned it unsigned.
So the number a New York restaurant should carry in its head is no longer 23%. It is two numbers: 23% if you stay on the basic plan, and up to 43% if you accept everything on offer. Which of those you are paying is a choice, but it is a choice that gets made during a sales conversation rather than announced on an invoice.
| Charge | Cap | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery | 15% of the order | basic plan |
| All other services (listing, marketing, etc.) | 5% | basic plan |
| Card processing | 3% | pass-through |
| Enhanced services | up to an additional 20% | added by Local Law 2025-79; the platform must also offer the capped basic plan |
Basic plan total: 23%. With enhanced services: up to 43%. Before the 2025 amendment, 23% was the ceiling for everything.
What a $40 order costs a New York restaurant
The gap between the two arrangements is the whole point of the law, and it is large. On a $40 order the basic plan costs $9.20 and the full enhanced arrangement costs $17.20, a difference of $8 on a single ticket. At thirty delivery orders a week that is roughly $12,500 a year.
Worth noting for context: outside New York City, DoorDash's published Plus plan is 25% and Premier is 30%. So the capped basic plan sits below the national tiers, while the enhanced ceiling sits well above them. A New York restaurant that never checks which tier it is on can end up paying more than it would in a city with no cap at all.
| Arrangement | Legal maximum | Cost on a $40 order | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketplace, basic plan | 23% | $9.20 | restaurant |
| Marketplace with enhanced services | 43% | $17.20 | restaurant |
| Ginger Direct, your own site | no commission; card processing as low as 2% + 5¢ | about $0.85 | restaurant pays processing; guest pays a $1 order fee |
Outside New York City, DoorDash's published Plus plan is 25% and Premier is 30%, so the NYC basic plan is 2 to 7 points below the national tiers while the enhanced ceiling is 13 points above them.
How to tell which tier you are actually on
None of this helps if you do not know which arrangement your restaurant is signed up to, and that is more common than it sounds. Tier changes are often made in a phone call, described in terms of the marketing they add rather than the percentage they cost, and they show up afterwards as a different number on a statement nobody reads line by line.
The check takes ten minutes. Open a full month of payout statements, add every charge the platform deducted, and divide by the subtotal those charges were calculated on. That percentage is your real rate, and it is the only number worth comparing against the cap. Then ask your account manager, in writing, which tier you are on, what the capped tier includes, and what changes if you move to it.
The wider point is that a cap limits what a platform may charge on the orders it brings you. It does nothing about the orders you could have taken yourself. A repeat customer who already knows your name costs the same commission as a stranger the app introduced, which is why the cheapest response to any commission rate is to move the second order onto a channel you own.
Frequently asked questions
What is New York City's delivery commission cap?
15% of the order for delivery, 5% for all other services such as listing and marketing, and a 3% pass-through for card processing, 23% in total, under Administrative Code section 20-563.3, permanent since August 2021. Local Law 2025-79 added an optional enhanced-services tier of up to 20% more.
What did Local Law 2025-79 change?
It kept the 15%, 5% and 3% caps for a basic plan and allowed platforms to charge up to an additional 20% for enhanced services, provided they also offer the capped basic plan that includes delivery and listing. Int 762-B passed the Council on May 1, 2025 and became law after the mayor returned it unsigned on June 2, 2025.
What is the most a delivery app can charge a NYC restaurant?
43% of the order: the 23% basic plan plus up to 20% for enhanced services. A restaurant that stays on the basic plan pays no more than 23%.
Does the NYC cap apply to pickup orders?
The caps in section 20-563.3 are written for third-party food delivery services and apply per order. Whether a specific pickup or self-delivery arrangement falls under them depends on the platform's contract; ask the platform how each of your order types is billed and check it against the invoice.
How does a direct ordering channel compare?
Ordering from your own site carries no commission. With Ginger Direct a restaurant pays card processing as low as 2% + 5¢, about 85 cents on a $40 order, and the guest pays a $1 order fee; there is no monthly fee. On the same $40 order the marketplace basic plan is $9.20 and the enhanced ceiling is $17.20.
Compare it against a system with no monthly fee
Ginger is $0 a month with online ordering, no contract, interchange-plus processing as low as 2% + 5¢, and the Box, up to two printers and a card terminal included for restaurants over $40,000 a month in card volume. The live demo opens in your browser with no signup.