DoorDash exposes friction

A restaurant owner’s post accusing DoorDash of turning delivery into a costly parallel business spread widely this week and fed fresh boycott calls. (x.com) The post said DoorDash takes about 30% on some delivery orders, lets app prices run above in-store prices, and can leave finished food waiting 20 to 45 minutes for pickup. DoorDash’s public United States merchant plans list delivery commissions of 15%, 25%, and 30%, depending on the package a restaurant buys. (x.com) (merchants.doordash.com) DoorDash also tells merchants they can set different prices for delivery and pickup menus through point-of-sale integrations, and says it does not require delivery prices to match in-store prices. In separate merchant guidance, the company says marked-up menu prices are one of the top customer complaints it receives. (help.doordash.com 1) (help.doordash.com 2) DoorDash’s own merchant materials show why timing has become a flash point. The company tells restaurants to keep prep times updated so Dashers arrive “at the right time,” and warns that high Dasher wait times can hurt delivery speed, customer satisfaction, and cancellations. (merchants.doordash.com) (help.doordash.com) Restaurants are arguing over those costs at a moment when margins remain thin. The National Restaurant Association’s 2025 industry report said many operators are working with pre-tax margins of 3% to 5%, and its 2025 operations data showed median income before taxes of 2.8% of sales for full-service restaurants in 2024. (restaurant.org) (restaurantnews.com) DoorDash frames those commissions as payment for marketing, logistics, and customer acquisition. Its merchant site says higher-priced plans expand delivery range, lower customer delivery fees, and open access to DashPass members, whom DoorDash says order twice as often and spend 2.5 times more than non-members. (merchants.doordash.com 1) (merchants.doordash.com 2) The company has also been adding more live controls for merchants, including tools to confirm orders, adjust prep times, and mark orders ready for pickup from the Business Manager app and tablet. DoorDash said those features were introduced to help merchants manage online orders in real time. (about.doordash.com) (qsrmagazine.com) For DoorDash, the stakes are large and still growing. The company reported on February 18, 2026 that 2025 total orders rose 32% year over year to 903 million in the fourth quarter, while Marketplace gross order value rose 39% to $29.7 billion; it also said it generated nearly $75 billion in sales for local merchants in 2025. (ir.doordash.com) (nasdaq.com) That leaves the fight in the post looking less like a one-off complaint than a dispute over who absorbs the cost of convenience: the app, the restaurant, or the diner seeing a higher total at checkout. DoorDash’s own help pages say customers can face service fees, delivery fees, and menu markups before tip. (help.doordash.com 1) (help.doordash.com 2)