CLOUD KITCHENS AND QSR OUTLETS
Running a Cloud Kitchen or QSR Outlet: Commission and Contribution
The orders arrive in bursts at lunch and dinner. Your tablet shows a good sales figure for the day. Once the platform takes its cut, the packaging is counted and the discount you funded is subtracted, the evening has earned very little. You run three brands from one kitchen and cannot say which of them pays the rent.
We help cloud kitchen and QSR outlet owners, including franchise outlets, read the outlet by contribution: sales less commission, packaging, food cost and discounts, brand by brand and outlet by outlet. Franchise agreement terms, food licences and platform contracts are outside our scope; your lawyer or the platform can speak to them.
Book a first callCOMMON CHALLENGES
What goes wrong in
cloud kitchens and qsr outlets.
- 01Platform sales look healthy, but commission, discounts you fund, ad spend and refunds come off later, and nobody adds them up per order.
- 02Packaging is chosen for how it looks in a photo, not for what it costs per order, and the packaging cost rarely appears next to the food cost.
- 03Several brands share one kitchen, one team and one set of ingredients. Each is judged on sales and not on what it leaves after its own food, packaging and prep time.
- 04Prep and dispatch peaks at two short windows, so the team is idle in between and overloaded in the rush, and staff cost is spread without a view of order volume.
- 05A franchise outlet reports sales to the brand, and the owner finds out what is left after royalty, marketing contribution and local costs only at the month end.
NUMBERS TO TRACK
Count these
every week.
Contribution per order
Order value less commission, discount you fund, packaging and food cost, averaged by channel.
Packaging cost per order
Total packaging bought in the month divided by orders dispatched.
Contribution by brand
Each brand sales less its own commission, packaging and food cost, divided by its sales.
Orders per staff hour at peak
Orders dispatched in the lunch and dinner windows divided by staff hours rostered in the same windows.
WORKED SAMPLE (ILLUSTRATIVE, NOT CLIENT DATA)
Contribution by channel, one month
| Channel | Sales | Commission | Discount funded | Packaging | Food cost | Left before rent and staff |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery platform | ₹3,00,000 | ₹75,000 | ₹30,000 | ₹24,000 | ₹90,000 | ₹81,000 |
| Own phone and walk-in | ₹1,00,000 | ₹0 | ₹5,000 | ₹8,000 | ₹30,000 | ₹57,000 |
| Total | ₹4,00,000 | ₹75,000 | ₹35,000 | ₹32,000 | ₹1,20,000 | ₹1,38,000 |
Own-channel orders leave 57% of their value; platform orders leave 27%. Both still have to cover rent and staff.
COMMON MISTAKES
What owners often
get wrong first.
- 01Judging the day by platform sales and not by contribution per order, so discounts and commission are felt only at the month end.
- 02Choosing packaging by appearance without a cost per order, so packaging cost rises faster than the price on small orders.
- 03Reading all brands in a shared kitchen as one pool, so a weak brand is carried by a strong one with no brand-level contribution to show it.
OUR FOCUS AREAS
Where the work
usually starts.
- 01An order-level contribution sheet: sales, commission, discounts, packaging, food cost and refunds.
- 02A brand-level view so each brand in a shared kitchen is read separately.
- 03A packaging costing list with the cost per order and the lighter option compared.
- 04A prep and dispatch time log by hour to match staff to order bursts.
- 05A menu list ranked by contribution per order, not only by number of orders.
- 06A discount and ad spend note that shows what the outlet funds.
- 07An outlet P&L for franchise outlets that includes the brand royalty and marketing line.
- 08A refund and cancelled-order log with the reason and who bore the cost.
START THIS WEEK
Things you can do
before you call anyone.
- Take last month's platform statement and list sales, commission, discounts you funded, ad spend and refunds in one column each.
- Hypothetical example: an order of ₹400 pays ₹100 of commission as per your contract, ₹30 of packaging and ₹120 of food cost, leaving ₹150, which is 37.5% of the order. If you also fund a ₹40 discount, ₹110 is left, which is 27.5%, and rent and staff are still to be paid.
- Write the packaging cost per order for your five most ordered dishes.
WHAT YOU GET
Start with the priorities
that matter most.
Your first sheet: an order-level contribution sheet by brand and outlet that takes platform commission, discounts, packaging and food cost off sales and shows what is left per order
- An outlet and brand contribution sheet built from platform statements and your own bills
- A packaging and prep costing list with order-level cost
- An hourly order and staffing plan for the lunch and dinner windows
- A monthly outlet review with a menu keep, change or drop list
Not the right fit when: Skip this if you run a sit-down restaurant where most revenue comes from dine-in; start with /industries/hospitality/restaurants. Anything on franchise terms, food licences or platform contracts should go to your lawyer or the platform.
HOW THE WORK RUNS
What happens after
you book.
- First call: you describe the business and the numbers you already track.
- Your first sheet: the one described under What you get, built from your own books.
- The rhythm: a regular review of contribution per order, packaging cost per order, contribution by brand, orders per staff hour at peak.
- What you hold at the end: a written sheet and a named owner for each number.
WHICH SERVICE FITS
Where we usually start
for this trade.
Financial Health Audit
A management-level review of margin by product, the cash cycle, receivables and costs, ending in indicators you track monthly. Not a statutory audit.
Business Audit
Financial Health Audit is part of Business Audit. See the full service if the problem is wider than one piece.
PROBLEMS THIS SHOWS UP AS
How owners in this trade
describe it.
Our revenue is growing, but our profit is not
Sales are up but the money left over is not. Find where margin leaks in pricing, discounts, rework and overheads, and what to check this week.
I cannot see how my business is really performing
If you steer by bank balance and gut feel, you are driving blind. See how a few trusted numbers, a monthly report and a review meeting fix that.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Before you
get in touch.
HOW THIS DIFFERS
Close trades,
different work.
How this differs from Restaurants
A restaurant earns from tables, turns and dine-in service; a cloud kitchen or QSR outlet earns from order windows, delivery platforms and packaging, with no table to fill.
How this differs from Cafes and coffee shops
A cafe sells to people who sit and linger, and its first number is the revenue per seat hour; a cloud kitchen is read by contribution per order.
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